Mark Arbour

That's pretty funny. Charge the rod! I'm sure those countless teenage innuendos that you heard are somewhat similar to what poor Ben has to deal with when he gets "wood" jokes. :-) I can't imagine using a firearm to do anything at a public (or private) school anymore. I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

If you go to this link, you'll see all the GA Editors listed in order of stories edited. And at the top of the list, you'll see Sharon (Sat8997), with 100 stories under her belt. Sharon has been a great e-friend of mine for well over 10 years now. She was the person who encouraged me to start writing, and the person who encouraged me to go on by not telling me my stuff was crap. Throughout our years, and thousands of words, of working together, I know I can rely on her to make me look good, and to call me out when a story line is off the deep end. She's also done a lot of work here at GA over the years, including serving on the WST. You always know with Sharon that she'll tell you what's on her mind. With her mind, that's a good thing. Thanks Sharon!

That was one of the concerns floated about with my team when I told them the name. I think it kind of helps with the theme.

Tim nails two in a row!

One can hope. And look...no Will! I figured you'd be thrilled! ;-)

So glad you're excited! Do your happy dance!

"Lighten his wood". (Insert Beavis and Butthead chuckle) I think that the fact that Will is still pissed at Matt gives you an indicator that the two have made no progress since their initial problems.

You're suggesting that reading this story will make everyone charge for the toilet and take a crap? I should market it as a laxative! :-)

Tim thrives on bitterness like a gourmand feasts on vichyssoise. And bitterness tastes only slightly better than vichyssoise. :-)

Yeah, that community organizer thing is so not going to happen. I have a different legal mission for Wade. I think Brad and Matt will make good narrators, but I'll throw Will in from time to time, since there are some loose ends that we need to close up for him, and some new ones we need to open. I probably should work in a cameo for JJ, just to annoy Sharon.

From "Poor Man's Son", chapter 7: “We’re leaving Stef as a chaperone?” Brad asked. I saw Will start to get super pissed at his dad, as if he needed a chaperone, until he realized Brad was joking. “Talk about hiring the fox to watch the hen house.” “No one has called me a fox since the seventies,” Stef said evenly. “You are so out of fashion.” You're pretty spot on with Will. He could go either way. As for silence, my team is incredible. They have that thing down solid.

I'm so glad you're excited for the next series! This one is a bit easier to write than Valiant, though. ;-)

Reality can be like running into a hard wall. I think it was for Matt, in this case.

Thanks Kookie! Just a small correction...the Indefatigable was a razee, as you noted, but her consort, the Amazon, was not. She was a 36 gun frigate, less than two years old, and was lost in the action: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Amazon_%281795%29

You're welcome!

People will say that Will is immature and bad even if I have him traipse off to India to work with Mother Teresa. Then again, he'd probably end up seducing her, and then I'd really get bitched at. :-)

I think that the freaked out people you were expecting to see existed in December, 2001 and probably through most of the Spring, but they're getting there, and moving beyond the horror of 9-11.

When I made him a carpenter, I just had all of these lame-ass wood jokes pop into my mind. If you really are a carpenter, and especially if you're gay, those must get really old. I'm thinking Jersey guy, grabbing his crotch, saying "I got some wood for you to work on right here!"

I'm glad you're excited! And I agree with you: realizing you were wrong and admitting it is the first step.

You have to share your feelings about the direction, so you can later say I told you so. Or feel like an idiot. It's a risk. :-)

And now you know why the book is title with that term. I got some kickback on that from my team, that it was too raw, but that's the feel I was going for.

I think Will has just been biding his time to ultimately deal with Matt. Whether that does anything for Matt's chances with Wade remains to be seen.

Why yes, all of those things are true. (Grin)

Thanks! It's nice to be writing about something besides those damn towers falling. :-) One month wasn't enough time for Matt to pull his head out of his ass.

Yeah, I was trying to think of something, and I'd just been thinking about that word. It doesn't work in "Words with Friends" (GRRR)