A Writer Keeps Learning

One of the things I've always found interesting is when I hear other writer say they don't attend workshops because there is nothing new for them to learn.

I don't feel that way.  I attend workshops and online classes because I feel there is always something for me to learn.  While some classes I may only get one or two things from it, I still learn something.

In the last few months I've been to classes on emotion, sagging middles, great beginnings, world building and now on the dynamics of a BDSM relationship.

I've picked up new concepts and ideas from all of these.  And they do go a long way in helping me improve my writing.

Sometimes I don't see where I'm making mistakes as I'm writing, but by attending these workshop or classes, I begin to see where I can make improvements.

To me there is always something to be learned no matter what.

Have a great week.

Brainstorming the new book

It's time to start brainstorming a new book while the others are with my editor being read for contracts.

I hadn't planned on writing this particular book but my publisher (The Wild Rose Press) put out a call for submissions and I the ideas started flowing.

It will be part of the Scarlet line (Erotic) and called: Real Men Wear Kilts - so yes, my hero will wear a kilt.

So my brainstorming will begin so I can figure out my characters, who they are and what their conflicts are about. 

But I thought I'd share some pictures:

Here's my hero:

Here's my heroine:

And just for fun:

Have a great week.

The Fun of being a Writer

Yes, being a writer can be fun.

It is also hard work, sometimes I just want to throw in the towel, but luckily that attitude doesn't last long.

The fun part of being a writer.  Dreaming up a new book.

That's what I've been doing.  I have the opportunity to be part of a series with other authors with my publisher so I've been play with the idea I've submitted.

I haven't gotten far yet, but thought I'd share.

Or course it's an erotic romance and I finally decided my heroine is a vet.  The hero rescues a dog and brings it into her.

So here's some pictures I'm using to brainstorm the book.

And that's it.  Have a great week.

Cover Reveal

It's been an interesting week.  I will be attending a BDSM Writers Conference in New York this month and as part of that I was asked if I would like to be in an anthology with other writers attending the conference.

Of course I said yes.

The catch, the story had to be 5,000 words or less, and it had to be in  no later than July 31.  Okay, I could do that.  And I did. But the edits turn around time was 24-48 hours.  Now that was a challenge, because when I got them I was knee deep working on another book.

But I got them done and I'm happy to say the book is now available.

Here's the cover:

If you are interested in ordering you can click here

Until August 18th the print edition is 30% off, and if you're going to be in the New York area, we will be having a public book signing on Sunday 8/24 from 12 noon until 4 pm.  For a list of the authors signing you can click here

I hope you'll like my contribution to the anthology.  My story is called Caro's Fantasy and is a delicious story. 

There will be an e-book edition as well, it will be available after the conference.

Have a great week.

And tune in next Monday 8/25 for a special post on my blog.

New Year and Goals

Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone  had a great New Year and partied like there was no tomorrow : )

As the new year dawns, I look back on the previous year and look at was accomplished on my goal list.

Every year I write goals for the year, as they are related to my writing business, then put them away only to pull them out at the end of that year.

For 2013 out of 27 goals, I accomplished 17 of them so that wasn't bad.  Then I realized there were 8 more goals I had completed that were not on the list.

I feel really good about what I accomplished in 2013.  It was a transition year for me, with moving to Washington State, getting settled in a brand new home, dealing with family and just the ups and downs of life.

I've already written my goals for 2014 and there are a lot of them, but I'm determined to make this my best year yet.

Have a great week.

Writer's Options

Writers have so many options now-a-days.

There is traditional publishing with a New York publisher where you come out in print, e-book and maybe even a book club.

There is small press publishing where you come out in e-book and print, sometimes e-book only.

Then there is self-publishing where you do everything yourself.  Usually come out in e-book and POD (Print-On-Demand)

And then there is the hybrid author who does both traditional and self-publishing or small press and self-publishing.

There is no right or wrong here.  Each writer must explore what is best for them.

But you need to research your choices.  I hear disparaging comments on all sides of the coin where one side doesn't think the other is very smart.

Talk with other writers, find out why they choose the path they did.  Learn about the business and educate yourself.

No one is going to educate you.  You have to seek out the answers.

Professional writers organizations like Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, etc.  are a good place to start.  Many of them have some basic education, but again it is up to you as the writer to make the right decision for you after you have done your research.

