This blog is about the writer’s passion, writing what you love and loving what you write—or it’s supposed to be. Writing should also be fun.

My passion is not to write about writing. I do enjoy it, but there are so many great blogs out there about writing—fiction, technique, freelance, style, non-fiction—the topics are endless.

After a lot of soul searching (and putting it off for years) I’ve finally decided to go with my passion—health and well-being. I’ve spent the last few weeks getting the site ready for launch. There will be some crossover between this blog and that one. How can you keep up with your passion for writing if the body, mind and spirit are not in alignment?

What does all of that have to do with the Law of Attraction? Well since I’ve decided to go with my niche passion, the comments I’ve been getting from my posts at BloggingTips and here as well, have mostly been from people who are in the same niche—something related to health, well-being or personal development.

I didn’t actively set out to start attracting these people—yet, but we do inadvertently attract those things that we desire. When The Law of Attraction is set in motion and on purpose—just imagine what it can do. I’ll probably have more on that in another post—at a later date.

Since this blog is about writing and passion, I want to hear from you. I invite you to write a guest post about your passion. Tell us why you write, what your favorite topic/niche is. You can write this as a story, or as a bio type post. Just share your love of writing with us.

You can read the guest guidelines at the Guest Blogging page. Don’t worry—they aren’t too strict.

Oh, I’ll announce my new blog soon—so check back in!

Image courtesy: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2133/2442969107_54f77a8f3c.jpg

This is a rare Sunday post. I didn’t set out to post today—well not really—but I found some great reads today that I thought worthy of sharing.

Lake Lopez—actually, Lake found me, but I’m so glad he did. Be sure to check out all of his blog because he has some very amusing stuff there. Don’t let that fool you though; he’s a serious writer as well.

7 Steps to Playing a Much Bigger Game. This is a blog post on The Launch Coach, and I haven’t read the entire site—but it looks very promising from what I have read.

I know this is a short list—but it’s the quality that counts—not the quantity.

Hope you enjoy!

Image courtesy: http://www.haumaru.com/photoblog/images/20051029105534_tahitian-sunrise-bitchin-around-over-paris.jpg

You have the passion to be a writer or a daily blogger. It’s there gnawing at you every moment of every day until you give in and start writing. If you’re not writing, you’re thinking about writing, you’re jotting down ideas, you’re thinking up great blog posts, new angles to share with your readers—this is your life; you are passionate about being a writer—you are a writer.

So what happens when the passion goes to sleep? Has the flame of desire completely gone out and killed all your enthusiasm about writing? Not necessarily. Often, you just need to take a break. Everyone else gets a vacation, there’s no reason a writer can’t take a vacation from work.

Is this another post about writer’s block? Not really. I’m not even sure what writer’s block is, even though I’ve written about it on numerous occasions. I’m starting to think only fiction writers get “the block.” As a freelance writer there isn’t a book or magazine I can’t open and not get an idea brewing. I can write about topics that I have no interest in at all—and I’ve done that. I think it may boil down to passion.

What is passion and what do you do when it just isn’t there? Passion is “any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate“. The dictionary also relates it to strong sexual desire.

Can we relate writing to sex and relationships? I think we can. Writing is like a long love affair or relationship. After awhile, and unless you’re still in your early twenties, you don’t have sex on the brain constantly. It doesn’t mean the relationship has gone bad—it just means other things are allowed to occupy your thoughts. The passion is still there, it’s just taken a back seat for the time being—sometimes you’re just not in the mood. The passion a writer has is the same way. It doesn’t die; it just takes a back seat.

We all have days that we’d rather scrub the toilet or fix the lawn mower than to sit down and write (or have sex). It’s human nature and it’s inevitable. If you’re like me, you may feel like your passion has failed you. It hasn’t, it just needs a break.

How do you get it back? Well, after you scrub the toilet and fix the lawn mower, you write. I know, that’s my answer for everything—but until you try it, you don’t know how powerful it really is. Simple? Not always. I had to force myself to sit down and write—but once the words started flowing it gave me an awesome feeling of power over the passion (or lack thereof).

It doesn’t matter if your passion is waning or if you have full blown writer’s block—the key to this writing gig is to write. My personal journal is full of entries about not wanting to write—often I have a whole week full of entries like this:

“I don’t want to write today. I’m supposed to be a writer, but how can I even call myself a writer if I don’t want to write. Writers are supposed to write—but I’m not writing. I’m sitting here whining into my journal over not writing and not wanting to write. Why don’t I want to write today? No one else is having this problem, they’re all writing.”

