This is a blog you’ll enjoy if you like writing! I write for magazines in the UK and abroad and I am also the Agony Aunt for Writers’ Forum magazine.



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Wednesday Writing Spot – Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

Don’t judge a book by its cover.  Hmm, this may apply to people but it definitely doesn’t apply to actual books. That’s exactly what we do.   Covers are everything.

Having a good cover can mean the difference between selling or not selling your book. If you have a big publisher you probably won’t get much say in your cover. Actually if you have a big publisher, they probably won’t get much say in it either. Supermarkets very often have the last word on covers.

If you have a small to medium sized publisher there is every chance you’ll get a lot of say in your cover.  I had a lot of say in the cover of Ice and a Slice.  I love my cover. And thankfully lots of other people have told me they love it too.

It’s quite rare though for people to notice that there’s a message within the title of my cover.  Interestingly, it’s often children who spot this. My friend’s daughters (aged four and six) saw it immediately. ‘Why do the red letters say, I Lie?’ one of them asked.

Because that’s what the character does, I explained, hoping they wouldn’t ask me why the text of the title is also slightly blurred. Luckily they didn’t.

But it’s interesting, isn’t it, what you can do with the title on a front cover.

And if you want to see if SJ, my main character, really does lie, you can click here to buy a copy of Ice and a Slice for less than the price of a glass of Chardonnay.  Cheers!

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Posted in Ice and a Slice, selling your book, Writing | 8 Comments

When I was two stone heavier – before and after pix!

I promised recently, on our How To Eat Loads and Stay Slim Facebook page that I would put my money where my mouth is and post some before and after pictures of me. The before being when I was 2 stone heavier than I am now.  The picture headed up April 2006 was taken at the launch of my first novel, Passing Shadows. Check out my double chin and – wow – I had a cleavage. So it wasn’t all bad!

before during and after
I was more comfortable when I was two stone lighter though, which I finally achieved, after a series of yo yo dieting in August 2009.

But I wanted to add a further photo to prove that I am still the same weight now as I was then. There has been no more yo yo dieting, thank goodness, because it is soul destroying, isn’t it.

The photo headed up July 2013 was taken a handful of Saturdays ago at the launch of my latest novel Ice And A Slice.  And I am much happier with how I look (and feel) in this photograph.

This is why I was so pleased to write How to Eat Loads and Stay Slim. People I don’t know very well assume that I have always been effortlessly slim. But this isn’t actually the case. I don’t struggle too much today. I just follow certain basic principles, which work for me, and which can work for you too.

You don’t need to yo yo diet. It really is possible to eat loads and stay slim.


My latest novel, ‘Ice And A Slice’, is available now as a paperback and ebook. Visit my website for more details about this, and my other novels.

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Posted in How to Eat Loads and Stay Slim | 6 Comments

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Guest Blog from, Erotica Author, Candy Knight

This week I am teaching, How to Write and Sell Erotica, for The Writers’ Holiday, Caerleon, so it is with very great pleasure that I would like to introduce you to another erotica author and friend of mine, Candy Knight.  Over to you, Candy…

Hi Della, thank you for inviting me, it’s lovely to be here. I’m relatively new on the writing scene so I’ll start with telling the readers a little about myself and a wee bit about my life as an erotic author.

I was born in a quintessential village hidden in the green rolling hills in the Surrey downs, just south of London, in the era when “gay” meant happy and magazine models were not airbrushed beyond all recognition. Of course it no longer exist as it’s been swallowed up by Greater London now 🙁

I started to write erotica a couple of years ago but the genre wasn’t actually my first choice. My earlier books were of the ‘self help’ variety and they still do quite well but I got bored with them and there’s only so much you can write about overeating and weight loss.

Then I saw a discussion on the T.V. about how the Kindle and e-readers in general were taking the world by storm and one of the main reasons for this phenomenon was that it gave people the freedom and opportunity to read whatever they fancied, wherever they wanted, without the embarrassment of being ‘caught out’. You could now stand on a busy bus or train and no one would have a clue as to what you’re reading!

