… Thea Bredie, the winner of my first (and very possibly last) giveaway here on WFTRSOTS! For commenting on Bubba Goes Blogging, Thea wins a downloadable copy of author Jennifer Walker’s short story, Leslie and the Lion.
And here’s a gratuitous link to her blog about learning, Montessori-style!
Thanks for playing, Thea!
I haven’t been raining negativity, bitterness and bile down on my gentle readers lately. And apparently, that has to stop.
It has been suggested to me by a devotee of WFTRSOTS (okay, ‘devotee’ might be phrasing it rather strongly, but there is 
forensic evidence that she pops by on occasion) that I should share with you some of the topics I’d just as soon never, ever, ever write about ever, ever again.
Is that the sort of thing you’d like to read? No? It’s just her?
Never mind, I’m going to forge ahead anyway. Woe betide me should I disappoint her. You can be the next one to suggest a topic. (No, really. Go ahead. Let’s see if I can riff on anything a la the late, great George Carlin. My guess is no.)
By the way, I should probably mention that I have made some headway recently in my ongoing crusade to demonstrate that I can, in fact, write entire paragraphs of published text without mentioning hooved quadrupeds of any kind. This seems necessary because there are a head-spinning number of editors out there who don’t seem to be able to extrapolate from one of my articles about a veterinary issue, that I can write about medical issues, and who can’t read a piece about a riding vacation and take the great leap to believing I could craft a piece about a boating or skiing vacation.
Between my snowmobiling jaunt in Quebec, back in January, and some agricultural pieces ranging from celebrating the Goat Farmer of the Year to rather more sober discussions of how fully farmers are adopting mobile technology, I have now collected …. ohhhhh, about a dozen clips, I guess …. which avoid horses like the plague. (Okay, yes, the goats are quadrupeds and have cloven hooves, but the article really discusses the award-winning goat farmer rather than his charges. Mostly.)
I consider this a minor triumph, but then, I have to take my triumphs where I find ’em these days.
I was also charged with writing my very first infographic a few months ago. It wasn’t easy, let me assure you. But the artist quite skilfully made a silk purse out of a (proverbial) sow’s ear …
I would happily write about goats some more. Or pigs. Or soybeans. I’m learning quite a lot about all three.
But please don’t ask me to write another infographic. It made my head hurt.
Of course, it’s still true that the vast majority of my portfolio — and the archive currently stands at somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2000 published articles — does feature, or at least discuss, equines of one sort or another. You’d be surprised how much variety there is within that niche: personality profiles, hard science, event reports and recaps, PR for future events, how-to’s, training tips, health and veterinary advances, a few fluff pieces, even some controversy on occasion. Maybe I’m not a flak-jacket journalist, but that doesn’t it’s all meaningless trivia (she said self-righteously).
There are few truly new topics under the sun, however. And there are some old chestnuts that editors seem to trot out every year without fail … depending on we starving freelancers to invent a new spin, lest we all simultaneously slip into vegetative states from the sheer, desperate redundancy of it all.
Some of these subjects, I don’t mind, honestly. I don’t object to writing about internal parasites, for example. There’s usually a bit of new science to discuss every few years, which keeps it fresh and interesting for me … and also, although I am easily grossed out by, say, eye diseases (I cannot look at the photos — ick), I apparently have a high tolerance for pondering the life cycles of slimy blood-sucking phylla who inhabit eyeballs and intestinal folds.
But please shoot me, I beg of you, if I ever have to write about the following again:
1. Fencing for horses. Coma-inducing? Oh, gawd, yes. New stuff to discuss? Pretty much never. The most exciting thing to come down the pike in recent decades has been an electric fencing product which has two-way current or something and doesn’t need to be grounded, which I guess is great because I don’t really understand the whole grounding thing and thus find it difficult to describe in articles. But ‘great’, in this case, is very much a relative term. If I have to put together one more bloody chart comparing oak board fencing to pipe corrals to high-tensile wire to synthetics, I may in fact garrote myself on the next electric fence I see, regardless of its grounding or lack thereof.
