friends – Page 9 – One Thousand And One Parsecs

FF6 Werewolf Tribute: first day

[NOTE: this is part three in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

While Terra recuperates at Figaro Castle, Emperor Gestahl sends Kefka with an expeditionary force on a recon mission to find the mysterious magic user and bring her back to Vector. When Kefka arrives at Figaro Castle, he finds King Edgar cordial but evasive. Bored with diplomacy, he decides to take a more hard-line approach and orders his troops to attack the castle.

EDGAR: What’s happening?

KEFKA: Bring me the girl. Now!

EDGAR: I don’t know what you’re talking about!

KEFKA: Then…welcome to my barbecue!! Uwa ha ha ha!

EDGAR walks up to the throne room door and talks to a Soldier.

EDGAR: Get ready…!

FIGARO SOLDIER: Yes, Sir!

Soldier walks into the door.

KEFKA: Changed your mind…?

EDGAR: I guess I have no choice…

EDGAR whistles for a three Chocobos and jumps off the side of the
castle wall onto one of them.

EDGAR: Or maybe I do!

KEFKA: Ackk! Shameful that a king should flee, leaving his people
behind! How utterly delightful!

EDGAR takes the Chocobo around the other side of castle, where LOCKE
and TERRA are waiting.

EDGAR: Jump!

LOCKE and TERRA jump onto the Chocobos as they ride past, and they
proceed to ride off.

EDGAR: OK! Dive now!!!

LOCKE: Yahoooo!

Figaro Submergance Code Engaged!

The castle starts to pull together by itself.

CHANCELLOR: Into the golden desert Figaro Castle nobly descends!

Chancellor lowers into the castle, and it submerges. Kefka is wiped
out on the surface of the desert sands.

KEFKA: Go!! GET THEM!

Avulsion never asked to come on this mission. He felt humiliated every time he had to wipe the sand off of Kefka’s boots. All the same, he thought it would be easy to take down the three Chocobo riders with his Magiteck armor suit.

He was wrong.

Innocents lynch Avulsion, a mafioso.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: 1 Necromancer (Bannon), 1 Detective (Terra), 1 Assassin (Shadow), 2 Mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial Agent)

NIGHT

FF6 Werewolf Tribute: first night

[NOTE: this is part two in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

On the banks of the Doma river…

KEFKA: Hee, hee! Nothing can beat the music of hundreds of voices
screaming in unison! Uwa, ha, ha!

Meanwhile, inside the castle…

DOMA SENTRY: Sir CYAN! The Empire’s base is bustling with activity.
Something must be up!

CYAN: Huh? The water looks odd…

Seven posted Doma Sentries collapse and die.

DOMA SENTRY: Sir CYAN!

CYAN: This is…POISON!

With everyone dying around him, Cyan runs to save the king. He arrives too late to save his liege. The king tells him to save his family, but when Cyan runs into their quarters to rescue them…

CYAN: Elayne! Elayne! Wake up!

Elayne, Cyan’s wife, dies.

CYAN: This… This…can’t be happening!

From the other side of the room, Cyan hears a cough…

CYAN: ! Owain… NOT YOU TOO! Son…you can’t BOTH leave me!

Owain, Cyan’s son, dies.

CYAN: D… Dear me… <cough> <cough>

Cyan tries to escape the castle, but the poison is too strong. He collapses and dies with everyone else.

Mafia kills Drakon, an innocent.

Acting on behalf of the Returners, Locke rescues Terra from Narshe and spirits her away to Figaro Castle, where she meets several strange new people…

EDGAR: So…you’re an Imperial soldier! No problem. Figaro and the
Empire are allies! Please relax while you’re here. It’s not in my
blood to harm a lady.

TERRA: Look, why are you helping me? Is it because of my…abilities?

EDGAR waves his finger.

EDGAR: I’ll give you three reasons: First of all, your beauty has
captivated me! Second…I’m dying to know if I’m your type…

EDGAR walks away a bit.

EDGAR: I guess your…abilities…would be a distance 3rd.

