Lots and lots of links!
First off, if you live in the Bay Area or plan to pass through our fair part of the country I will be hosting a workshop at your friendly neighborhood Books Inc. Opera Plaza in San Francisco on September 13th. The workshop is called Secrets of a Literary Agent, it will be about finding an agent and the secrets therein, and believe it or not, after I reveal this top secret classified agenting information I will not then have to kill you. You’ll just have to take a memory erasing drug.
Amid all this talk of Amazon’s world domination comes more persistent rumors about Apple developing a (potentially Kindle-killing) tablet sized device. T-minus six months until Apple is the new company the Internet thinks is going to bring about the apocalyptic end of books as we know it.
And speaking of the Kindle, remember way back a week ago when everyone was worried about Kindle pricing? Former HarperBusiness publisher Marion Maneker has a terrific article in Slate’s The Big Money this week summarizing the issues surrounding the price point battle and why publishers are reluctant to embrace $9.99. Essentially, even though publishers are generally receiving near hardcover-level revenue from the Kindle as Amazon takes a loss, publishers are anxious about Amazon using their books as loss leaders and also about the extent to which readers are fleeing paper books in the direction of plastic whenever a big title comes out.
The article is also noteworthy as Maneker is the first individual to ever utter the following words in a journalistic sphere: “Publishers aren’t stupid.” HISTORY IN THE MAKING, PEOPLE. Also there is no word on Maneker’s whereabouts. Journalists don’t take kindly to such loose talk.
For more discussion on the future of e-books: B&N recently announced the creation of a massive e-book store, PBS recently featured a segment on e-books (thanks to reader Heidi Willis for the link), there’s an article on demand pricing for e-books by Evan Schnittman, and a 100% must read by Mike Shatzkin evaluating the future of e-books. Shatzkin envisions a near future where there’s an explosion of devices and purchase points, an environment in which Amazon and B&N in particular may not have an edge (via Pub Lunch)
Meanwhile, in news that is completely and totally unrelated to this week’s Orwell/Amazon Internet freakout, Shelf Awareness linked to an article in Retail Week about how customer service expectations have soared in the recession. Hmm..
In Jessica Faust news, I thought three of her recent posts were especially terrific. First is a list of reasons she would stop reading a query and the second is a fairly comprehensive post on novel word count. The last one is advice for all: “Good enough” isn’t good enough.
Also in agent advice, Jane Dystel has a great post on etiquette when submitting to an agent. Some goes just for Dystel & Goderich and some is universal, but definitely check it out.
Still with me? MORE LINKS TO GO.
Anonymous publishing intern The Intern wrote a post about how many spiritual memoirs she’s been receiving (she’s not alone) and some things to consider when writing one. (via Janet Reid)
And in more writing advice news, my amazing client Jennifer Hubbard wrote about the importance of patience (no, really, you’re going to need it), and she also linked to a very interesting discussion by Janni Lee Simner about the distinctions between “girl” and “boy” books and voices.
Many people passed along Editorial Anonymous’ recent Publishometer, a point system by which you can see whether you pass the bar for publication.
Almost finally, as many of you know ANGELA’S ASHES author Frank McCourt passed away this week and there have been many remembrances in the media and online. I was particularly struck by the LA Times book blog Jacket Copy’s article that remembers McCourt as one of the great late blooming authors, having published ANGELA’S ASHES, his first book, when he was 67 and retired.
And finally finally, I was immediately drawn to this video of the world’s fastest everything. I only wish they had included footage of the world’s fastest novel (via Andrew Sullivan).
Have a great weekend!
My list (which, by the way, wasn't even complete, since I 'ran out of space' – I'm not sure how a person runs out of space on the internet… but anyway) wasn't meant to be an absolute: I don't, for example, believe that every novelist must be an alcoholic.
I was just mentioning some of the traits that I've recognized in myself and seen in other novelists. I also find it difficult to believe that a person would advance the idea that people who are predisposed towards a certain profession don't all share certain characteristics.
No, I think that they do.
I think that if you were to examine, say, people who are doctors, then you'd begin to see certain shared characteristics emerge. It might be a very general list, but it would be a list nevertheless, and it would be a list that would be apart from other such lists.
Are you going to tell me that if we were to throw twenty published novelists into a room, and, say, twenty accountants, that we wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the novelists and the accountants – that even the accounts would be capable of being novelists?