2. Thorny regulatory issues. Especially when they’re American. I write for a lot of American magazines, some of which, in their peculiarly Ameri-centric way, insist on ONLY American sources being quoted. This, to me, is short-sighted as hell … seriously, if you had a chance to hear from a showjumping expert like Beat Mandli (Switzerland) or a dressage guru like Edward Gal (the Netherlands), wouldn’t that be every bit as interesting to a reader from the United States, as someone home-grown? I don’t see how the US can continue to teach its citizens that nothing of any note happens beyond its borders, but I digress. What really makes me crazy is trying to figure out which government agency I have to phone, when I am commissioned to write an article about some issue which concerns or involves American government agencies (ie. drug regulations, feed and supplement labels, or the slaughter industry). The whole regulatory situation in the US, with so many things under state jurisdiction rather than national — and thus wildly different from state to state — makes me absolutely postal.
I’m nearly as unenthused about doing pieces about Canadian regulatory issues, but at least I can usually identify a ministry or organization as a likely starting place. Fuggeddaboutit in the US of A.
3. Fly Control. Again, this is a topic that makes the rounds at the beginning of every summer, and it is just mind-
numbingly stupifying to write about. And to read about too. I can tell you all about the relative toxicities of various pyrethroid compounds, and discuss the efficacy of supposedly natural alternatives like apple cider vinegar and (I kid you not) Avon Skin-So-Soft, but really, I’d rather not.
4. Trailering. By this I mean, the methods and mechanics of moving horses from one place to another over asphalt. I have discussed health issues. Regulatory (ugh) issues. How to inspect your trailer for safety. How to select the right towing vehicle. Just run me over with a diesel dually next time instead of making me rehash it all again.
Et vous, gentle reader? If you are the type who peruses horse magazines, which topics do you find irretrievably old and tired and would rather not see again in your lifetime? I promise I’ll stop writing about them immediately.
Young Adult author Jennifer Walker has kindly contributed this, my VERY FIRST GUEST POST, as part of her virtual book tour for Bubba to the Rescue (reviewed here on March 9th). Does this mean my blog has arrived?
Welcome, Jennifer, and take it away!
MIDDLE GRADE FICTION: IS IT A GENRE?
By Jennifer Walker
When I was a kid, I think there was basically three main age groups fiction could fall into: children’s, young adult, and adult. Times were simpler then. I read young adult books by the pile, mostly about horses. The stories were pretty simple and wholesome, the characters were morally upright, and the formula was pretty predictable.
Now, life has gotten a little more complicated. Kids have lives that are more complex, they deal with mature issues when they’re younger, and they’re interested in more mature themes. You have vampires falling in love with mortals and 
getting married and having babies and werewolves falling in love with mortals and getting married and having babies, and wizards falling in love with other wizards and falling in love and making babies and God knows what else. These are definitely aimed at the older teens, but what about the younger teens and tweens?
That’s where I come in. I’m not into writing about vampires and wizards, I like to write about good little girls and horses. My characters do have their flaws, of course, and they deal with some modern issues like dead or absentee parents, parents remarrying, and first loves. However, it’s all on a scale that’s more appropriate and approachable for the younger set. While I have a good deal of readers who are young teens or adult women, there seems to be those few years in between where readers’ tastes want something a little different. I am happy to say, however, that I’ve had some 16- and 17-year-olds who loved it, and that was very gratifying!
So, how best to write for this tween audience? I don’t profess to be an expert, although what I’m doing seems to be resonating pretty well with most of my readers. My main strategy has been to read a lot of books read for this age, but since most of the ones I’ve read (Saddle Club and Thoroughbred) are a bit outdated, I try to update a little by adding in some character flaws (making bad decisions and learning from them) and modern issues (parents remarrying). I try to keep the language simple, although there are certainly a few words in there the kids will have to look up, and focus on what kids aged 10-13 or so might be interested in.
I really enjoy writing for this age group, because I really enjoy wholesome stories with good hearts. Writing them brings me back to my own youth, when life wasn’t so hard and when my biggest problem was whether I’d get to go to the big dance. I like writing characters that are a good influence on my readers, teaching them life lessons — hopefully without them noticing so it just slips into their subconscious and becomes a part of them.
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Jennifer Walker is a freelance writer, editor, and novelist living in northern California. Her two books, Bubba Goes National and Bubba to the Rescue, are both available in print or digital editions from Twin Trinity Books and other online retailers.
Oh, gentle reader, you have arrived on an auspicious day indeed. Not only is this my very first book review (on this blog, anyway), but my very first giveaway, too! You have to read to the end for the freebie part, no cheating.