TERRA: ……? What’s with you, anyway?

Suspicious, Terra checks out the castle for imperial agents. Instead, all she finds are maids, soldiers, and scholars studying the ancient arts of magic. Silly people, scholars.

Detective checks an innocent.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: Bannon (Necromancer), Terra (Detective), Shadow (Assassin), 3 Mafia (Kefka and 2 Imperial Agents)

DAY

FF6 Werewolf Tribute: game start

[NOTE: this is part one in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

Long ago, the War of the Magi
reduced the world to a scorched wasteland,
and magic simply ceased to exist.

One thousand years have passed…
Iron, gunpowder and steam engines
have been rediscovered,
and high technology reigns.

But there are those who would enslave the world
by reviving the dread destructive force
known as “magic.”

Could it be that those in power
are on the verge of repeating
a senseless and deadly mistake?

PLAYING:

Avulsion
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: 1 Detective (Terra), 1 Necromancer (Bannon), 1 Assassin (Shadow), 3 Mafia (Emperor Gestahl, General Leo, and Kefka).

We will use the modified standard rules. Each player starts with 5 GP which disappear after the round is over.

NIGHT

Thoughts on World Fantasy 2009

Since it’s been a couple of days since World Fantasy 2009, I guess I should share some of my thoughts before life starts pulling me in other directions.

First of all, I was surprised at how similar it was to LTUE, CONduit and other convention/symposium events I’ve already attended. The basic format was the same: dealer’s room open all the time, with panels every hour until the evening. The only real differences from that were the hotel bar downstairs, the consuite upstairs, and the parties at night.

Second, I was extremely surprised to see so many other people from Utah. Honestly, there were about thirty or forty of us, about half of whom I knew from LTUE, CONduit, English318–and the others all knew someone I knew from one of those places. It’s funny to think that we traveled nearly a thousand miles just to network with each other, but that’s pretty much the case.

Third, I was surprised at how much drinking was going on. Maybe it’s just because I don’t drink, but it doesn’t make sense to me to come to a business meeting and get intoxicated in front of the people you’re trying to impress. Not that I was uncomfortable. There were enough other non-drinkers there that I didn’t feel out of place, and even the outright drunks were more entertaining than anything else. If anything, I guess it was an interesting anthropological experience (kind of like reading Twilight, except…different).

Fourth, I was surprised at how down-to-Earth and accessible everyone was. Big name authors, editors and agents at the major houses, staff and editors from the small presses–everyone was very friendly and accessible. I talked with Ann VanderMeer briefly about my capstone project on Israeli politics. I talked with David Drake about the difference between him and Haldeman. I talked with Kay Kenyon about Star Control II and Alastair Reynolds. I talked with Liz Gorinsky (editor at Tor) about Jake Von Slatt, Jim Frankel (senior editor at Tor) about Guy Gavriel Kay, Guy Gavriel Kay about Brandon Sanderson, Brandon’s Agent Joshua Bilmes about Eddie, his assistant-gone-agent, etc etc.

None of this was planned; it all just happened. Everyone was very friendly. In fact, I was particularly surprised at how many people became interested in me when I said I was an Arabic / Mideast studies major. I ran into Brent Weeks’ wife in the bar and talked with her for almost half an hour about Egypt and the Middle East, and she actually seemed interested in what I had to say.

At the same time, I was surprised at some of the tackier things that happened, too. Maybe this is just my pet peeve, but at every single panel I attended, someone in the audience raised their hand and said “I don’t really have a question, but…” and went on and on for several minutes discussing one of their ideas–TAKING TIME AWAY from the panelists and the people with genuine questions. Some people even tried to pitch books that way! Laaaaame.

I will say, though, that as far as pitching books, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. From Brandon’s Class, it seemed that a lot of these people would let you send your full manuscript if you just asked them…and maybe that was the case, but other Utah friends at the convention told me that when they tried to pitch, it didn’t turn out so well. I generally felt a lot of question, so I tried to err on the side of being non-aggressive. At least I can mention in a cover letter that I saw them.