When you sit down and write about not writing or even asking yourself how you can call yourself a writer when you aren’t writing—there’s something about seeing your own words rip you to shreds that gets your butt planted in the seat and your fingers on the keyboard. The muse doesn’t like to be scolded.

The muse is like a child. It needs love and affection, but sometimes it needs to be scolded too. When you tell someone they can’t do something, they often become hell-bent on doing the thing they can’t do—just because. It’s like a challenge and they will rise to the challenge. The muse works the same way—if you rip him/her to shreds for not allowing to do what you do, she will usually prove to you that she is still there and willing to work.

If you can’t find the words to write, just write about how bad you suck at being a writer. Sometimes it’s good to piss the muse off.

Be sure to check out my guest post at Storyfix.com: Writing and the Laws of Motion. If you’ve found me through Larry’s site, thanks for the visit and welcome to The Stafford Scribe!

This blog is about passion, not how great we are as writers. Being great comes with age—there has to be passion before there can be greatness. With that being said, there are people, who I consider top notch and leaders in their field of writing, tell me I’m a great writer; published writers even.

I don’t see it but everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. Being great is not on top of my list. I have no desire to attain the status of a Hemingway or a Stephen King. Why? Because, {drumroll} I simply love to write. I’d write even if I totally sucked at it—and looking at some of my early writings, I pretty much did suck at it—but I kept writing. I had to. Not writing is like holding back flood waters; sand bags only work to a point. I’ve walked away on occasion, but the passion to write simply wouldn’t die.

So, if I don’t think I’m that great of a writer, how do I have the self-confidence to keep doing it? Well, a lot of the self-confidence comes from the fact that most things are like fine wine and improve with age. I keep writing so I will improve my skills and style. I have self-confidence because a few people actually enjoy my style of writing—and who am I to deprive them of that? Okay, that was a wee bit of self-gloat there. My apologies.

I write because I’m an information hog and I honestly enjoy sharing information. I have self-confidence because I don’t care what other people think of my writing. Oh, that sounds cocky doesn’t it? It’s not really. I have thick skin and can take constructive criticism—but in the end, what I think is more important than what anyone else thinks. People have the option to not read my writing. It’s their choice. My choice is to write—and write I will.

As a Course Presenter for Fear of Writing, I come in contact with many writers who are simply afraid to take that stand and let the words flow. Some don’t feel that their writing is worthy of being read or shared. Some fear criticism because that’s all they’ve experienced.

I believe that anyone who has an unwavering passion to write has the ability to become great. They key is to write—write every day—write, write, write. No one is great coming out of the gate (see? I could be a poet too). It takes practice, persistence and passion—we could call it the 3P’s to greatness.

So how do they get the self-confidence to write? They write. The only way to get over fear or self-doubt is to write. It’s not an easy task, but it is a must-do task.

My point is you don’t have to be great to write—just write. The self-confidence will build itself every time you write. It helps to have a support group too. I run a small writer’s support group where we check in daily, share in our passion and support one another. It’s not about how great our work is; it’s about encouraging each other to write.

Image courtesy: http://www.maion.com/photography/finland/winter_outdoors_p32.html

Just sharing a classic today. Enjoy!

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’sSun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Courtesy of: http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/ Share/Save]]> http://pattistafford.com/blog/2009/12/merry-christmas/feed/ 2 http://pattistafford.com/blog/2009/12/writing-lessons-from-song-lyricists/ http://pattistafford.com/blog/2009/12/writing-lessons-from-song-lyricists/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:50:53 +0000 Patti Stafford http://pattistafford.com/blog/?p=490

I recently posted about listening to music while you write. In Words & Music I said that music can inspire your writing, “Poetic stories told with captivating music are not only inspiring but magical in many ways.” In that piece I mentioned some American songwriters; Bruce Springsteen and Ronnie James Dio. I also covered British bassist, songwriter and founder of Iron Maiden, Steve Harris—who I will also cover again in this post—he’s just that good.

Today I want to cover how you can improve your writing by following how lyricists write. Many songs are just short stories. Some are just crap (sorry, that’s my opinion) but the lyrics I want to highlight are, in fact, epic tales.

I’ve only used partial lyrics for these examples on some of the songs. Repeating the chorus and last verses are not completely relevant to make my point.

As you read these lyrics a whole tale will unfold. The importance of this and what you need to pay attention to is how few words a lyricist uses to tell a story.

OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY (5:03)
Lyrics written by Gary Moore (former guitarist for Thin Lizzy)
Best performance of song by NIGHTWISH

They came for him one winter’s night.
Arrested, he was bound.
They said there’d been a robbery,
his pistol had been found.

They marched him to the station house,
he waited for the dawn.
And as they led him to the dock,
he knew that he’d been wronged.
“You stand accused of robbery,”
he heard the bailiff say.
He knew without an alibi,
tomorrow’s light would mourn his freedom.

Over the hills and far away,
for ten long years he’ll count the days.
Over the mountains and the seas,
a prisoner’s life for him there’ll be.

He knew that it would cost him dear,
but yet he dare not say.
Where he had been that fateful night,
a secret it must stay.
He had to fight back tears of rage.
His heartbeat like a drum.
For with the wife of his best friend,
he spent his final night of freedom.

In this song, it’s evident a man is sent to prison for a murder he didn’t commit. He could have been found innocent but he refused to let the police and judges know where he was; he’d been with his best friend’s wife.

I agree, lyrics are more poetic than short story or novel writing, but one of the main rules of writing is that “less is more.” Song lyrics reiterate this rule of writing.

DANCE OF DEATH – IRON MAIDEN (8:36)
Lyrics written by Janick Gers and Steve Harris

Let me tell you a story to chill the bones
About a thing that I saw
One night wondering in the everglades
I’d one drink but no more

I was rambling, enjoying the bright moonlight
Gazing up at the stars
Not aware of a presence so near to me
Watching my every move

Feeling scared and I fell to my knees
As something rushed me from the trees
Took me to an unholy place
And that is where I fell from grace

Then they summoned me over to join in with them
To the dance of the death
Into the circle of fire I followed them
Into the middle I was led

As if time had stopped still I was numb with fear
But still I wanted to do
And the blaze of the fire did no hurt upon me
As I walked onto the coals

And I felt I was in a trance
And my spirit was lifted from me
And if only someone had the chance
To witness what happened to me

And I danced and I pranced and I sang with them
All had death in their eyes
Lifeless figures they were undead all of them
They had ascended from hell

I have to admit that Steve Harris is one of my favorite lyricists. I love epic tales and if you look into many of Iron Maiden’s song titles, you will see he pulls from a rich history of literary stories and mythology. With titles like, “Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Ides of March, Genghis Khan, Phantom of the Opera, Flight of Icarus, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and The Wicker Man—you know the man has read many literary classics and even studied Greek mythology.

WHISKEY IN THE JAR (link to Wikipedia entry) (5:44)
Irish Traditional Song performed by Thin Lizzy

As I was goin’ over the Cork and Kerry mountains.
I saw Captain Farrell and his money he was countin’.
I first produced my pistol and then produced my rapier.
I said stand o’er and deliver or the devil he may take ya.

Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.

I took all of his money and it was a pretty penny.
I took all of his money and I brought it home to Molly.
She swore that she’d love me, never would she leave me.
But the devil take that woman for you know she tricked me easy.

Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.

Being drunk and weary I went to Molly’s chamber.
Takin’ my money with me and I never knew the danger.
For about six or maybe seven in walked Captain Farrell.
I jumped up, fired off my pistols and I shot him with both barrels.

Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.

Now some men like the fishin’ and some men like the fowlin’,
And some men like ta hear a cannon ball a roarin’.
Me? I like sleepin’ specially in my Molly’s chamber.
But here I am in prison, here I am with a ball and chain, yeah.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia regarding this Irish folk song (see link above to visit):

“Whiskey in the Jar” is the tale of a highwayman who, after robbing a military or government official (”for I am a bold deceiver”), is betrayed by a woman; whether she is his wife or sweetheart is not made clear. Various versions of the song take place in Kerry, Kilmagenny, Cork, Gilgarra Mountain, Sligo Town, and other locales throughout Ireland. It is also sometimes placed in the American South, in various places among the Ozarks or Appalachians, possibly due to Irish settlement in these places. Names in the song change, the official can become a Captain or a Colonel and is variously called Farrell or Pepper among other things. The protagonist’s wife or lover is sometimes called Molly, Jenny, Ginny among various other names.

