Successful authors advise novice writers to read EVERYTHING. They maintain that good ideas may percolate from our subconscious and consuming diverse inputs creates more interesting percolations by increasing. Sort of how a better coffee bean creates a more robust, complex cup of coffee. This week, I experienced the wisdom of this sage advice.

Since National Novel Writing Month in November, I've been working on a novella set in Cleveland. I copped the working title, Build Break, Rebuild, from t...