I don't believe that.
Surely novelists do share certain characteristics.
We could debate about that list (just as doctors would surely debate amongst themselves about their own list).
Well, we're kind of doing that right now, aren't we?
But as far as deprivation is concerned, I won't ever let go of the notion that deprivation has done anything other than drive me to write fiction – that writer I saw on The Charlie Rose show (I still don't know his name) summed up perfectly why I write.
I think that here we're going to have to agree to disagree.
Or let me put it this way: deprivation has guided me personally down this path, and I know of at least a couple of other novelists who have also been led by their deprivation.
Michael Younger
Michael,
That's cool. I don't think it will make a difference as to you getting published or getting an agent (which I believe was what spurred your original post, the idea that agents don't 'get' writers or that Dystel or Lionetti specifically doesn't) but it's cool that you've recognized this element in yourself.
It's not a new idea, that the geeks and loners and broken people become artists, some of them, but it's worthy of discussion, as evidenced by this board.
Great links! I've read a few of them through out the week already but a few I've missed. I did like Jessica's posts but now have the habit of reading them on Facebook which detracts from being able to join the commenting discussions (maybe I'm just not understanding how to use FB properly…lol).
Anyhow, it is interesting about the boy/girl discussion. As much as people would love to have boys learn to like the girl books and not be afraid to indulge, that really isn't the point or the reason boys are uninterested. The truth is, in agreement with the above poster, boys actually do make choices early on that differ from girl's choices before they've even had the chance to observe gender roles and have an environmental influence. Before my son could talk he chose cars/trains over lip gloss or dolls. Over time my daughter has influenced him to take an interest in dolls (OH THE HORROR! please…) but he will throw a doll down in a heartbeat to pick up his hockey stick and start smacking the crap outta my shins while he screams "Goldberg the goalie!" Till this day my daughter has absolutely no interest in hockey even though Mighty Ducks clearly has girl hockey players.
I'm not denying an environmental factor, but it starts way to early to be only environmental. So in the end, yes we do need boy protags and boy words and boy everything for boys. As they grow up, they'll learn (through environmental factors hopefully) that reading the girl stuff is okay and not to put a book down for that reason, but for MG and YA, they need it. I did read the Nancy Drew, Babysitters Club, and other girl protag books but when I reached my late teens I started reading male protags and realizing they were just as good.
I've written 3 1/2 pages of complete b.s. I am so proud of myself I could bust. I only have 1 1/2 pages of more b.s. to go.
A very germane question – Nathan do you rep. 5 page papers? I'm thinking of querying you when I'm done. It's going to be a masterpiece, with references and everything.
That said, Bryan I must address the ice cream issue.
Here's the thing. You're the man. That means you do the manly labor of building a catapult that will fling ice cream from San Francisco to Canada.
I'm the woman. That means I do the domestic work of driving to the 7-11 to pick up Pecan Praline.
I'm not usually one for gender divisions, but I can live with it here.
Let me know when you're done with the catapult. I've already got the 2 gallons of ice cream ready to shoot over the border.
P.C. "Goldberg the goalie?" LOL.
I heard Frank McCourt speak in St. Louis in 2000 and he said people had asked him why he didn't write Angela's Ashes earlier. His reply:
"I was teaching high school English before. You can't write a book when you're teaching–you're dead when you get home and you have papers to grade. You can write a book if you're teaching college but that's the biggest racket there is."
Frank McCourt also said, "You have 20 years to write your first book and a year to write your second."
Michael,
May I pick the accountants?
My degree is in accounting.
I was awarded the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award, inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, and graduated magna cum laude.
I have been designing, developing, and implementing information systems (programs) for ten years.
I have won creative writing awards, and I have written a thriller.
And, no, I am not just making this up for the sake of argument. I am admitting to being a real nerdy, nerd. (And I'm proud of it)
Besides, I guarantee you that I could put twenty authors from different genres in the same room and find as many differences between them as the accountants (remember, I get to choose the accountants).
And let’s not forget there are many authors with diverse backgrounds:
• Kathy Reichs (Forensic anthropologist)
• Patricia Cromwell (Technical writer and then a computer analyst)
• John Grisham (lawyer)
• David Baldacci (lawyer)
• Michael Crichton (doctor)
Of course, there are more… I’ve just listed the first few that came to mind.