Many artists have performed/recorded this song, but I’m partial to Thin Lizzy’s version. (Rest in Peace, Phil)

ROMEO & THE LONELY GIRL – THIN LIZZY
Songwriters: Downey;Robertson;Lynott;Gorham

Romeo and the lonely girl
They seemed to hit it off
Till Romeo told the lonely girl
“I must take my leave, my love”

It was these few words I overheard
And thought, “I would move in”
But before I could the lonely girl
Had fallen in love again

Oh poor Romeo
Sitting out on his own-ee-o
Oh poor Romeo

Romeo he had it rough
The guy you’d like to burn
But everything that Romeo had
You can bet it was well earned

For all his good looks there were scars that he took
And a lesson to be learned
Never judge lovers by a good looking covers
The lover might be spurred

Oh poor Romeo
Sitting out on his own-ee-o
Oh poor Romeo

Romeo he like to put it around
He was everybody’s friend
But in the end even Romeo found
On no one could he depend

For all his charms in someone else’s arms
Lonely girl safely lay
When the train came in it had to leave again
And Romeo pulled away

Song writers write tight and that’s the lesson I wanted to share today—one I often need myself. I’m known to write what some may call babble, but following the lead of great song writers will help polish your work, remove unnecessary wording and leave your writing crisp and clear.

Fiction writing requires some description in the story—but trust me—the reader will have the mental image play out in their mind if the writing is good. These are songs I’m obviously familiar with, but the first time I heard them I saw the scene play out in my head. All accomplished with very few words and little description. Trust your reader; less is more. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to be elusive, it means you shouldn’t go overboard.

Dancing With the Muse – An Introduction to the Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling

We are inundated with writing wisdom. It cascades around us like political fallout, right and left, plotter and pantser, light and dark, first person and third, commercial and literary, nuanced and smack in your face.

How to unblock. How to craft compelling characters (an alliterative gem in its own right). How to write scenes. How to write genre fiction. How to not make your English teacher turn over in her grave. How to get it published.

And how to keep from going insane trying to make sense of it all.

It’s like newsstand health and fashion magazines – different cover model, same old rehashed shit, issue after issue. It’s all just recycled conventional wisdom, and – here’s the really confusing part – none of it is inherently wrong.

The New Language of Writing Advice

And yet, nobody has been able to define what it means, what it really takes, to write a successful – as in, publishable – novel. For the most part it’s all theory and rhetoric, a fluid mass of tumbling ideas, tips and techniques, none of which covers the cradle-to-grave process of it all.

That is, perhaps until now.

The problem is this: we have been trying to stuff the conventional wisdom of writing fiction into a bottle using right-brained, soft-edged literary jargon. When in fact, it all becomes much clearer, much more doable, when we step back for a moment to regard the craft of writing stories from a cold-blooded engineering perspective.

The underlying proposition, or if you prefer, supposition, is that the sum of what goes into a successful novel, screenplay or short story, can be categorized and poured into six separate and highly definable buckets.

Regarded separately, each bucket comes with a user’s manual that delivers standards and criteria for excellence. Fall short of the criteria within any one category and your story suffers for it.

Nail them all, times six, and your story gets a dust jacket and a review in Publishers Weekly.

An Engineering-Oriented Approach

Of course, every engineer knows that the key to success goes beyond functionality to embrace the nuance of aesthetic elegance. Which is why a writer can indeed nail all six of the requisite core competencies and still create a story that ultimately tanks.

It’s like an athlete with all the tools, but lacks the spirit and heart of a champion.

It’s like a musician with a God-given ear who lacks the love of music itself.

It begins with an understanding of a set of core competencies. It flourishes with the artful and inspired combination of them into something, an organic whole, that exceeds the sum of those parts.

That’s the art of it. That’s why, even through this engineering lens, there is still no way to fully convey what it takes to write a successful story. The writer needs to arrive at that place of their own volition, and in their own time.

But first, they need the tools to put it all together. And the tools arrive in six buckets of writing elements and executional processes.

Trouble is, most of us are stuck at square one. From the moment we enter a creative writing classroom, and then in writing workshops, critique groups and in every how-to book ever written, we hear the siren song of character and sub-text, of organic storytelling that relies on nothing other than the writer’s inherent sensibilities.

All without ever really understanding where to start, what comes next, what follows what, and what elements glue it all together.

That’s What the Six Core Competencies Do

There is really nothing about writing a successful story that resides outside of these six basics, other than the source and inspiration for the story itself. From that point on, these six buckets define both the process and the product.

Because at the end of the writing day, all six have to be there. Come up short on any one of them, and the story won’t work as well as it could.

What are they? What are these six magic buckets of brilliance? Be prepared to be under-whelmed. Because you know this already. Just like you know that that all it takes to fly is a set of wings, sufficient forward motion and a weight-to-life ratio that defies gravity.