Featured author Jennifer Walker is the author of Bubba Goes National and Bubba to the Rescue. Her stories have also appeared in the anthologies Elements of the Soul and The Ultimate Horse Lover. A full-time freelance writer and editor, her work has appeared in numerous magazines and websites including the Yahoo! Contributor Network. She resides in northern California with her husband, cat, dog, and Arabian stallion.
There’s more about Jennifer and her YA novels here , or visit her Facebook fan page for the Green Meadow series.
This post is part of Jennifer’s very cool two-week Virtual Book Tour. Jennifer will also be contributing a guest post right here on March 13th on writing for the Young Adult market, so mark your calendars, peeps!
BOOK REVIEW: BUBBA TO THE RESCUE
As Young Adult fiction for horse-crazy girls goes, Jennifer Walker’s Bubba to the Rescue, the second in her Green Meadow series, has a lot going for it: beautiful Arabians, an adrenaline-pumping forest fire, an intriguing mystery … and two perfect guys who love horses and horse-crazy girls so much that they never complain about all the time spent in the barn!
The latter two – one, teen protagonist Leslie Clark’s father Dan, the other her devoted (and maybe just a wee bit two-dimensional) boyfriend Alex – may be the most fictional elements of Bubba to the Rescue. Where the story really comes alive is in Walker’s depictions of Green Meadow Stable and its equine residents, which is absolutely as her tween and teen readers would want it.
From her heart-wrenching description of Leslie’s Arabian gelding, Lucky (aka Bubba) suffering a potentially career-ending injury in the forest fire, to the ethereal appearance of the mystery horse, Spark, who materializes out of the flames to gallop home safely with Leslie, Alex, and their horses, Walker provides vivid portrayals of her equine characters, the routine of barn life and horse shows, and authentic details of stable management that reveal her extensive background in that world. When a friend’s horse suffers a bout of colic, Leslie’s anguish is palpable, as is her pride when her mystery horse excels at his first show.
Leslie also wrestles with some typical teen challenges: adjusting to a blended family when her father (widowed in the first in the series, Bubba Goes National) remarries, testing the murky waters of dating and formal dances, peer rivalry from a mean-spirited classmate, and feeling helpless when a friend comes under the influence of a controlling boyfriend. In the saddle, however, she is skilled and her horses perform perfectly; if I were to quibble, I would say I would have liked to have seen her struggle with her blossoming horsemanship skills just a smidge!
There also seems to be little focus on Lucky once his veterinarian declares that his recovery will be slow (as realistic a part of the horse industry as that circumstance might be). The horse who was the heart of the first Green Meadow book gets turned out in a field and seldom mentioned afterwards; I kept waiting for his re-entry to the story, though I suspect Walker is planning Lucky’s triumphant return in the in-progress book three!
In an age where dark forces seem to be almost obligatory in teen novels, Bubba to the Rescue is refreshingly free of supernatural influences, R-rated themes, and bad behaviour. Leslie and her cohorts are normal, modern teens, the adults in their lives provide gentle moral guidance, and there are subtle life lessons taught without hitting the reader over the head.
Although this is the second book in the Green Meadow series and builds on characters introduced in Bubba Goes National, it does well as a stand-alone volume. The pacing is brisk and never bogs down, making Bubba to the Rescue not only a page-turner, but quite an incentive to pick up its sequel just as soon as it becomes available.
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Published by Twin Trinity Media, Bubba to the Rescue (and Bubba Goes National) can be purchased here.
Digital versions for Kindle, Nook, and more can be found at Smashwords and Amazon. And an audio version is now available here.
$1 from the every sale of Bubba Goes National and Bubba to the Rescue, between now and July 1, 2012, will go towards a fund to send a deserving young lady, Zoe Deaton, to the Arabian Youth Nationals in Albuquerque, in the last year she is eligible. Purchase a copy today and not only will you get to read a great story, but you’ll help this young rider fulfill her dream!
BREAKING NEWS! Comment on this post for your chance to WIN a FREE download of Jennifer Walker’s short story from the Green Meadows series, Leslie and the Lion. Just make sure you comment, with your e-mail address, by midnight (Eastern Daylight Time) on March 16, 2012! One commenter will be chosen at random.