I am genuinely sympathetic to anyone, author or not, that has experienced a relentless deprivation of any kind. I am especially sympathetic to alcoholics, but I am compelled to point out that your severe generalizations are potentially demoralizing to other would-be authors.
I am confident that is not your intent.
Yes, authors do share certain characteristics to varying degrees. But we do not share them all – or – to the same degree.
I agree with Marylyn’s statement: “writers … possess imagination, sensitivity, intensity, creative drive, and the sort of empathy that allows them to understand different types of people well enough to portray them accurately.“
BTW: I have no doubt that your writing is driven by your personal deprivations. And I agree that severe suffering has driven many brilliant people to become authors – and a few to become brilliant authors .
I suspect that you, too, may be such a brilliant person. And I am hopeful, that your writing will give you the same satisfaction and resolutions that mine has given me – regardless, if I am ever published or not. (but, ugh, I want to be published)
What you and I unequivocally have in common is writing. That’s enough for me.
On the remaining issues, I hereby respectively agree to disagree. I hope to be hearing more from you in the future.
— Speaking of writing — I have to get back at it. I just learned that I have to cut more words.
If I don't hurry, the standard word count might drop as production prices increase. I could be chasing this forever. 😉
Have a great weekend.
Whew, finally read them all. And several of the links. And still, I’m behind on reading several of the last week’s postings by Nathan. I don’t normally follow the comments section this long – though I still proclaim myself a Lurker – but it has been interesting reading. Not to beat a tired horse, but on the subject of Deprivation:
What would constitute deprivation in a novelists (or should I use the term writer) life? Does it have to be recent? Can the deprivation change over the years?
For myself (IMO) I am deprived of several things. I am deprived of the empty nest syndrome because my adult children haven’t become employed and moved out. Just as I was seriously getting involved in the discussion between Ink and Michael, the dern brats come out from their own blogging adventures to inquire “whats for dinner”. I am deprived of the time and creativity needed to finish the final flashback scene in my novel because of working a day job. Said day job deprives me of the time I’d like to spend in not only writing on my book, but in researching and querying agents when that last, blasted memory is finally integrated into the revision. I am deprived of an end date for the revision process because when I have time to take classes, read articles or attend classes I learn new things to do to improve the current version.
The most critical thing I am deprived of is a nice geek/nerd boyfriend who understands all the ins-and-outs of creating blogs, websites, profiles. I am deprived of said boyfriend because I lack the skills to navigate such simple programs as Twitter and Face Book. Not to mention a complete inability for the fine art of texting. My dream boyfriend, as an introvert naturally, is waiting out there somewhere in cyber land; maintaining his blog, checking his favorite sites, and not finding me because I haven’t figured out process yet.
I did manage to sign up for Face Book, and completely by accident, managed to upload a picture. I am deprived of the knowledge to change the picture to something much more flattering.
OH! Such a sad story of deprivation. Yet somehow, I carry on; though I haven’t seen an offer of Butter Pecan ice cream in ages. . .
Saddest of all; I am sipping on the last glass of wine in the box and deprived of the funds to purchase a new one because payday is still a week away. Why, oh why, hasn’t an agent contacted ME and cured all my deprivation with a single six digit check?
But seriously folks, I have enjoyed this posting. The discussion has been quite interesting. And Michael, I loved the creative way you managed to insert a misspelling of Bransford at least once in every comment.
Donna,
That sounded like Erma Bombeck meets the modern world.
You may be on to something.
I miss her.
Oh, Donna, I almost spit out my Bailey's nightcap when I read your post… and then I realized you were serious, and I felt bad for laughing. But I'm with AM… we're in need of a good Erma Bombeck these days.
Okay, I read all the comments. Wow. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I feel argued out just reading this – an unusual occurance for me. Nice debate!
Very cool. Love this blog.
Nathan, in my self-absorbtion, I forgot to thank you for running a workshop. I don't know if you've done that before, so I'm not sure if I should congratulate you exactly, but I can say that I have no doubt you will be informative and generally awesome.
Great links – I'm now late making family Sunday lunch, maybe I can enlist some of those "fastest" skill people and get it done on time – but great links.
