Living the Fictional Dream

A cliffhanger irritates me, be it on a TV show or in a book series. The idea behind them is to leave the public wanting more, to make it so they have to come back to the next chapter, the next novel, the next episode, or the next season.

And, I will admit, they work. I can’t tell you how many times I open up a book to read a little before bed, and, before I know it, it’s approaching midnight and I have blown through several chapters at one go. I want to keep going because there is no good place to stop. Every time I get to a section break or the end of a chapter, something dramatic happens, and I have to know what happens next, just like the dramatic happenings right before a commercial break on a TV show.

The worst ones, though, are the cliffhangers between seasons or book releases. Those are the killers, and the ones that I find the most unnecessary. I do understand that the same principle still applies. The writers want to leave the public wanting more, ensuring they will tune in next season/buy the next book in the series.

But it’s so cruel… At least when it’s a TV show, you’ve only got three or four months to wait (cable shows like Farscape aside). I just finished watching this season’s Supernatural, and since the show runners knew they were going to be renewed for next year, they left us with a doozy. That final shot of Dean was haunting, and I have no idea how they’re going to get him out of this one! It’s agony waiting until next fall!

But a book series is even worse! Publishing moves slowly… like a glacier, sometimes. It depends on the author and the publisher, too. Take P.C. Cast’s House of Night series. Crazy things happened to our heroine in the last book, and drama came crashing down hard. Now everything she used to be able to depend on is ripped asunder, evil threatens, and I’m left to wonder until maybe the fall. I’m not sure.

And then there is George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. The thing has the worst cliffhangers I’ve ever read, and the guy takes forever to finish a book. Multiple year-type forever! If the books weren’t so amazing, I wouldn’t even bother because it’s so frustrating, both waiting for him and waiting to find out if the characters in jeopardy at the end of the last one are going to get out of it OK (and with GRRM, you seriously never know!). The cliffhangers are even worse this time. Because of the length of the last novel, he cut it in half and each half addresses some of the characters. So the characters in jeopardy at the end of A Feast for Crows won’t even be seen again until the book after A Dance with Dragons!!!

I guess that my opinion on cliffhangers is that they are a tool in a writer’s arsenal, but they should be used judiciously. You should keep your readers/viewers in mind. If you’re not going to be able to continue your series, definitely don’t leave it in a cliffhanger. Heck, if you’re not 100% sure you’ll be able to continue (i.e., you don’t have the signed contract in hand), don’t leave it in a cliffhanger. And, you know what? If you’re going to be a year or more between installments, think about giving your readers a break!

As far as the more minor cliffhangers between chapters go, I can see why they are so popular today. In this world where TV, movies, video games, etc., take more of the public’s time and attention away from reading, you have to build that excitement and make them unable to put the book down in favor of something else. If the reader puts the book down, they might never come back again. So, I do understand them for pacing, and it can make a very exciting read at a breathless pace.

Personally, I prefer a mixture of dramatic moments and restful ones, but I fear I am in the minority on that one.

We’re going into summer now… time to cool my heels until the next round of television comes back to relieve me from my post-season-finale-cliffhanger madness. Maybe a few of my favorite book series will come out with new installments to pass the time until fall? Or perhaps I’ll have to find some new ones…

I will say, though, that there are more important things than cliffhangers. They may irritate me (whether or not I understand the purpose, they still irritate me), but there are more important concerns. For me, if I love the characters, the universe, and the story, if the book or show sucks me into that vivid fictional dream and won’t let me go, then I’ll be back. Cliffhanger or no cliffhanger. And if it doesn’t, that’s when I walk away.

Over the holiday weekend, I read The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street. Actually, the first one was a re-read, as I discovered the original Penderwicks novel last year, but the story definitely stood up to re-reading, which is a good point in favor of author Jeanne Birdsall.

These books would be considered middle grade, I believe, as the main characters, the sisters, are all 12 or younger. The oldest sister, Rosalind, is the mother of the brood, as their mother died of cancer two weeks after their youngest sister was born. Skye is 11, and the rebellious and tempermental one of the bunch — she always speaks before she thinks. Skye is brilliantly smart at math and teaches herself algebra for fun. Jane, the third Penderwick sister, is 10 and a budding creative writer. She writes adventure stories about a heroine named Sabrina Starr, who always rescues things. Jane also is a budding soccer player (and she turns into an English soccer player named Mick when she’s challenged or frightened on the field), and in the second book discovers a talent for acting. Finally, there’s Batty (full name, Elizabeth, after their mom), four years old, with a nose for trouble, a penchant for becoming invisible at a moments notice (being invisible means standing very, very still) and a nearly psychic relationship with the family dog, Hound.