Also understand there are things a New York Publishing house might do that a small press may not.  Or a small press may do something better than a New York Publisher.  All have their ups and downs.

The only warning I give, is if you decide to go the self-publishing route, remember you have to do it all.  Writing, editing, proofing, copy editing, cover art, formatting, putting it up on every platform, etc.  If you're unsure of anything, hire someone.  I would particularly say hire for editing, copy editing and cover art.

You want to stand out in a sea of thousands, in a good way, make your book the best possible book it can be before you or your publisher puts it out there.

Know What Your Publisher Does for You

Pet peeve here.  If you accept an offer from a publisher, I don't care what kind of publisher, you better know what your publisher does for you.

Does your publisher just put your book out there?

Do they do edits at no charge to you?

Do they do the cover art at no charge?

Do you have input on the cover art?

Many of these are spelled out in your contract. So please, read your contract.  You are signing a legal binding agreement with the contract, make sure you know what you're getting into. 

There are also things like:

Does your publisher do any marketing for you?

Does your publisher arrange blog tours for you?

Do they give you copies to give away or must you purchase them?

Some of these may or may not be in your contract and these are things you need to know and understand. 

If  you don't know something, ask your editor and/or agent.  Or research the answer by talking to other authors published by that publisher.

Don't assume your publisher is doing something unless they've told you.  If you're not sure ask.  You won't appear stupid to the publisher, they know there are so many options out in the world. 

An example of this, I was explaining to some writing friends about my publisher putting my books into Amazon's KDP Select and how it worked out for me with the 5 free days KDP Select has.

Another published author wanted to know when she was going to get her 5 free days with Amazon and how did she set it up. 

Both myself and another writer explained, that was up to her publisher, she needed to talk to her publisher.  This author continued to go on about how if I did it why couldn't she.  I patiently explained my publisher did this, not me.  And since they published her book she needed to discuss with her publisher, she can't take the book the publisher published and make it free without them agreeing and her publisher making it free.

This is just one example.  There are so many options now-a-days.  Writers/Authors need to be informed. Writers/Authors need to do their homework.  

And just because someone else is doing it doesn't mean its the right fit for you.  You have options, explore them all.

Next week: Writer's Options

Track Expenses

It amazes me how many people have no clue about tracking their expenses. 

I'm asked all the time if I keep receipts, how do I do my taxes, etc.

From my experience with the IRS (US), the more you keep track the better off you are especially if you're doing a tax filing showing yourself as a writer. 

I track all my writing expenses: conferences, hotels, meals, etc., that includes car mileage.

There are various ways to track, and you can find various ways on the Internet or by asking people what they use.  

But it is important to track your expenses before and after you've published.  

I started claiming my writing expenses many, many years before I was published.  Now, I will say, there were many things I could have tried to write off my taxes but chose not to.  This was my choice.  I wrote off dues to organizations, conferences, hotel expenses while at conference, meals, etc.  

Now, you don't have to claim your writing expenses before your published with the IRS.  But it is important to tack them, because it will give you an idea of how much money you are spending.  And when you do become published, you'll already have a good tracking system in place.

  

There are expenses I never thought about and year after year I keep track and see what I'm spending my writing income on.  

I track both incoming and outgoing income, I do this by spreadsheets.  It's not hard and as long as you keep it up, so it's not time consuming.

You are going to have expenses as a writer so it's important to track them.

Next week: Know what your publisher does for you

Time to Write

One of the things that make us professional writers is we write.

You wouldn't believe how many people forget that.  As a writer, I have to write my books and short novella's and get them to my editors in order for readers to read them.

If I don't write, I don't get paid because I've sold nothing to my editors and there's nothing for the reader to buy.

Some of the most successful writers do just that write.  Some write 365 days a year, others take time off for the holiday's, others write Monday through Friday and take weekends off.

It doesn't matter how you do it, but you must write and submit your work.  Otherwise, how will readers find you and buy your work.

Writing, at least for me, is a part of me.  When I'm not writing, I'm not happy.  Right now I don't write every day, but I'm working on it.  And I've found so far, for two weeks now, I've been writing or editing every day and I feel so much better about myself and my writing.