What about the Plastic Logic Reader? I keep on about it – and I think even Apple will be competing hard against this device due out in 2010. I expect the different devices will soon start to drive their campaigns for different niches of the market – Kindles for fiction via the big Amazon link. PLR for text book/educational use, Apple for ?Business aka the Blackberry of text…watch this space?
And I can't be at the secret workshop, but if it becomes an annual event I would attend in future.
Laura –
No, you were right the first time. It was meant, mostly, as a funny. The only serious comments in that was that I really enjoyed the discussion, and Goose's deliberate name misspellings were a hoot even before he admitted they were on purpose.
My funny bone was definitely tickled……….dhole
goose, you seem angry to me and frustrated that you aren't published, but ranting and raving at an agent's website ain't gonna help you out there, bro.
and deprivation – wtf? Does anyboby know what that he's talking about? Doesn't have much to do with writing. Ain't why I write, bro. Speak for yourself, not for others.
Getting the agents name wrong at his own website is not funny, it's stupid and insulting.
I can't speak to the challenges of writing a novel (as I do not write fiction) but in trying to get an agent let me say this:
When you query an agent, you are asking that person to invest time and money in you. The burden is on the writer to persuade the agent that it is in the agent's best interest to do so.
Complaining about what an agent should or should not do is a waste of time and energy. You have no control over what other people will do. Concentrate on controlling yourself. If one agent doesn't appreciate your work or doesn't respond as you would like, try another agent. Or change your work as needed. Those things are under the writer's control.
Donna I liked your deprivation post – that was funny. And I get your point – I think Nathan can take a joke very well – but I'm going to side with the Anons on this one.
Use Nathan's name correctly.
Michael, you've already apologized, so I'm not really talking to you at this point – I'm just stating my opinion. If someone is trying to open a dialogue, starting that dialogue with subtle insults, even to make a point, is self-defeating.
And I'm also stating my opinion that Nathan deserves professional courtesy and respect at all times.
Mira,
I'm almost finished the catapult. Please send me a few tubs of Butter Pecan ice cream for, um, test firing. Yes. Test firing. Then I'll ship you the catapult.
Donna,
Sure you can use my name for a character. I accept cash, credit or debit, and offer a number of very reasonable payment plans geared to every income bracket.
🙂
Anonymous,
I've already stated that in no way, shape, or form was I intentionally being antagonistic towards Mr. Bransford when I wrote his name incorrectly – it was an intentional misspelling on my part, and an 'attempt' to lighten up the conversation.
Honestly, it shocks me that people will respond to jokes in this manner. This is the reason politicians are told never to make jokes on the spur of the moment – one out of every ten will backfire on them.
I'm not a politician. I'm a writer – or I should say, I'm 'trying to be one'. (I don't seem to be having much success here, though.)
But honestly, your own comment is a little harsh, and, 'imo', rather unfair.
You wrote:
"Getting the agents name wrong at his own website is not funny, it's stupid and insulting."
Apart from what I've written above, can anybody else see what's wrong there?
(wink, wink)
Michael Younger
Michael,
I think everyone would agree that there is some truth to most of your statements. But there's a long way between "some truth" and "The Truth". You said you weren't trying to make absolute statements, and yet you keep using words like "all" and "every". "All" is note some, or many, or most, it's everyone. I don't think anyone here is denying your own experience, or your interpreation of what's made you as a writer (deprivation). The problem is that you keep trying to extrapolate this outward onto all writers. You're trying to define our experiences, which you know nothing about. Maybe it's just the structure of your rhetoric, but it seems troubling how you keep trying to label and divide everything. True novelists on one side and the hacks and the lucky on the other. Writers on one side, accountants on the other. This isn't entomology, and we can't pin these things to a board and stick a neat little label on them. They're fluid and shifting. Any such grouping can only, at its best, be summed up by an average, an average which will always have extensive exceptions. And such averages will always be meaningless in any individual sense, as each indivdual will be the result of unique circumstances, the creation of a personal history, a personal geography, a personal genetic inheritance, a personal system of memory. A generalized summary capable of accurately encapsulating evry writer would be so shapeless and vague as to be almost useless.
I think your comments are most effective when you simply admit their subjectivity and offer them as personal testimony. I'm guessing your ideas about deprivation and the drive to write and create will resonate quite strongly with some writers. Just don't try to push it on all of us. We're not you. I think we can respect your experience (it's difficulty and transformative power). I just think you should also respect ours.