In The Penderwicks the girls and their absent-minded professor father rent a cabin for the summer where the girls become friends with Jeffery, the son of the tempermental woman who owns the cabin. Skye learns about the dangers of first impressions. Jane has her first experience with a “real” publisher. Rosy experiences her first crush, and Batty meets the two rabbits and has other adventures, such as finding herself being charged by a bull. We learn about the Penderwick Family Honor, MOPS (Meeting Of Penderwick Sisters) and MOOPS (Meeting Of Older Penderwick Sisters), and other tidbits of the life of this charming family.

When the Penderwicks return to Gardam Street, the girls find themselves embroiled in the “Save Daddy” plan — a plan meant to thwart their Aunt Claire’s plan to make Mr. Penderwick re-enter the dating game. In the process, Rosy discovers hidden depths in their neighbor, Tommy; Jane and Skye switch homework assignments with disasterious concequences; Batty encounters the Bug Man; and they meet their new neighbors, Iantha and her son, Ben.

These books are written for children. An adult can see the plot coming a mile away (I was not fooled for a moment when Mr. Penderwick announced his date with Marianne Dashwood). But the strength of these tales is their charm and the ease of the writing. They took me back to being a girl who loved spending her days with the March sisters, the Pepper children, and so many others in old fashioned stories like Little Women, A Little Princess, The Five Little Peppers, and The Secret Garden. In books like that, everyone tried to be good, accepted the consequences of their actions with honor, and were rewarded in the end. They also always loved each other and knew how to make their own fun with their imaginations.

The Penderwick stories are firmly set in the current day world, but they are written with the charm of those old fashioned children’s stories. The Penderwick girls always have much more important things to do than play video games or watch TV. They would much rather practice their soccer, play secret agent, write stories, splash in fountains, or wear butterfly wings. It’s like The Daring Book for Girls and The Dangerous Book for Boys come to life!

I’ve always had an idea in the back of my mind — writing Little Women for today’s world. I even have the names of my sisters all picked out. It looks like Jeanne and the Penderwicks beat me to it!

Unless you really enjoy children’s literature, like I do, I probably wouldn’t recommend sitting down with the Penderwicks. However, if you do enjoy children’s books, then definitely give the Penderwicks a try. And if you have kids, especially daughters, I think this would be the perfect book to give them, or, even better, to read with them at bedtime.

I had a story critiqued at my writing group meeting today. Back in my undergrad and graduate workshop classes, I used to be so stressed out about having critiques. Maybe it was being graded. Or maybe it was because I was being critiqued by classmates, not friends.

The thing I love about Writer’s Ink is that balance of friendship and writing. Everyone is genuinely supportive and wants everyone else to succeed at this writing thing, but we don’t pull our punches about the stories. If there are problems, we talk about them. No rah-rahs just for the sake of praise. If people do give me good comments, I know they are sincere. And when you have that level of friendship, it’s easier to listen to what they have to say, because, let’s face it, critiques can be rough. Trust in a writing group is very important.

A good critique group is very valuable for a writer. Writing is hard on your own. You get mired down in the story and soon it is saying what you want it to say. Critiques help you see a story for what it is and make it better.

I’m excited about the story that I had critiqued today. I think it’s a good one. It has a few flaws to iron out, but I hope to have it ready to start submitting sometime soon. I have the perfect first place to send it to!

G’night all!

My parents own land and a snug little cabin a few miles outside of the small town where I grew up. For Stephen and I, the cabin has become a great retreat. Being only a couple of hours away from home, it’s the perfect place for a weekend get-away. Holiday weekends, like this one, are even better, because we have two full days at the cabin instead of just one.