This leads in to last weeks topic, keeping track of time.  If I hadn't been keep track I wouldn't have noticed how much I'd progressed in the last two weeks.  I finished editing a novel, which I'd been ignoring, and sent it to my editor.  I'm now working on a novella that has a deadline of the end of this month (November).

I've had things come up in the past two weeks to throw me off my game, but I've made a commitment to myself so I write or edit every day.  Sometimes its very late a night, and I really don't want to do it, but I do and I feel better that I'm keeping my commitment.  Even if its only to myself.

Next week: tracking expenses

Keeping Track of Time

Some wonder why this is important.  It's important to me because I need to know where my time goes, plus by keeping a log of time, I can prove to anyone this isn't a hobby but a job.  

It also helps you as a writer to see are you spending too much time researching than writing?  Or at least where your time goes.

What do I keep track of?

I keep track of:

Research time

Writing time

Reading time

Blogging

Conference time (attending or giving)

Workshop time (attending or giving)

Professional meetings

Anything related to my writing.

I also keep track on a daily basis what I do, so sometimes my typical day looks like this:

online - 1 hour

My blog - 30 minutes

Doctor appt.

Laundry

WIP - 2 hours

This way when I look back at a week when I have missed my weekly goal (it happens) I can see that I had a doctor appointment and laundry which wasn't expected.  I'll even put down when there's a family emergency so I know what happened.

Overkill?  Maybe, but six months to a year from now I may not remember why there are four blank days on my calendar, just have the words family emergency, reminds me.  

Also this helps me when planning out my schedule for writing the next month or even year, because I can see a pattern to where things happen and plan for them.

Next week: Write

Writing Goals

Goals are important to any professional, but especially to writers.  I know when I had the dreaded day job, I hated it when my boss asked what my goals were.  When I was fresh into the company I could tell the boss, but when I was within a few years of retiring, my goal was to retire.

With writing, there is so much more to it.  One has to be realistic about their goals, but that doesn't mean we can't reach for the stars.  We sometimes want to reach higher than we think we can.

The main thing about goals to remember is they need to be SMART goals.

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time-bound

Specific goal - write 5 pages a day, 6 days a week

Measurable - the number of pages per day or week

Attainable - can I write 5 pages a day, 6 days a week?  If yes, then it's attainable, if not, then need to change the goal

Realistic - look at what a typical week looks like, is it realistic for me to write 5 pages a day, 6 days a week

Time-bound - 1 week

This is pretty simplistic but this is what I do.  I have daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals and yearly goals.  I also have 5 year and 10 year plans/goals.  The reason for this is to track where I am, plus the IRS (in the US) can ask for your 5 year and 10 year plans if they think you're not doing this as a business.

It's amazing on how things change which is why you do re-evaluate your goals. I always look at my monthly goals to see how I progressed and change the next month if needed.  On the yearly goals, I look at them once a year at the end of the year to see how I did and make the next years plan accordingly.

The 5 and 10 year goals, I do look at maybe once a year or every other year.  

If you're not making a weekly goal, take a look at your daily goals and see what happened that week and then adjust.

This isn't written in stone, but it gives you a benchmark.

Just remember goals don't make you a professional, but they make do make you look better when asked what your goals are.

Next week: Keeping Track of Time

Conference Weekend

This last weekend I attended the Emerald City Writers Conferece.  It was fun and great to see old friends and make new ones.

I always forget how exhausing conferences can be mainly because you want to squeeze everything you can into the hours you have at the conference.  Sometimes it means giving up sleep and other times it means giving up a workshop or two.

I enjoyed workshops by Sabrina York, Bob Mayer and Jen Talty along with key note speeches by Maya Banks and Robyn Carr.

Writing conferences usually give me the boost I need to get my butt in chair and write again, and this one is no different. I've learned new techniques from Sabrina York, Bob Mayer and Jen Talty.  I've been inspired by Maya Banks and Robyn Carr.

It was a great weekend, but now it's back to my desk, to my writing, because I have books to write.  And next year it will be fun to catch up with everyone again and see what we've all accomplished.

KDP Select through my publisher

My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, has started putting their authors books in the KDP Select program (Amazon).  This means for 90 days the book is only available through Amazon only and as an author, I get 5 free days.

When I first heard about this, I will admit to be a bit unsure about it when I received the notification about my release, it showed when it was going into KDP Select and when it would go on World-Wide sale.

