By way of a Thank You

Some of you know I've been sending chapters of a book I've written to Old One. When it first started she was reading a normal-sized book and one I was willing to be pretty flexible on. For reasons I don't need to go into here she ended up reading a book of monumental size, that I'm pretty stubborn about. We know she can get pretty unhappy when Spike gets picked on and will say so. But, I'd like to say she put up with the usual artistic denfensiveness, the 'but, but, buts' and other nuisances from my side very admirably and never lost her perspective of what she wanted to see. She was very encouraging through it all. When she told me the biggest emotional turning point of the book didn't really work for her, (oof, that smarts!) she gave me very sensible advice of how to make it more believable, even if I think I have to stick with it the way it is. She has a different set of things she looks for in a book than I do, but she put up with the fact that I wasn't changing the book much to fit her good advice.. She was in a situatuion that could have been infuriating, but she went through it with no sign of ill-humor towards me.

Sometimes you can't even buy an honest opinion, but I always felt she was giving one freely. I d like to say that if Old One should ever ask you for a small favor, be generous. She's a friend worth having.

This one is fun

If you call me ______, you must be ______,

Cactus Watcher or CW, someone who knows me from the net
by my first name, An idiot salesman
by my middle name, pushy but not out of line
by my usual nickname, someone I probably trust.
by my last name, someone I'm more likely to listen to in a business situation.
Steve, the knucklehead who lived across the hall from me in the dorm who never bothered to read the card on my door.
Dmitriy, someone I've spoken Russian with more than once.