The cabin is quite cozy, as far as cabins go. When my mom first told me about it, I pictured a rustic shack with little in the way of amenities—something for guys to use on a hunting trip. Happily, that mental picture was completely wrong. The cabin has electricity, running water, air conditioning/heat, a fridge, a washer/dryer, and what has to be the biggest cabin bathroom on the planet (I think it’s bigger than our guest bathroom at home!). The property also has a shed for storage, a fire pit (great for cooking meat and roasting marshmallows over), two ponds, and plenty of hiking trails.

I love our weekends at the cabin, because I generally get a lot of writing done. Stephen and my dad go out on the property and work—chipping wood, trimming vines, mowing, etc.—while I stay inside (or out on the wrap-around porch, if it’s not too buggy) and type away. And because the cabin does not have the Internet or cable, I am much less likely to be distracted.

The cabin has popped up in several short stories I’ve written in the past year or so. It appeared fully formed in a short story I wrote about a pack of werecoyotes living in the Texas hill country (sadly, I haven’t place this story yet, but it’s gotten close a couple of times—I’m still waiting to hear from one market, so cross your fingers for me!). The cabin also appears, sans modern accoutrements, in the first scene of a story I wrote for my writing group’s 2007 short story collection (every year, we vote on a theme and all write a short story for that theme—several of our members have actually had their contributions published).

It’s funny how real life can creep into your writing. I think that it adds depth to a story if the writer knows the setting intimately. You can really create that vivid fictional dream for your reader by describing the setting with all five senses. Being able to describe the sounds and the smells, anything in addition to what the place looks like, really adds to the depth.

One of these days, I’m going to write a story set in a dentist’s office. My dad is a dentist, and I worked there part-time for several summers during high school and college. In one of my grad school fiction workshops, a classmate wrote a story about going to the dentist, and someone raved on the setting, saying that having the main character in the chair with the dentist’s hands in her mouth was a great hook. So, one of these days, perhaps I’ll put all that dental office experience into some fictional good use.

Of course, first I actually need to come up with a plot where that setting would be appropriate! And I have plenty of short stories in progress that actually have plots, so the dental office idea will stay on the back burner for now. Then again, that’s the thing about being a writer (at least in my experience)—there are always way more ideas than there are completed stories or time to write them.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! I hope you all have a relaxing weekend, and I hope that all the writers out there are able to get extra time in on their works-in-progress this weekend!

Last night, I went with a group of friends to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and after it was over, there were mixed reviews that ran the gamut from loved it to hated it. I went in to the movie with low expectations, having heard only lukewarm reviews thus far, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie felt like an Indiana Jones flick. It had the action (exciting, but not too realistic with the blood and gore) and the requisite chase scenes. Indy, though more grizzled than in days of old, still looked dang good in his hat and knew how to use his whip. There were crazy archeologist types and evil armies (this time Communist instead of Nazi). There was an evil woman with a bad accent. There were plenty of bad jokes with that Indy flare. And there was a quest for an ancient artifact that took us to exotic locations. In addition, we had my favorite Indy love interest of all time.

And, in addition to all the classic elements, there were new additions that made the movie unique from its predecessors. There was a spunky kid. The setting and time period were new (the fifties flare was amusing). And the plot about the artifact was definitely new territory for an Indy film. Some people in my group thought the plot about the artifact was too out of this world, too absurd, but to me that is what an Indy film is all about. Tell me that an immortal knight guarding the holy grail isn’t aburd!

Personally, I enjoyed the film. It was an adventurous romp through the classics, but with enough uniqueness to make it stand on its own. I wouldn’t have liked the movie if they’d tried to make it a current-day action flick. I don’t want my Indy tainted with “realistic” violence and gore or hatred and angst. If I’m going to see Indy, I want fun, excitement, and adventure without worrying about how if Indy had really fallen that far he would have broken a limb, or worse! But some of my compatriots felt that it was too over the top, too cliche, not worth the price of admission.

The range of comments got me thinking about stories in general. It reminded me of the dichotomy you often see in genre fiction between genre conventions and new twists.

Some readers, editors, reviewers, etc., don’t like a genre story unless it brings something new to the table. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like new twists as much as the next girl, and reading a sword and sorcery story with an Asian setting and martial arts or a vampire story where the vampires glitter in the sunlight instead of bursting into flames is interesting and memorable. Striving to redefine genre fiction is great!