And yet, flight eludes you.

Within the simplicity of these six core competencies resides a key that unlocks the much more complex essence of storytelling. And that is the balance, pacing, power, emotional resonance, dramatic tension, compelling allure, vicarious experience and the electric thrill of resolution that a successful story delivers.

If you write your story knowing what they are, what the target and its criteria are, then you’ll get there all the quicker.

The six core competencies include:

1. CONCEPT… a stage upon which a compelling and richly layered dramatic narrative may unfold, an irresistible “what if?” proposition.
2. CHARACTER… a multi-dimensional protagonist that demands the reader’s vicarious interest and allegiance as a silent partner in their quest.
3. THEME… the real-life emotional relevance and resonance the story evokes within the reader.
4. STRUCTURE… a four-part sequential context that defines what scenes go where, resulting in optimal pacing and character arc across an unfolding series of expositional revelations.
5. SCENE EXECUTION… the building blocks of narrative exposition that artfully unleash the story, moment by moment, with the delivery of both information and character shadings.
6. WRITING VOICE… the writer’s unique way of crafting words, phrases and sentences that, when combined, evoke an experiential essence that adds value, power and intimacy to the story.

There is nothing else in the storytelling universe, other than the initial determination of genre and the intention to publish it when it’s completed.

Unless you have honored all six of these, that moment has not yet arrived.

Larry Brooks is a bestselling author and writing instructor, and the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional resource for novelists and screenwriters. He is the author of Story Structure – Demystified, an ebook available through his site. His groundbreaking new book, The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling, will be available in early 2011 from Writers Digest Books.

Do you listen to music while you write? Not everyone can. It’s only been recently that I started playing music while I write. Now I can’t start my work day without it. I have very specific music I listen to, which I will share later and the reasons for my choices.

I want to start by sharing a few quotes from the movie Eddie and the Cruisers. If you aren’t familiar with the movie—Eddie Wilson wants to be remembered for great music and songs that mean something. The band meets a college guy majoring in English and Literature—he becomes the lyricist for the band. Eddie calls him Wordman.

What I want is songs that echo. The stuff we’re doing now is like somebody’s bedsheets; spread ‘em out, soil ‘em, ship ‘em out to laundry, you know? But our songs…I want us to be able to fold ourselves up in them forever…understand? That’s the most you’ll ever get out of me Wordman. Ever.

Wordman, we need each other.
Words and music, man- they need each other.
Words and music.

As writers, we want our words to mean something and be remembered. Music can inspire this. My husband is a musician who is deeply passionate about music. He can play thousands of great songs, but he can’t recite any of the lyrics unless they were written by certain people—one of which is on the list I’ll share later. He’s more moved by the complexity of the music itself. I, on the other hand, am more moved by the lyrics—of course, I’m a writer. In fact, I’m just learning how to hear the music and ignore the vocals; it’s not an easy task.

One of my favorite pieces of writing is one I wrote about Bruce Springsteen. It’s not a great work of art or anything, but I was “in the moment” and it’s very close to my heart. I wanted to quote some of it here, but discovered I’d probably end up quoting the whole thing. If you want to read it in its entirety, you can find it at Growing Up With Bruce Springsteen: Baby We Were Born to Run.

I used phrases such as:

“Bruce reaches down into the depths of your soul and leaves you with your emotions pounding in your chest and your heart on your sleeve. Bruce Springsteen touches the darkest recesses of the listener’s soul, the side they never let anyone get a glimpse of. Yet Bruce has a way to reach past that empty space they feel within.”

“Bruce Springsteen is one of those few artists that touch on real life with vivid surrealism. No matter what you’re going through in your own inner hell, Bruce is there to serenade you through it, assuring you that others feel just as deeply as you do.”

“Music has been the chosen outlet for Bruce but had he chosen to showcase his work in the literary field, he would be one of the great writers. He is a word master who has the knack to bring those words to life through his music.”

One of Kevin’s favorite lyricists is Ronnie James Dio. If you listen to anything he’s written, you know he’s a storyteller as well. Another musician in that category is Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, who writes a lot of medieval type tales.

If I need to write vivid scenes I enjoy listening to the words and music these guys have put together. Poetic stories told with captivating music are not only inspiring but magical in many ways.

It’s not always easy to transition yourself to work with music playing in the background—but it’s definitely worth giving it a try a few times. Who knows, you may just write the next literary masterpiece.