Thanks to, Lisa, our wonderful marketing director, a few days before my free days, she gave us all at The Wild Rose Press a crash course in KDP Select and how to use the free days to our advantage.

Since I only had 3 days until my free days started, I reached out to other authors I know asking for quick blog spots, notified a few websites that will list your free book, and started making a list of what I needed to do during those 5 free days.

A few things I want to point out:

1. I write Erotic Romance and it is a hot sub-genre right now

2. This is my 5th book with The Wild Rose Press so it did make a difference

3. I did very little promotion for the free days because I didn't realize I need to

4. What promo I did do was a couple of blog spots, I did Facebook and Twitter for the first 3 days.

These are how my numbers looked I don't expect anyone else's to look like mine we all write different books.

Monday before my book went free I was ranked in the 495K area

Tuesday, first day free: I was out most of the day, but checked first thing in the morning and I was ranked at 5,000.  Thanks to my wonderful critique partner, she watched my rankings through the day for me, by the end of Tuesday night, my overall ranking was #74 with being #2 in Erotica.

Wednesday, second day free: Ranking started at #37 with #1 in Erotica, by the end of the day my ranking was #24 and still #1 in Erotica

Thursday, third day free: Ranking started at #34 and #2 in Erotica.  By the end of the day my ranking was #52 and still #2 in Erotica

Friday, fourth day free: Ranking started at #61 and #2 in Erotica.  By the end of the day my ranking was #91 and still #2 in Erotica

Saturday, my fifth and last day free: Ranking started at #90 and #2 in Erotica.  By the end of the day my ranking was #92 and still #2 in Erotica.

During that same time period, the rankings on my other books began to get better.  Which meant those books were now selling.

After my book went off free, my ranking of course jumped back up into the 500K range, but then went back down under 100K range and then stayed below that range even now more than a week since I went free.

I also think what really helped is when I went free I had 2 reviews, a week after I went free I had 15 reviews.  Not all of them good, but the majority were very nice.

So that is my free experience with KDP Select through my publisher.  I'm glad The Wild Rose Press gave me the opportunity to be part of this new program.

So tell me what you think about free books on Amazon?  Do you download them and never read them?  Will it get you to try a new author?

Have a great week.

Marie

Too Many Ideas Not Enough Time

It's one of those rare times, for me as a writer, where I have too many ideas.

I know it sounds strange.  How can a writer have too many ideas?

Usually most writers love it when they have too many ideas, me I like it, but right now its driving me crazy.  I have ideas for 4 different books and they're all trying to get my attention.

Its hard for me when I get ideas of characters and new story lines, I want to sit down and write those books now.  But I can't.  I'm under contract for two books right now.  One is in the middle of edits and the second one hasn't been written yet.  Plus I'm working on another book for an editor that will be under contract shortly.

What is a writer to do?

I don't have all the answers.  I've barely written a word in the last week because of all these ideas floating around.  So this week, I'm going to try something different.  I'm going to write myself notes in a brand new notebook that captures these characters, their stories, and what ever else they want to tell me and see if that frees my mind up to work on the book I need to work on.

So how do you handle this when it happens to you?  Or do you have an advice?

Have a great week.

Marie

When Characters Take Over

I've been hard at work in this last week working on my new Work In Progress (WIP).  It was slow starting and I couldn't figure out what to do.  I had a goal of how many pages I wanted to get written because this book needs to be done in a certain amount of time.

Finally about Wednesday the words started flowing and I was moving along at a good pace, making my word count every day.  On Saturday I realized why I was moving so quickly, my male characters had taken over the story.

Yes, male characters.  I'm trying my hand at writing a committed menage story.  I love the characters and the story itself.  But this week, my hero's took over.  I just let them tell me what they want me to write and I write it.

I know it sounds strange, but I've found over the years that I do my best writing this way.  When my characters really begin to talk to me and take over, then the words flow and I learn all sorts of interesting details in their lives that I didn't know.

I'll see over the next week how this all plays out, but so far, I'm pushing my own boundaries as a writer and loving every minute of it.

I'm sure you have a favorite character, from a book, a movie or a TV show. Let me know who or what it is?

Marie

Changes Ahead

Now that I've had a week to digest the RWA National conference I realize the buzz word at conference was "change."