I don’t normally re-blog, but I got some utterly unsolicited egoboo today courtesy of Amanda Fox, and had to share.
To whit: “If you visit Karen’s blog and all you take from it is that there is a bunch of stuff about horses on it, you’re missing out. There is so much more to explore – and the horse stuff is good too! Karen does great book reviews, has some on the spot posts about journalism and her selections on freelancing are must read for anyone in the trade. She is witty and sharp, bites from time to time, but you’ll like it! I do, and that is why she is must read material!”
Thanks, Mandy! (The other blogs she recommends are pretty good, too!)
(Oh, and for my gentle followers … I’m reposting this because the formatting somehow got screwed up on the original post and I lost my Wayne’s World video. I just couldn’t cope with being without it!)
The National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) has decreed that it is “Words Matter Week 2012“.
Why? Guess we couldn’t wait for March break for the festivities to begin.
NAIWE has posted a “Blog Challenge”, the prize for which is an Amazon gift card which is more than likely not useable by non-Americans.
So why would I bother responding to the five daily blog questions in the Blog Challenge? Well, it: a) beats coming up with a blog topic of my own; and b) could be an interesting exercise in seeing whether I can remain sincere, earnest, and non-snarky (my money’s on ‘no’).
Ready, gang? Of course you are. I can see you’re on the edge of your seats. Here are the Qs:
Writers craft words into memorable phrases, stories, poems and plays. What writers make your heart sing? Why?
Irving Layton‘s poetry is unabashedly randy. You can imagine him flinging off his khakis and running naked through a park, little Irving flapping merrily in the breeze, just for the sheer helluvit, and that amazed and tickled me when I was an undergrad. Who knew CanLit could be naughty?
Michael Ondaatje is hard wading, but if you’re in the right frame of mind, you can submerse yourself completely in his imagery. Like swimming through the most gloriously textured jello. You might only get through six pages in a sitting, but they will stick with you for days afterwards.
But I have to admit that I seek out cleverness in much of what I read. That’s why the late Douglas Adams is still top of my list of ‘people living or dead I’d invite to my ultimate dinner party’. You can read Hitchhiker’s 30 times and it will still give you the giggles … his turn of phrase was just that good, his logic just that twisted. I mean: “Here, put this fish in your ear.” “What? Ewww!” “Oh, come on, it’s only a little one.”
Pure genius in words of two syllables or less.
Cynthia Heimel, the American queen of snark, is another one, and a personal role-model. When I dial the snark up to 11, I try to channel her.
Tuesday, March 6
What word, said or unsaid, has or could change your life? How?
Okay, the editor in me immediately wants to change this to “What word, said or unsaid, has changed, or could change, your life?”
I mean, it’s supposed to be the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors.
But I digress.
Should I be uber-obvious and say “You won the lottery”? Nah, I’m better than that. (Though I really, really think it would rank up there in terms of life-changing events, and I would like to humbly encourage the universe to consider my worthiness …)
So how about “reason”, because that’s what rules my life. Or at least I attempt to let it rule my life. Reason, as in rejecting superstition (the preceding paragraph, ahem, notwithstanding). Reason, as in refusing to let fear rule. Reason, as in not taking anything on faith, and not accepting faith as a virtue — at least, not the faith that demands unwavering, unquestioning acceptance of things that make no sense. Reason, as in understanding the difference between anecdotal evidence and repeatable fact. Reason, as in question everything. And reason, as in presenting both (or many) sides of an argument or issue in my writing, with as little bias as I can possibly muster, and letting my readership make up its own mind. Preferably with its critical thinking skills fully engaged. This, as I see it, is what journalists are mandated to do.
I was not always reasonable. I had to do some growing up first to understand the difference between doctrine and truth.
Wednesday, March 7
Communication breaks down when words are misused. What is the funniest or worst breakdown you’ve ever observed?
Well, there was the flyer from the local garage promising “complete insurrections” of my truck’s engine …
And one from my editor at the Canadian Sportsman, a magazine which focuses on harness racing (in which horses move at the 
trot or pace) and thus rarely talks about any of the other gears an equine might display. In an article about retired racehorses going on to second careers as riding horses, said editor used the word “cantor” throughout. I am unclear as to the religious significance of this. (Should I out this editor as my brother? Nah, better not.)