The last thing that surprised me was a lot more personal, but out of everything else, it probably surprised me the most. I saw several aspiring writers who seemed so stressed out about breaking in, and it surprised me, because…I don’t feel that way at all. In fact, I felt a strong sense of peace as I thought about my future. It’s not a question of “if” I’ll be published, but “when,” and getting there is going to be an exciting adventure.

Anyhow, I enjoyed World Fantasy 2009 a ton! It was an overwhelmingly positive experience.

World Fantasy 2009 — second day

Friday was a long, awesome day at World Fantasy. I feel like I’m floating around on a sea full of big names and interesting people, and it’s surprisingly less intimidating than I thought it would be.

The day started with a number of panels. I attended “Writing human characters, whether or not they’re human” and “VaanderMeer on VanderMeer.”

The VanderMeer panel was very enjoyable–Ann and Jeff are down-to-Earth good people, and it was interesting hearing their stories, especially Ann on her experiences as an editor. At one point, she could have shared any number of slushpile horror stories, but she didn’t.

Took lunch at Lee’s Sandwiches, for no other reasons than price and nostalgia. I used to eat at Lee’s all the time when I lived in San Jose, because it was so cheap. It’s been so long, but it was exactly as I remembered it. Good times.

Met up with Daniel Alonso, another writer friend from LTUE/CONduit. It was good to see him. We wandered around the dealer’s room for a while and struck up conversations with various people, including David Drake. Talked with Drake about the difference between him and Haldeman–apparently, in Haldeman’s novels, nobody trusts anybody, whereas in David Drake’s novels, people mistrust everyone but the comrades in their unit. Interesting.

Let me just say, once again, that I am surprised how many people from the Utah scene are here at World Fantasy. On the “Writing non-conciliatory fantasy” panel, I recognized at least a dozen other Utah writers, and there were probably at least as many there that I didn’t recognize! Surprising, when you consider the panel was about anti-heroes.

Besides the “Writing non-conciliatory fantasy” panel, I attended “Invention vs. tradition” and “The last resort” in the afternoon. Both were very interesting, but unfortunately I was very tired after the last one, so didn’t catch as much from it. That’s what happens for late afternoon / early evening panels, generally.

Went to a book release party for Edge publishing. It was an interesting event. Barbara Galler-Smith and Josh Langston wrote Druids together long-distance, having only met over the internet. They both seem like pretty cool people, just from running into them. From the readings, the book reminded me a bit of David Gemmell.

Had dinner with some other writers from the Utah scene–Josh, Isaac, and Jancy. Talked with Jancy for quite a while–turns out she’s from Santa Clara, got a master’s degree from BYU with John Bennion as her advisor. It also turns out that she recently switched agents; she’s represented by Eddie now, Joshua Bilmes’s old assistant. We talked about my book and whether it’s YA or not, which went on to a very interesting discussion of YA themes. Jancy’s a way cool person.

The evening event was a giant mass autographing party in the ballroom. Everyone was there doing a signing. I hung out at Dan Wells’s booth and met Mary Robinette Kowal. She was way cool, easy to talk with, interesting and humble. Yet another down-to-Earth good person at this convention.

Met a lot more people from the Utah scene in the evening, such as J. Aleta Clegg, who was around when LTUE, The Leading Edge, and Quark were founded. Also talked with Julie Wright, found out that she’s an editor as well as a writer, talked about the blog she co-authors and Leading Edge. Yet more down-to-Earth good people.

After that, drifted from party to party, until everyone was so drunk that my attempts to make useful contacts started to become counterproductive. Had fun at the same time, though. Good people, good times.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow!

World Fantasy 2009 — first day

After four years, I’m back in California! Yay!

Okay, now that I’ve got that out of my system (because California is, without a doubt, the most awesome state in the union), let me just say that the first day of World Fantasy 2009 was most excellent.