As a result, downloads of erotic fiction had gone through the roof and there was an increasing demand for well written erotica. About a week later I saw an advertisement for a creative erotic writing course and booked two places straight away.

The hubs and I went together and it was a hoot. We were so embarrassed to start with but everyone was in the same boat and the facilitator was lovely and made everyone feel at ease 😉  After a couple of hours it seemed perfectly natural to be chatting with complete strangers about sex. We had a great time and I haven’t looked back! The story that I started in class that weekend was the first that I published and I called it Unintentional Mistress, I have also included the story in my anthology Ultimate Gift. 

Only a select few know that I write erotica, not because I’m ashamed but because the people that I have told seem to think that I must actually try out everything that I write about. It makes me laugh because if I wrote about an axe murdering serial killer, would they assume that I go around chopping people up to see how it’s done? No, of course not but I still get the odd sideways glance when I stand next to other peoples husbands.

My life is very unglamorous and when I approach different tasks I like to wear the appropriate outfit to put me in the right mood. For instance if I exercise I put on a gym kit and if I play golf I don my golf attire but when I sit down to write my erotic stories instead of lacing up my corset and putting on my fishnet stockings, I put of my comfy, fleecy P.J.’s. Yes really! I have no idea why, I just find it easier to write naughty stories in my jim-jams.

In ‘real’ life the sexiest thing I get up to, is going to see burlesque shows, my favourites are Wanton Words and Burlesque Bombshells which is more like going to an old time music hall with its variety acts and it great fun. The other is Burlesque Fever which is far more traditional, it’s fabulous, very professional and you would be amazed to see that the audience is made up mostly of groups of women!

Anyway, enough about me and I would just like to congratulate you on your success with Ice and Slice, I really loved it and it did make me cry!

If the readers would like to know more about my life as an erotic writer and see what I look like they can take a hop over to my website www.candyknight.com where they can see some pictures and read my blog. There’s also all the links to buy my new erotic anthology Ultimate Gift if they fancy and they can follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you so much for letting my drop by Della, I’ve really enjoyed it.

And I have very much enjoyed having you, Candy, oops maybe I’d better rephrase that – you can’t say anything about erotica without it having a double meaning 🙂 Thanks for coming.  Nooooo……

Let’s start again. 🙂 Thank you very much for guest blogging for me, Candy, I am delighted that you enjoyed my writing course. 🙂 I knew Unintentional Mistress was a winner, and wishing you all the very best with your books.

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Posted in Guest Posts | 4 Comments

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Write about your ancestors – Emmeline Pankhurst and I…

Genealogy is a fascinating subject and I know more than one writer who has both researched their family tree and then used their ancestors as characters in either a short story or a novel.  I love this idea. I believe that writing with emotion is the way to sell your work – and what better way to do it!

We are linked to our ancestors, we are bound to have some emotional involvement with them – especially when we start researching their lives.  Hence we are halfway there if we create characters who are based on people in our past. We may not know much about them, but we will know something, and it’s amazingly inspiring and satisfying to recreate their lives in fiction.

I have a very complicated and (at least to me) interesting family history. My father was one of six. He also had six children. (there are four different mothers). I wasn’t brought up with any of my paternal brothers and sisters, but in the last fifteen years I have met two of my brothers.

Last week I met one of my cousins for the first time, and two nephews, and a couple of uncles and aunts. Fabulous stuff.  Now, on to something quite interesting that arose when we were chatting about our family history.  I was born Della Parkhurst.  My father was Peter Parkhurst, his father was Patrick Frank Parkhurst, his father was Frank William Parkhurst.

So what does all this have to do with Emmeline Pankhurst? Well… according to one of my aunts, who’s the custodian of our family history, Frank William Parkhurst was actually a Pankhurst, but he and his wife, Florence, were so horrified by another member of their family, Emmeline Pankhurst doing such embarrassing things such as chaining herself to the railings that they decided to disassociate themselves from her and changed their name by sleight of pen from Pankhurst to Parkhurst.

I was blown away when I learned of this fact. So if this is true – and apparently it’s been passed down my family over the years, and everyone thinks it’s true, then I’m related to Emmeline Pankhurst. How amazing is that. (It also explains a lot about my character, tee hee!).