My best,
Bryan
And apparently Mothra's bringing three friends. Maybe I can use the catapult… Anyone know if giant flying insects like Strawberry Ripple?
Michael,
You did save me from Mothra there, so much obliged. 🙂
For the record, I do appreciate people stepping to my defense but I actually thought the name misspellings were funny given our conversation.
Ink, you're almost done with the catapult. Wow. You're the man, mister.
Although, you know – a catapult that flings things from San Francisco to Canada – we might find some creative uses for that.
But okay, I'm sending you some ice cream for testing. I couldn't squish the round box into an envelope. I tried, but it kept oozing out. So I gave up and just scooped the ice cream directly into the envelopes. You didn't care about the box right?
So anyway, you should get the envelopes in..say…10 days. Enjoy!
What great links. Thank you.
Michael Younger – Good luck with your writing. You definitely seem to have the determination and dedication it requires.
Mira and Ink – May I have chocolate ice cream delivered by catapult as soon as you open your ice cream catapult business? I’d also be interested in mocha lattes delivered the same way. 🙂
Woooooo!
I lit up a big fat doob and read the whole thing… get it all published… great read… anybody here ever tried writing a book about peeps leaving their comments behind like this?
could be great if you got all the voices right…
anyhow, my own contribution, I only right when I'm high… don't know why…
Tim-bo
Marilyn, absolutely, love to! Ink, would you mind making it so the catapult swings? That way we can hurl some chocolate ice cream and mochas to Marilyn. Yummmm. I'll even throw in some San Francisco Sourdough.
We can send things all over the country this way. What about sending agents would be impressed?
Tim-bo, someone should write about the on-line culture, with samples. It's a fascinating world.
Okay, finished the unedited final draft of my paper. I told the professor the textbook was wrong, wrong, wrong. Boy, this thing should be published.
whoopsie. I left out a word. I didn't mean hurling agents in the catapult. I meant sending queries that way, and wondering if agents would like that.
Timbo,
Maybe what you really meant to communicate was that you're only right when you're high?
Michael Younger
Mira,
The agents can all attend conferences via catapult. Free ice cream for the "landing crew" holding the big sheet.
Michael,
what? huh?
Tim-bo
Mira,
I think serious customers will be willing to purchase water towers – with tops that open to receive incoming ice cream or other treats. For mocha lattes, I will purchase two water towers. 🙂
Darn, I thought you were going to catapult agents directly into our homes where they could read our completed manuscripts … you know, so we don’t have to write those pesky query letters. I would be willing to serve as many mocha lattes … or as much hard liquor … as they require.
That costs extra.
Timbo,
I was merely pointing out that you wrote the incorrect word there.
You wrote: "I only right when I'm high."
What you meant to write, of course, was that you only 'write' when you're high.
Get it?
Michael
Ink –
Ah-ha! But of course. That would only be fair.
Michael,
Yeah well whatever… nope, sorry, can't fix it… won't let me edit it… guess your gonna have to live with it. Everybody needs an editor, ever heard that before. Yeah, i agree with Bryan, i can see why you kind of irritate people… anyway i'm too wasted right now for this.
Tim-bo
Michael,
I don't think you're irritating.
This has been one of the more interesting discussions that I've followed lately.
Ink and Marilyn. Lol. Charging extra to have an agent catapulted into your living room. Great idea. We should make up a price list for where the agent lands. Okay, we're going to be so rich ….so rich, why, we might be able to afford an airline ticket.
Come to think of it, maybe the airlines should be nervous right now. Catapult travel might be the way of the future….
I've had a funny feeling, since Friday, that some of the people posting here have been posting under multiple aliases.
I know have been.
Are you guys all really who you're saying you are? I don't know, I've just got a funny feeling about this thread.
I like this place a lot though – you guys are a lot of fun.
Mike Younger
Mira said:
"Catapult travel might be the way of the future…."
LOL. It's kind of like pre-teleportation. While scientists work away at trying to achieve teleportation , you and Ink could already have your catapults up and running. And airplanes? They will be so yesterday.
Bet J. K. Rowling wishes she thought of catapult travel, instead of flue travel. Of course, the new theme park based on the Harry Potter books will probably take her mind off it.