For Cavan, Alex and me, the day began at about 4:30 am, when we woke up early to road trip it out to San Jose. The salt flats near Dugway were very beautiful in the early morning light, as were the mountains. Nevada stretched on forever, but a little bit of Ennio Morricone helped it pass enjoyably. After Reno, we descended through the Sierras, passed Sacramento and the Central Valley, crossed over the gorgeous bay area mountains and arrived in San Jose without incident.

Well…there was one incident. We got a little lost finding Alex’s friend’s house, and pulled a U-turn that ticked off one of the local drivers. She honked her horn and shouted out her window: “go back to Utah!”

California, I love you. You haven’t changed at all since I left. 🙂

We’re staying with Alex’s friend, within walking distance of the downtown area where the convention hotel is situated. No, really, we couldn’t have planned it better. Alex’s friend is way chill.

After we registered, we scoped out the hotel. It feels a lot like the hotels in Cairo–big and grand, with lots of marble and large open spaces. We browsed around the dealer’s room, saw lots of small publishers, some of whose books I’ve reviewed for Leading Edge. Everyone was very friendly and easy to talk with.

The only panel tonight was on the Google book settlement, and it was very informative and helpful for someone as clueless on this issue as me. Some very choice words were exchanged between the president of SFWA and a Google employee in the audience, but most of the panelists had the same opinion–that the settlement would set a terrible precedent for copyright law and should be fought tooth and nail. Interesting, timely stuff.

We heard about a party on the top floor, so we decided to check it out, and low and behold! Practically the entire convention was there. Ran into some familiar faces from LTUE and CONduit; it turns out that there are one or two dozen people from Utah at this convention, and most of us already know each other. How awesome is that?

Let me just say, I am so happy that I have friends at this convention. All that networking in Utah over the last two years is really paying off. It’s so much easier to meet new people when you’re working together as a group. I’m starting to get an idea of the editors/agents here that I should contact and how to approach them. I’m also meeting a lot of other aspiring writers, making new friends.

In short, the party was not only productive, it was lots of fun. Met new people, reconnected with old friends from the Utah scene, got the scoop on Dan Well’s Serial Killer book and the pending sequels (which I’m eagerly anticipating), and just had an overall great time.

An excellent finish to a very eventful day–and the convention has only just begun!

Blarg.

I’ve got a bad case of writer’s avoidance. It’s annoying.

I wrote 1,500 words in Bringing Stella Home today, and about 800 words of outlining. That might seem like a lot, but when you consider how much free time I had today, it’s really not that much. Blarg.

I’m all moved in to my new place, with my class and work schedule all worked out, my insurance paid for, groceries in the fridge, books on the shelf (or boxed in the closet–not much book space, considering that Ben’s already taken most of it!), etc etc. I even went on a date last night–a really awesome one! So it’s not like I can say “I had chores” and use that as an excuse.

Part of the problem, though, was that I didn’t have this particular section very well planned. Without having a good macroscopic view of the novel, it’s hard to revise things right. Fortunately, I took a step back today and planned out the next three chapters or so. That should keep me going strong for a while.

Whenever I stop procrastinating and just write, I usually dive right into it. It’s thinking too much about it before I start that really holds me back.

So, no more thinking–just doing.

Tomorrow is the last Friday before school starts, and the last 100% open day I have before the craziness begins. Here’s what I plan to do:

Cook chili (all from scratch–I’m soaking the beans tonight).
Pick up tupperware and a cutting board from DI.
Read and critique the stories for writing group.
Read required readings for Poli Sci 309R (or, if not, at least on Saturday).
Go to the temple–gotta go to the temple before school starts.
Catch up a bit on the blogging backlog (and boy is it LONG).

Hopefully, in between all of that, I can knock off a chapter or two. My goal: 4k words. Gotta buckle down!