I haven’t actually chained myself to any railings, but I have been passionate about one or two causes and have even been an activist in the past (long story). However, I would definitely have been up for some railing chaining in Emmeline’s time. My next step is to dig around a little and see if I can verify this, one way or the other. I’m sure one of you genealogy experts can tell me how to do it too.

Now, lets get back to writing, and also on to the most bizarre bit of this story. I sold a story a couple of years ago which was called Fifteen Minutes of Fame – it was published by The Weekly News, and it was about a girl who chains herself to the railings to save her grandfather’s allotments. Someone then lies to the newspapers that she is the great great great granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst.

How spooky is that 🙂

If you’d like any more advice on writing short stories, please check out my writing guides. How to Write and Sell Short Stories  and Moving On, Short Story to Novel, published by Accent Press and The Short Story Writers’ Toolshed published by Soundhaven.com

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Book Launch Pictures

Just in case you missed my book launch for my novel, Ice and a Slice, I thought I would post some pictures.  Oh and let you know how the day went. It was fabulous. The launch was at The Red Lion, a pub in our village.  I really recommend book launches in pubs, by the way. I’ve had my last two launches in this one.  Pubs have some advantages over book shops (sorry book shops but they do).There is lots of wine and coffee handy, and you don’t need to worry about spilling it over the books – or at least no one else’s books, except yours. There is lots of space for socialising – including a beautiful garden at the Red Lion.  You can have lunch there if you like – lots of people did this.

 

Cake and Wine

All I had to arrange was an endless supply of coffee and soft drinks – which the Red Lion kindly provided (bill coming later) and some bottles of wine for anyone who fancied a glass. Oh and I took three huge cakes – I’d like to say they were home made but they were M&S.

And I took the books, of course. I took all of my books – why restrict yourself to the one you are launching 🙂 This is usually possible in a book shop too.

And I needed someone to take the money. Thank you very much, Tony and Adam.

Oh and I needed a pen.

Oh and my co-author of How to Eat Loads and Stay Slim came to the launch too. So we could both sign copies of How to Eat Loads – there aren’t many dual signed copies of that around!

Did I mention it was fabulous?

It was.  Thank you so much to everyone who came.  And if you didn’t make it, but you would like to read Ice and a Slice. You can buy it for £1.94 for your kindle by clicking here. Or if you’d like an actual paperback, heaven forbid, and you’d like it signed by yours truly, you can get it for £6.99 by emailing me – or posting a comment on my blog. I won’t even charge you postage and packing. And signed books make brilliant presents. 🙂

And if you’d like a copy of How to Eat Loads and Stay Slim – signed by both the authors, you can get that for £6.00. See above for how.

Thanks for reading.

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Posted in selling your book | 8 Comments

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Getting Ideas – Guest Post from Patsy Collins

This week on the Wednesday Writing Spot, I am delighted to welcome writer, Patsy Collins, who is talking about where she gets her ideas from and her fabulous new short story collection, which is called Up The Garden Path. It’s lovely to have you here, Patsy. Now it’s over to you…

As writers we are often asked where we get our ideas from. It seems such a reasonable question but it’s very hard to give a satisfactory answer. Each writer will get their inspiration in a different way to that of their colleagues and they’ll probably draw on a number of resources. Ideas are everywhere you see. That’s both good and bad. We don’t have to wait for the ideas shop to open, but those little story sparks don’t come neatly labelled ‘romance novel suggestion’ or ‘ghost story premise’ so we need to train ourselves to spot them.