Most of us, including me, don't like changes in our lives.  We like our routines, our quirks and how we do things.  Change is almost always hard and probably always will be.

The writing industry is changing practically daily.  It has been going on for a while, but not quite at the pace I've seen in the last eight months.

Self-publishing (some call it indie-publishing) jumped into the market place in 2010, in 2011 it really began to take form with the sale of the Amazon's and Barnes & Nobles e-readers and tables.  Amazon opened their own self-publishing arm as did Barnes & Noble.  Smashwords took off along with others.

Some self-publishing authors are making lots of money, others are barely making back their expenses in getting the book out there for the public to read.  RWA has had to look at self-publishing and figure out if there is a place in the organization for them.

Editors and agents are having to change how they look at writers, while not all of them are going to make things better for the writer, they are beginning to realize that authors have choices.

So as authors we now have several routes: Traditional (NY print), E-Publishers (e-book only and some print) or Self-Publishing (do it yourself).

I know some people won't like the do it yourself tag I put on self-publishing, but it really is do it yourself.  You must find an editor, a copy editor, a cover artists as the writer, and you will pay out of pocket for these services before you ever put your book up to sell.  And those services can cost you thousands, depending.

I do know authors who have wonderful people they can rely on to edit and copy edit their work for them.  But many don't have a big circle of people they can trust like that.

Change is scary.  I don't advocate one method of publishing over another, I just ask people to think long and hard about their choices.

My choice will not be your choice. I found myself at RWA defending my choice of publishing.  Each person has a different motivation for writing, and it will eventually show up in the writing.

For now, things are going to be in flux.

Post RWA Coma

I have the post RWA coma happening.  Arrived home Sunday afternoon and am totally wiped out from the RWA conference.  I will start posting about the conference when I finish unpacking and get all my notes together.

I will stay it was a very different conference from all the other RWA conferences I've ever gone to.

Have a great week.

Off to RWA National Conference

The past few weeks have been crazy for me.  I'm sorry for not blogging.

I'm in the process of clean out/moving my mom from a house she's lived in for almost 60 years.  It's a move she wants to make, so it does make things easier but cleaning out all the stuff accumulated over the years is difficult.

This week the Romance Writers of American (RWA) National conference is being held in Anaheim, and I'm on my way to it.  I'm driving with another writing friend so we don't have to worry about how many books we bring back.  Okay, I have to worry because I don't want to pack them to be shipped to the new house.

It will be a fun filled week, lots of workshops, meeting friends, and all around writing fun.  The big literacy event is Wed. night at 5 p.m. it's being held at the Anaheim Convention Center which is better than in the hotel ball room.  I won't be signing because my books are only in e-book format and RWA will only allow print books, but I will be there supporting other writers for literacy.

So if you want to meet lots of author stop by the literacy event.

Have a great week.

Everyone is talking about Fifty Shades of Grey

This book has hit the NYT best seller list and has been talked about in the media.

I waited until the books were available in print, pre-ordered them, and when I got them sat down to read them wanting to figure out what the fascination about these books were.

If you're going to read the books, don't read past here.  I don't want to spoil the books for anyone.


First off, these books are not what I would classify as Erotic Romance.

And the reason I see why these books took off is: Christian is every woman's fantasy.  He's a man who wants to take care of his woman, give her anything and everything she wants, he wants to cater to her every wish.

Once you get past the, shall I say, bad writing style, the books actually aren't bad.  As a reader, I read them looking for what was making them a hit in the media and with other readers.  As a writer, I cringed at the repeated word usage, the writing style and the lack of editing.

Christian is one tortured hero, and most romance readers love hero's like that.  Ana is a heroine who will stand up to him and throws him for a loop because she does.  He's arrogant, domineering, and romantic.

He's the classic 1980's romance hero we use to read about before romance writing went politically correct. The hero's were arrogant, domineering and wanted nothing more than to take care of the heroine over her objections.  The books were written from the female point of view only, very little male point of view if any.

This is a total woman's fantasy, a man who wants nothing more than to take care of her.  And this is not a bad thing.  I'm not saying it is.  It's okay to want to have a man who will treat you as the center of the universe.

I can hear the chorus of "no we don't" echoing right now.  Notice I didn't say, a man to take care of you, but treat you as the center of the universe.