Thursday, March 8
What person in your life helped you understand the importance of choosing words carefully? What would you say to them if you met them today?
If I’m a grammar Nazi, I’m mere infantry compared to my mother, who would probably not be in the least amused to be compared to the head of the Gestapo. (Fortunately Mom doesn’t venture onto the Interwebz, having developed something of a phobia for mousing.) Throughout my childhood, and to this day, no grammatical error ever goes unnoticed or uncorrected by her eagle ear. She is a devotee of the English language and abhors its abuse. In the process of this constant and unrelenting policing, she created two career journalists. And so at some point soon (because as I say, she will not see this) … I’ll thank her for never giving me an inch, and I’ll do it in person.
Friday, March 9
If you had to eliminate one word or phrase from the English language, what would it be? Why?
I have to pick just one?
Personal pet peeves include “orientate”, “hopefully” (which is a perfectly good word, used extremely imperfectly), and “irregardless”. That people don’t get the difference between lay and lie drives me nuts, too, though I don’t suppose you can really eliminate either one from the language …
As for phrases, “It is what it is” irritates the snot out of me. It’s meaningless! But the vast majority of cliches make my skin crawl, truth be told (see what I did there?).
English is a malleable magpie of a tongue. It borrows freely from more (and less) romantic languages and scripts, and changes with the tides … you only have to read a bit of Shakespeare, or even Dickens, to see how much it has transformed in a few short centuries. So while we can try to prevail upon it with rules and admonish those who butcher it, the reality is that it’s impossible to be too unforgiving. What you hate today will probably be either gone, or gospel, in a decade or two.
(Did I achieve the right mix of snark and sincerity? Do tell. And l’chaim.)
Had a sobering realization today: I am better at Internet dating than I am at job hunting.
Well there’s a yikes.
Now I guess I say I am better at the internet dating thing because at least when I was doing that, I got nibbles. Oh, stop being smut-tastic. In this instance I am using “nibbles” in a purely innocuous, expression-of-interest way. Though of course there were some (mostly fairly distasteful) come-ons as well.
A Brief History of my Internet Dating Phase: I spent a year working in Bermuda, as a riding school manager, back in 1995. Loooove the island, don’t recommend the work experience, but maybe that was just my usual luck, working for a prize asshat as I was. Anyway. I was seeing someone while I was being all tan and islandy and staying up all night clubbing (whoa, was that ever me?) and zipping around Bermuda on my moped, but he was hung up on a mousy former girlfriend, and besides, he smoked and was eventually going to return to Pittsburgh, so inevitably it fizzled when my job soured (read: I got royally screwed over) and I had to return to the Great White North in a state of great indignation.
Neil, if you’re out there, you probably still have a very sexy voice, though. (Hey, it’s my blog, I can do gratuitous shout-outs to exes I don’t really want to hear from, if I wanna. So there.)
Self-esteem-wise, this was not one of my more sparkling chapters. Took me a while to regroup. Okay, eight years. (Less from Neil than from the whole demoralizing work experience.) But eventually I decided to get back on that figurative horse.
Takes me a lot less time to get back on a real horse, btw, provided I’m not so busted up that I have to call myself an ambulance, which has happened once.
Here’s the thing about being ready to put yourself Out There: if you live on a farm in the middle of … well, not on the mass transit lines, anyway … and you work from home, you’re really not going to encounter a lot of Appropriate Eligibles, now are you. The only single, straight men I tended to run into wore John Deere caps and were picking up 20 bags of turkey starter at the feed store. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but in my experience these fine specimens usually didn’t consider horses ‘real’ farming, didn’t share a whole lot of my other interests, and were mainly looking for someone to help them slaughter a few steers come fall. Gosh, that sounds swell, but I’m pretty sure I have to be in Borneo that week for a gallery opening ….
And men who go everywhere in baseball caps are something of a pet peeve of mine anyway. Geez, give the hat a rest and wash your damn hair.
In case you’re going to suggest horse shows as a potential hunting ground, I will confirm that yes, there are men there, but that they are generally (and by generally, I mean to say ‘overwhelmingly’) not straight. Love ’em, but am completely cognizant that they are not volunteering to come home with me.
So of course the logical option was the slightly sordid world of internet dating. (Does it still have that aura of ickiness, or is it completely respectable these days?)