However, during all this redefining and all this emphasis on the new, I don’t think we should forget the old, the traditional, or the classics. They became classic for a reason, and I believe that stories upholding the genre conventions can be just as enjoyable to read as those that bend and twist them.

And I don’t think I’m alone. Otherwise why would e-zines promising us stories in the same vein as the pulp novels of old be springing up all over the web? Ray Gun Revival, Blazing Adventures, and Big Pulp all claim to publish stories that harken back to the Golden Age of pulp fiction.

But just because you embrace the old conventions, that doesn’t mean a story has to be stale and derivative. There are so many elements that make up a story. The characters, with their own unique motivations and personalities are a big one. As is the plot itself. Watching the new Indy movie was like that for me — it was a new Indy adventure with the classic Indy feel and style. Good fun was had by all.

And think about category romance novels. Yes, a lot of people look down on them, but I’m not one of those people. It takes skill to write a good romance novel. I tried to write one once, thinking it would be an easy way to break into the novel-writing market, and boy was I wrong. I don’t think I got past chapter one.

When you pick up a romance novel, you expect it to have a lead female character and a lead male character who have an instant attraction. Problems will ensue, which keep the characters from getting together. There will be romantic scenes (though not always sex… it depends on what line you’re reading), and in the end, there will be a happy ending. But there are a million ways to take that formula and make it unique. Characters, supporting characters, locations, plots, etc. It takes skill and good writing to pull off a success in that genre. And, there are convention benders in the romance genre, too — nowadays there are so many subgenres, the sci-fi romance, the urban fantasy romance, etc.

Now, don’t take this entry as me being against changing genre conventions or finding that ellusive new twist. It’s not at all! I think a writer who succeeds in that has done a great job with his or her story.

It’s just that I also think there is plenty of room out there for a conventional stories, as well, as long as the writers take the time to breathe life into the conventions and don’t just follow a formula. If you’re going to write golden aged pulp, do it with style, do it with unique characters, give us a fun, adventurous romp. And, in the end, there will be stories out there for everyone.

Today is a day for sharing. Hopefully, you’ll find these links as fun and/or interesting as I do!

First of, I want to give a shout out to Alex, one of my fellow writing group members. He wrote a flash fiction mystery, and it went live on Every Day Fiction this morning.

Second, Jens, another Writer’s Ink member, has redesigned his blog. Check it out. The new graphics are awesome. My favorite is the space ship, but the dinosaur is cool, too. Apparently, the preferred viewing browser is Firefox. Also of note, Jens is going to start putting original flash fiction on his site regularly, so that will be worth checking out!

Here is the link to mystery author Carole Nelson Douglas’s website. If you enjoy mysteries, genre-bending, and strong female protagonists, you should definitely check out her books. And I’m only slightly biased from the fact that I worked as her personal assistant for three years during college and early grad school! (Talk about having one’s eyes opened to what the real life of a midlist author is like!) If you enjoy urban fantasy, I highly recommend her newest series about a heroine with a mysterious past named Delilah Street. The first book is called Dances with Werewolves.

If you’re looking for something good to read in the speculative short story line, I’m going to point you over to Strange Horizons. I’m sure most of the short story writers who drop by heard of SH long ago, but I thought some of the nonwriters who pop by every now and then might be interested. SH is actually considered a professional market for short stories because of their pay rates, but you can read the stories there for free. I have read many interesting science fiction and fantasy short stories there, so it’s definitely worth a spin around the archives.

If you write, but you’re in need of some inspiration, you should check out my friend Melissa’s website, Cafe Writing.

If space westerns are your thing, you’ve got to take a look at SpaceWesterns.com. This site has quality short fiction. I’ve never been disappointed by a story there. Jens has a story there, and I really love some of the space westerns with female protagonists, like A Llama’s Tale and The Clone-Wrangler’s Bride.

Residential Aliens is a speculative fiction e-zine with a spiritual slant, which I know will appeal to some of my dozen blog readers. I particularly enjoyed the story “Morning Coffee.”

And, finally, in a departure from the writing theme, I want to recommend two blogs that focus on Fort Worth, my hometown. West and Clear includes notes about current events, Fort Worth news, and lots of current happenings. Occasionally, Stephanie, another Writer’s Inker, even contributes reviews. Fort Worthology focuses on urban development in Fort Worth, and is always chock full of the latest information on many of the construction sites around the city — especially those associated with “new urbanism” and the downtown area. Kevin, the author of FWology, is Writer’s Ink support staff. Kevin also includes a lot of his own urban photography on the site.