As women we're caretakers, we take care of everyone else, but ourselves.  Sometimes, and I do mean sometimes wouldn't you just like to give that responsibility over to someone else and have a day for yourself.  A day where you're the center of the universe, where your every whim is catered to.

I know I would.  But then again, that's why I write what I write.  I write alpha males, who are domineering at times, arrogant at times, but always looking after the woman in their life, no matter what.

It may not be politically correct, but my hero's want the heroine to understand that she is cherished and he will protect her until he dies.

The sex in Fifty Shades, get repetitive, is not a true representation of the BDSM world.  And I found the ending very disappointing.  The author treated the BDSM aspects of Christian's behavior as something that could be cured, BDSM is a lifestyle, not a disease.  While it is hinted there is still a hint of spanking in the books, the hero just suddenly gave it all up, deciding he didn't need it, all because of the love of the heroine. It just didn't ring true for me.

What I did like was at the end of the third book the author included some scenes from Christian's point of view, which would have been nice to have been incorporated into the books.  It showed his fascination with Ana and would have given the readers great insight to his personality.

All in all, the Fifty Shades books gets a C minus from this reader.

Publishing – Your Choice

Today I'm going to talk about publishing, be it Traditional, Small Press or Self-Publishing.  And I'm going to apologize ahead of time in case I start to rant.  This has been a hot button for me lately.

I'm going to state this up front, there is no right or wrong in publishing no matter which options you pursue. 

It is your choice.  I'm going to repeat that your choice.

Over the last few months I've seen more and more blog posts that if you go Traditional you don't know what you're doing, same for Self-Publishing, not very much about Small Press.

Everyone has their own reasons for doing what they're doing with their publishing careers, but no one is stupid, an idiot, doesn't know what they're doing, etc. because they've chosen one area of publishing over another.

Self-Publishing is up and coming, only because Amazon has made it so with their KDP program.  Some authors are making lots of money, getting recognition from Tradition publishers, even Amazon's own publishing arm.  And there are authors who are not. There are horror stories and outstanding success stories. And authors have to be prepared to front money up front for content editing, copy editing, cover art and even possibly having someone create all the files for all the e-readers out there.

Small Press not a lot is being said for these publishers, these are e-publishers who have established business.  Most of their authors put out e-books only with some POD (print on demand).  Again, there are authors making lots of money, getting recognition from publishers and authors who are not.  There are horror stories and outstanding success stories. The author usually does not pay the small press publisher a dime, the author makes their money on royalties, although some small presses do give an advance.

Traditional publishing, this is the tried and true method of publishing. Traditional publishing has the distribution that Self-Publishing and some of the Small Press do not.  In many cases, world-wide distribution. Again, some authors make lots of money, others do not.  There are horror stories and outstanding success stories. Here authors make their money on the advance, and once the advance is earned out then royalties.

I am currently with a Small Press publisher, and I'm still pursuing Traditional publishing.  I've had dozen of people tell me, "don't go Traditional, and give up your Small Press just do KDP." 

Sorry but that's not for me at this time.  There is nothing wrong with KDP, Amazon's business model works for them.  It doesn't work for me.  I have a pretty good idea of what I want out of my writing career, at this point in time, and Self-Publishing isn't it.

Self-Publishing maybe for other people, and that's fine.  But it is my choice on what I do.  I'm really tired of people saying, "Do this, do that, you're stupid if you don't, etc."

I am a small business, I've research Self-Publishing, Traditional and Small Press.  I know where my stories fit and who my audience is. I'm well aware of contract pitfalls, what to look out for and the knowledge of how the publishers pay. And I was always taught that money flows to the author not from the author, with Self-Publishing I would have to pay cost up front (content editing, copy editing, cover artists) before I even put my work out and them hope I can make back that money.

This is my responsibility as a small business, to keep my small business going, I have to weigh the pros and cons of the choices I make.  Again my choices.  I've seen so many people in the last few weeks not taking responsibility for their choices in publishing and bemoaning the facts when things don't go their way.

Who you publish with is your choice, no one else's.  What you decided to do is not wrong or right, it's your choice.

Publishing is fluid, it is changing daily.  I don't have problems with anyone's publishing choices, for they are your choice, just don't tell me I'm wrong because I've chosen to follow my own path.