There are a lot of profiles to wade through on internet dating sites. It’s like job-hunting, but infinitely weirder. You soon learn to recognize the red flags: photos clearly taken in 1974, illiteracy (oh, instant turn-off for little grammar Nazi me), hideous cliches (where are all these people taking the long walks on beaches? I lived on an island renowned for its beaches for an entire year and there should have been fucking armies of these guys marching up and down on the pink sand if these profiles are to be believed).
Also worth avoiding: those with profile names like “Sphincter”. (No, tragically, I am not kidding.)
I got considerable amusement value out of dipping my virtual toes into the “Encounters” section of Lavalife. For the uninitiated, Lavalife — at least as of six or seven years ago, I haven’t checked more recently than that, I swear — was divided into a sanitized and mind-crushingly dull “hi, I just want to be pen-friends because I have High Moral Standards” section where there were 
crickets chirping instead of men, a middle-of-the-road “looking for love that would probably include some eventual consensual groping” section, and a “zipless fuck” section where the men descended like lampreys should any woman, real or imagined, peek around the doorframe on the instant chat. Needless to say, this can be a hoot if you’re in the frame of mind to see just how pathetic and cliched they can get … and oh, boy, can they. I used to re-write my profile in the Encounters corral about once a week, each time stretching the boundaries of slutty credibility a little further, and no male ever called me on it. Not a productive exercise as far as finding a legit squeeze, admittedly, but certainly an interesting window into humanity’s baser qualities …
Mostly, I think you have to approach internet dating the way you do porta-potties at horse shows. Nasty and unpleasant, but better than nothing. Just hold your breath, get in and get out as quickly as you can, and whatever you do, don’t look down.
Choosing the right dating site is half the battle, I suspect, but for me it was mostly about not having to cough up a credit card number. Some are clearly over-hyped; I joined the legions who were rejected by eHarmony, for example (seriously, Google it — 157,000 results; I think it’s a badge of honour, honestly) because I was “not spiritual enough”. (Oh, apparently you have to believe in a bearded white guy in the clouds in order to believe in a meaningful connection on earth. Silly me, I’ll get right on that.)
Others just didn’t seem to have much turnover … the same flaccid (and yes, you caught me, you clever reader, I’m using the word deliberately) profiles were there, month after month after month, and I just knew the site needed to be renamed PlentyOfSpaceInMyMom’sBasement.com.
I certainly did encounter some players in the Lavalife years. One of whom I outed to several of his other ‘connections’ when I discovered he’d been lying about all sorts o’ important stuff including his marital status and whether he’d been HIV tested. Do NOT mess with me, fellas. (Lest you think me impertinent, every single woman I contacted thanked me for the heads-up on this knob.)
Another who couldn’t even sustain the most banal kind of small-talk during a ‘meet for drinks’ at a sports bar clearly chosen more for its big-screen display of the Leafs losing, than for my enjoyment, but was genuinely gobsmacked when I didn’t leap at his invitation to come home with him.
And one who thought an appropriate first date would be for me to get in a van with him and drive around the deserted roads of a nearby provincial park, well after dark, until he found a suitable place to dump the body.
But you know what? I did find a good guy there eventually. Okay, flawed, but hey, I’m a smidge quirky myself in addition to being over 20 and not a size zero, so, you know, I make allowances. He’s good enough that we’re still together nearly six years later, and I deleted my profile and Lavalife finally stopped badgering me to come back a couple years later. And that’s all I’m going to say about that because I didn’t really tell him I was going to be writing about this and I don’t know if his mother knows we met online.
Given that, I have to say I’m more successful at internet dating than I am at job-hunting, because in the past three years I have sent out thousands of resumes and managed only a handful of interviews, and no lasting matches. Even though I probably come across as a lot more sane and capable on a resume than I did on a dating profile, and it really shouldn’t bloody matter that I’m not a size zero and it should be a plus that I’m over 20. Right? (Hmm. The crickets are back.)
I even got rejected the other day by a resume-compilation/headhunter service to which I’d been given (supposedly) a 30-day free trial thanks to membership in a LinkedIn group. Spent all that time inputting my resume only to have it spat back out at me.
So what was it about internet dating that I did better? This is something to ponder. Questions, comments, thoughts, concerns?
Writing From the Right Side of the Stall 