So, the next time you have some free time and need something to check out on the web, try one of these sites. You won’t be disappointed.

If you send your stories out into the world, you’ve gotten rejected. It’s just par for the course. Getting published is a mixture of hard work and luck (getting your story to the right editor at the right time).

I think one of the hardest things about writing fiction with the hope of publication is the frequent rejection. These stories are our babies. We work on them, endlessly tweaking one word here and one paragraph there. We cut for flow and add for understanding. We craft characters out of thin air and breathe life into them with quotation marks and semicolons.

But, rejection isn’t all bad. If you can take rejections with a grain of salt and see them as something professional, not something personal (I know that’s hard… what is writing if not personal?), it’s easier not to lose heart. I know… I lost heart when I was in high school and again in college. But when I started submitting short stories in 2007, I promised myself that this time I wouldn’t give up. And I didn’t! And now I actually have a publication list, which thrills me to no end.

Rejection notes still have a sting to them, but it’s so much less now than it used to be. So, if you’re a new writer out there who has yet to garner that ellusive first acceptance letter, I would encourage you to keep trying. Craft the best stories you can, and eventually someone will want to publish it. It might take a while to find that first right fit, but it’s out there.

Also, try to learn something from your rejection notes. Sometimes rejection letters include comments from the editors. That is especially nice – you’re not left wondering why they didn’t choose your piece. (Every Day Fiction is one market that takes the time to do this. Haurah: Breath of Heaven and flashquake do, also.) However, you have to be able to take the criticism. If you fire off an angry response (or even a pleasant, but argumentative one), not only are the editors not going to change their minds, but they’ll probably be glad they didn’t accept your story.

Even if you recieve a form rejection, sans comments, you can still learn something, even if it’s just something about what kind of stories that market likes/dislikes. The more rejections you get for a story, the more it might be that there is a flawed element in the story that needs work before sending it back out there.

So, for all you new writers out there, I say brave the rejections and start submitting. The worst anyone can say is no!

I’ve added a new page to this blog — a list of all my published stories and related links. You can click on the “Erin’s Stories” link at the top of this page, or just go here.

Each story does have its own entry on the blog, complete with info about my inspirations, the writing process, etc. (which you can get to by clicking on the “My Stories” category in the right-hand column), but for a comprehensive list of links, the new page is more efficient.

When I was in grad school, professors discussed the intentional fallacy of literary criticism — the danger of interpreting a piece of literature in a certain way because that meaning is what the author intended. I remember being perturbed by that idea at the time. After all, if an author doesn’t know what his or her writing is about, then who will? The discipline of literary criticism has plenty of ideas!

What the intentional fallacy (and literary criticism in general!) helped me realize is that there isn’t just one correct interpretation for a story. A reader with determination can extract nearly any meaning out of a story that they want to. I read papers in scholarly journals reducing great works to a certain meaning based solely on the treatment of women, philosophical ideals, wealth, or the type and amount of food eaten by the characters. Someone determined enough can probably prove their chosen interpretation for any work.

Personally, though, as a reader, I don’t want to have to think that hard about it. I want to enjoy what I read, I want it to affect me emotionally (affective fallacy anyone?), and I want it to tell me a good story with characters I like. I want to be transported to a reality different than my own. I want that vivid, continuous fictional dream. If I get those things, then to me, the story is a success.

But, there are themes in stories, and symbolism. The author’s intent is there, too, whether or not you take it into account. But the thing that no one can predict is what the reader brings to the table. Everyone looks out onto the world from his or her own window made up of their experiences, thoughts, and perceptions. That means every reader brings something of his or her own to the story. Something that resonates deeply for one reader may not be more than a blip to another.

Take C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series, for example. Lewis has stated that he did not intend to write the series to be a Christian allegory, but you cannot deny that the Christian themes do exist. But (at least in my readings) a direct Biblical interpretation doesn’t work. There are too many elements that don’t fit. To me, it’s a beautifully drawn fantasy world with characters we like. I do see the Christian symbolism (Aslan’s sacrifice always brings me to tears, and my heart soars at his resurrection), but that isn’t the end-all, be-all of the stories.