Marilyn, did you ever watch Star Trek: The Next Generation?
You've heard of people who are afraid of flying?
There was an episode of ST:TNG in which one of the meeker characters, Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, was suffering, not from aerophobia (the fear of flying), but from 'transporter psychosis', which is the fear of being beamed from one location to another via the transporter.
Now THIS was great writing.
It was a charming little episode, chiefly because we got to watch the lovable Reginald Barclay attempting to confront and overcome his greatest fear.
Barclay – or Broccoli, as he was sometimes called – was my favorite minor character in that series, and it was always wonderful to see the actor's name crop up during the splash credits (Dwight Shultz is his real name).
Michael Younger
Michael,
Glad you're here.
And I can whole-heartedly swear that in our discussions I have been and remain….
Anonymous 😉
Michael,
I’ve seen some Star Trek episodes, and Next Generation is my favorite of all the Star Trekseries by far. I’ll have to check out the episode about "transporter psychosis". Awesome concept. I’ve been watching the new Outer Limits shows recently – watched one tonight about weird effects of dark matter.
Anonymous,
Reveal yourself!
Here, I'll reveal myself – I'm convinced that some people here are posting anonymously, anyhow, even though they've clearly registered proper user names.
Anytime you see The Goose, that's me, Michael Younger.
I was also this guy:
———–
"goose, you seem angry to me and frustrated that you aren't published, but ranting and raving at an agent's website ain't gonna help you out there, bro.
and deprivation – wtf? Does anyboby know what that he's talking about? Doesn't have much to do with writing. Ain't why I write, bro. Speak for yourself, not for others.
Getting the agents name wrong at his own website is not funny, it's stupid and insulting."
———-
I also posted twice as Tim-bo (or as Timbo).
My good friend Timbo seemed to be having a pretty good afternoon there – lit up a doob, and sat back and read all the comments, and even suggested a book idea. And quite frankly, I've always wished that I could let loose like that. Why are females always attracted to guys like that? I don't get it.
But then he turned kind of nasty there, as usually happens when a person starts coming down from whichever pharmaceutical medication they've been on.
And all I did was point out that his post was not grammatically correct!
———-
"Michael,
Yeah well whatever… nope, sorry, can't fix it… won't let me edit it… guess your gonna have to live with it. Everybody needs an editor, ever heard that before. Yeah, i agree with Bryan, i can see why you kind of irritate people… anyway i'm too wasted right now for this.
Tim-bo"
————
Yeah, that was a pretty nasty comment. I really took it on the chin there.
Thank god Timbo is only a fiction.
Wait – or is he?
Michael Younger
Back on the topic of Justine Larbalestier and the lack of "persons of color" on the covers of books… we lost Frank McCourt this week, but we also lost E. Lynn Harris, who as far as I could tell had great success not only with book covers featuring black people, but book covers featuring obviously bisexual black people.
I worked at the airport in Atlanta in the mid-90s, and it seemed that every woman who passed through was reading "Invisible Life."
(I'm frustrated that I'm not pubished, too, but I don't feel deprived, and I realize that one of the biggest reasons I'm not published is that I'm only a third of the way through my book, which I'm polishing as I go. Over and over and over…)
Marilyn, that's amazing – they have actually transported something? Wow.
I wish they'd transport me to the Harry Potter Park. Now, that's going to be fun! 🙂
And TNG is the absolute best one.
Great couple threads going on here and a mystery subplot of ´who was who´. Seriously enjoyed myself here this past weekend. Thanks for such a cool place to hang out, Nathan.
That sounded too harsh.
Michael, I had alot of fun when I discovered blogs; they can be an amazing playground for a writer.
That said, I'm afraid that I'm going to find it irritating if you play games around identity here at this particular blog. That's just me; I'm not speaking for anyone else. It's just that it's a distraction from some really exciting and interesting things that are happening here.
So, just one person's input and request.
I always enjoy the links! However many there may be.
Nathan, I don't think you'll ever be able to eat Guinea Pigs again after watching this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m904SQBfCBI
Jeez, I was just going to post to brag about my best Minesweeper score. It looked like the "world's fastest" was 38 seconds, and my own record is 40 seconds. I probably could have improved my score, but I graduated college and had to leave the sport behind…
Okay, back to reading the comments about Deprivation.