In related news, I got an amazing compliment from my friend Drek! We were chatting online, and this is what he said:

Ben: Just remember you have to find a girl BEFORE you become an incredibly famous novelist, or you’ll never know if your wife married you for your money or your looks.

me: ha

ha

ha

no, I”m probably going to be poor and destitute all my life

working a day job

Ben: No way, I predict you’ll be a professional author within five years.

me: thanks

but will it be enough to make a living?

lots of bestselling authors still have day jobs

Ben: Eh, you’ll have more of a day “hobby” just so you can earn some play money.

me: perhaps

Ben: Anyway, see you on Saturday!

Thanks Ben! I haven’t really thought of it that way (I don’t dare get my hopes up), but that would be awesome if things worked out that way. That’s the goal, in any case. I just hope I can keep my head out of the water after I graduate!

Finally, I’ll leave you with some awesome Celtic music–part of the reason I haven’t been writing!

Uh oh…more projects?

That’s right. I recently formed a writing group with some friends, and decided to workshop Bringing Stella Home through it. They went through the first chapter yesterday and tore it apart. I appreciate the help a TON, but I’m going to have to start making revision to it now, so that subsequent submissions to the writing group won’t have the same issues.

So, that makes three major ongoing projects for me now: the Genesis Earth 3.0 revision draft, the Ashes of the Starry Sea 2.2 draft, and now, Bringing Stella Home 2.0. It’s going to be very hard to juggle all three, and one of them will probably fall through the cracks (probably Ashes, to be honest). However, I’m going to do my best to give them all equal time. We’ll see if I succeed.

In order to accomplish this, I’m probably going to have to make some changes to my daily routine. Right now, I work out, eat breakfast, read the Book of Mormon, and arrive on campus ready to write…at about 11:00 am. And that’s on a good day. I write until about 2:00 or 3:00 pm, then go home for lunch, take a nap, check the internet, be lazy, etc. At about 7:00 or 7:30 pm, I head back up to campus and write until about midnight.

So far, it’s been working. I’ve been averaging 4k words per day pretty regularly these past couple of weeks. However, if I’m going to work on these projects, I might have to focus and up that wordcount a bit.

Therefore, I’m going to try to cut back on IMing while I’m writing. Usually, during the day, I’ve got gmail open on my browser and I check it from time to time. I’ve got a couple of friends with whom I usually keep a running chat for the entire day, which can be maddening when you’re trying to concentrate.

I’ve been thinking about cutting back on the IMing for the last few weeks, but thus far it hasn’t been too much of an issue. However, if I’m going to buckle down, something’s got to go. Sorry.

(Of course, it remains to be seen if I keep this resolution. Internet habits die hard.)

In unrelated news, I cooked the AWESOMEST chili today! Best chili of my life, and what’s even better, I cooked it in MASSIVE amounts! Here’s what I put in it:

corn
diced onions
ground beef
kidney beans
pinto beans
black beans
crushed tomatoes
diced jalapenos
plain yoghurt
spices

The secret ingredient was definitely the yoghurt. Adds a creamy texture, like sour cream without the unhealth stuffy. Also give it a rich and interesting flavor.

Good stuff!

Goal shift for Ashes

These past few weeks, I’ve been killing myself trying to write Ashes of the Starry Sea. I’ve made some good progress, as you can see on the sidebar. Today I broke 200 pages. Not too bad.

However, the pace has just been killing me. 4k words per day is something I can do…but 4k words per day on the same project? It’s burning me out.

What’s more, to keep up the pace, I’ll have to put all my other projects completely on hold for the month of July. That, or write MORE than 4k per day, which would be excruciatingly painful.

So I looked at my calendar tonight and figured that if I pushed back my self-imposed deadline for Ashes to the weekend before school starts, I can cut my daily wordcount in that book in half. 2k per day in Ashes–not bad. That I can do.

What’s more, with the other 2k, I’ll have enough room to work on my other projects, Genesis Earth 3.0 and Bringing Stella Home 2.0. I’m starting to get really excited for those, very motivated. For Bringing Stella Home, I’m practically chomping at the bit. I want to make that story shine!