And, in the end, I think that’s the way a discerning reader should think. No, I’m not saying that my personal take on Naria is the “right” one. I’m saying that a discerning reader reads the story with what they bring to the table and takes away what works for them.

Trying to force someone else to see your interpretation as the “right” one… it just doesn’t work, for the most part. And it stands more of a chance of turning the other person off to what might be a very enjoyable and very meaningful read.

But how does that relate to my stories? Do I think that my interpretation as the author should be important? I do think authorial intent has a place. I always find it interesting to know what writers were thinking when they wrote their stories. What did Lewis think about Narnia? Why did my fellow writing group member Jens chose a particular theme for a certain short story? In Twilight, why is Stephanie Meyer so hard on Bella? [I read in an interview that she's anti-human (humans would always need rescuing when vamps and werewolves are in the mix), not anti-female, which she has been accused of.]

But the authorial interpretation is not the only one. There are as many interpretations out there as there are readers. And, to me, that is the whole beauty of this game… the sheer possibilities of it all!

A working story (short story, novel, or even a movie) has so many components to juggle. There is the beginning hook, of course; an element that gets more than its fair share of attention. After all, you have to have a first line, a first paragraph that kicks butt to draw in the ever-fickle reader.

And it’s true. I’m a very forgiving reader (maybe it’s the writer in me?), but there are occasions where I’ve put the story/book down. For the most part, I finish what I start out of sheer perversity (if I bother to start, I want to know what happens), but there have been occasions that I’ve put down the book or clicked the back button because I was so unmoved that I just didn’t care either way.

With all the pressure on the hook, it can be hard to get started. Only once did a story hook come to me fully formed. Usually, they are the result of much tweaking. I think of that line by Alex in the movie Alex & Emma, “Call me Ishmael. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. God created the Heavens and the Earth. Can you see why I can’t begin? The giants that have gone before me!”

And then there is the catalyst to consider, followed by that difficult part where you’re walking a tightrope toward the end, balancing between too little information (a confused reader) and too much (a bored reader). And then the climax, which had better be satisfying.

But what about the ending? Sometimes, by the ending, it seems like the focus has been lost. The climax has climaxed, the characters are living happily ever after (or not), and it’s time to get out of there.

The movie 27 Dresses is a good example (if you haven’t seen it and don’t like spoilers, you might want to skip the rest of this entry). I really liked this movie — the characters are great, their emotions are very real and well-founded, and you spend the whole movie just hoping that Jane and Kevin will wake up and realize that they are perfect for each other. Every time Tess pulls another stunt or says something that hurts Jane just a little more, you want her to get her comeuppance. And boy, does she! Even the character of the “other guy,” is a nice guy you can sympathize with (even if he didn’t see the awesomeness of Jane, he was kind, a great boss, and concerned about the environment). The movie gets you into their story, and keeps you going through classic moments (like the bridesmaid’s dress fashion show and the “Benny and the Jets” song and dance), up until the rehearsal dinner showdown.

And then there’s the end. I like that the 27 brides are all there, but the rest of it… ug… so corny. And not in a good way, even for a romantic comedy. I wanted them to get married under the tree in the field where they had the car wreck. I wanted a shot at the reception of them leading the crowd in a rendition of “Benny and the Jets.” I wanted something that left me will happy memories of the couple as the credits rolled. Instead, I got a rather insipid wedding scene which ended with the stellar exchange, “Is it everything you hoped for? No… it’s better.” I really, really like this movie, but that last impression of cheese and cliche is almost enough to ruin it.

That’s something writers need to think about when they craft their stories. The hook draws the reader into the story, and the characters, the plot, the catalyst, the pacing, and the climax keep them there. But the ending… that’s the writer’s chance to make a last impression, something the reader takes with them, something the reader will associate with that writer. If the last impression is good, maybe the reader will be moved to check out the writer’s blog or website to find links to more stories. If the last impression isn’t, chances are, readers might not forget about the writer, but they most likely will not follow up or become fans.

And, really, in today’s market, a group of loyal readers is important. Those are the people who will buy all your books (instead of borrowing them or getting them at Half Price) and read all your stories. Those are the people who will stay with you. Last impressions count!