Inshallah, juggling two projects at a time will be helpful, not harmful. During the school year, when I was juggling work, school, and writing, it didn’t work. Now, however, with writing the only major obligation, I’m hoping that two projects will help keep my creative mind fresh, if that makes sense. When I get burned out on Ashes at 2pm, I can switch to Genesis Earth and work on something that excites me. When I get burned out on that at 9pm, I’ll be excited about Ashes again. Etc etc.

Besides, if I want to be a professional writer, project juggling is an important skill I’ll need to learn. Inshallah, I’ll get it to work this time.

Wow! If all goes according to plan, I’ll have all three novels finished and polished before school starts at the end of August! July to write Genesis Earth 3.0, August to write Bringing Stella Home 2.0, and both months to finish Ashes of the Stary Sea 2.1. Yeah!

In other news, Charlie finished Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson and reviewed it on her blog. I was also reading Warbreaker, but about 200 pages in found that it just wasn’t working for me. I’ll probably finish it someday, but for now, it’s on hold.

I hate to say anything bad about it, since Brandon has been something of a mentor to me (and his Mistborn books are some of the best fantasy that I’ve read!), but I shared many of Charlie’s complaints with the book.

The biggest thing, however, was the way he fell into long, frequent info dumps about the world. Every time, I felt that it stopped the action and jolted me out of the story, like reading a college textbook. The world was okay, but the way he presented it just didn’t work for me.

That, and the way the characters acted. When Siri got carted off near the beginning to be the wife of the God king, the fact that she hardly showed any fear or anxiety about have sex with the guy just threw me out. She was just like “oh, well,” and was nervous about everything else EXCEPT for the sex part. From then on, I had believability issues with her character.

Finally, let me just say that when I write my steampunk flower novel, I want to make one of the characters a Circassian janissary. I just think it would be really cool to put a Circassian in the book, as either a good guy or a bad guy (or, more likely, a grey-area guy). If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, check out the video below:

Thank you readers

I appreciate my first readers very much, even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts.

Today I got the comments back from a longtime Quarkie friend on Genesis Earth, and she told me that, in her opinion, the book still needs a lot of work. However, she made it very clear when (and why) she was bored, when (and why) she was interested, and where (and why) she would stop reading. Thankfully, she kept reading and gave me useful feedback right up to the end.

My friend’s comments helped me to rethink several weak points of my novel. In particular, her anthropology experience helped her to pick up on some racist undertones that I didn’t intend and hadn’t realized were there. If my story would have appeared in print like that, I would have been flamed up and down the sf community! Without her feedback, I probably wouldn’t have picked up on that.

The feedback did more than point out problems, however; it helped me to rethink these problems and begin to find new, innovative solutions. Rather than getting me angered or depressed, the criticism stoked my creative engines by getting me to take a step back and rethink my story from the ground up. Though the feedback was harsh (basically, “I’d throw this book across the room at this point”) it was extremely helpful and got me more enthused than ever to write.

Receiving criticism and advice is a very delicate thing, especially for a budding writer. If you try to follow every peice of feedback you recieve, your book will inevitably tank. However, rejecting criticism is also tough because you don’t always know why you’re doing it. There is a fuzzy grey area between rejecting a comment because it’s not right for your story, and rejecting it because it rubbed your ego in the wrong way.

I don’t ever want to reject critical feedback because it hurts. After all, it’s not about me at all–it’s about the story.

Criticism is never “right” or “wrong,” “good” or “bad.” It is only “useful” or “not useful.” To pick out the useful feedback, you always have to listen to–and appreciate–every piece of feedback that you get. Only after you’ve done this can you can say (in private!) “no, this isn’t right for my work.”

In the meantime, thank everyone who takes the time and effort to read your work and comment on it. They’ve done you a huge service, and the last thing they deserve is to be attacked by an egocentric, peurile, self-righteous amateur. Honest criticism, no matter how much it hurts, is the best thing any writer can receive.

On that note, I want to thank all my first readers for helping me with my novel, Genesis Earth! I genuinely appreciate all of your comments. You’ve helped me to step back and see my work for what it is. You are helping me to make this novel a stronger, better book, and that means more to me than you know. So thank you!