My new short story collection contains twenty four short stories and each is the result of a different stimulus. It’s a bit like picking wild mushrooms, really. If you want nice, safe mushrooms you need to know what they look like or you’ll end up with something toxic, or hallucinogenic or bitter. Of course if you actually want to poison someone you’ll need to be on the lookout for something different (pale gills and skinny stalks are a good sign in this case). ‘Write what you know’ is good advice. That’s what I did for ‘A Piece of Pink Ribbon’ which is set on a farm and ‘Coming Home’ which is about separation when someone is away at sea. It also explains why all the stories in the collection have a horticultural theme – I’m nearly as keen on gardening as eating cake. Real life events can be a great source of story ideas, but the truth often needs adapting. Weirdly when we write something strange, funny or touching that really happened it often doesn’t feel believable. ‘Watchdog’ is based on a real event (although not one which happened to me) but to make it work I had to change reality. Whenever I come across an unusual name eg ‘Mrs Dalrymple’ overhear an interesting comment such as ‘Your Granddad is Stuck Up a Tree Again’ or want revenge on an annoying boss (‘Blooming Talent’) I make a note in a computer file. Sometimes the prompt is as simple as the smell of ‘Strawberry Jam’ and at others it’s as complex as family politics (I’m admitting nothing!). It doesn’t matter where the ideas come from, it’s what you do with them that counts. I hope you like what I’ve done with those which resulted in ‘Up the Garden Path’. The book is available here – or here.

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Posted in Guest Posts, Tips on writing, Wednesday Writing Spot | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Plotting the longer Short Story

Plotting was the bane of my life when I started writing. It still trips me up now occasionally, particularly when I’m changing lengths, for example from 1000 to 2000 words. So here are some tips for writing the longer short story.  They are very popular in fiction specials.

This advice also works well when trying to reduce your longer stories to short ones. Just reverse it.

What’s the difference between 1000 words and 2000 words in plot terms?

There is not as much difference between the two as I thought when I first started writing.  I assumed that if I needed one or two main characters with a problem to solve in a 1000 word story, then I’d probably need more characters and more of a problem for a 2000 or 3000 word story.

I soon discovered that this was not the case. You won’t necessarily need more characters or more plot for a longer short story, but you will need more development of both.  This is usually achieved by writing more scenes.

Very short stories

In a 1000 word short story you won’t have room for more than a couple of scenes, probably three at the most and that might be pushing it.  We will probably join your character at the point of change or conflict. For example, let’s assume your character is worried about a forthcoming appointment she has the following day. Your story might go something like this:

Scene one

Your character is discussing her worries with friend or partner.

Scene two

Your character goes for the appointment.

Scene three

Resolution and possibly a twist.

If you did follow the format above for a 1000 word short story, then you’d have to make your scenes extremely short – you’d have just over 300 words to devote to each one.

If you had more space to play with, you might also have a flashback of exactly why your character was so worried about her forthcoming appointment. Your story might then go something like this:

Scene one

Your character is discussing her worries with friend or partner.

Scene two

Flashback in your character’s viewpoint to show a previous occasion when she had to go to an appointment and it didn’t work out – hence meaning the stakes for today are higher and we (hopefully) care about it more.

Scene three

Your character at the appointment.

Scene four

Resolution and twist

The number of characters and the plotline are the same, but the story is longer and has more depth because we have more development of both.

This helped me so much when I first got it. Hope it helps you too.  And if you’d like any more advice on writing short stories, please check out my two writing guides. How to Write and Sell Short Stories published by Accent Press and The Short Story Writers’ Toolshed published by Soundhaven.com

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Posted in plotting, Tips on writing, Wednesday Writing Spot, Writing, Writing problems and solutions | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Getting Very Excited about my Book Launch this Saturday

I have been banging on about this for weeks on Facebook and Twitter, but just in case you’ve been away on Mars, or you don’t use Facebook and Twitter, I wanted to mention one more time that my book launch for Ice and a Slice is this Saturday. And you are very welcome to come along.

I’m so excited. By the time you read this, I will have no grey hairs left and also might even have extra long eyelashes. 🙂

Why I wrote Ice and a Slice

I have alcoholism in my family – my father is a recovering alcoholic – so it’s an issue I’m familiar with. But I didn’t want to write a dark book about it. Or not too dark anyway.  I also wanted to write about it from a woman’s perspective.  There are lots of novels that are written about alcoholism, from a woman’s perspective, but fewer that are written about women who are alcoholics themselves.

What it’s about

Ice and a Slice is the story of Sarah-Jane, (SJ to her friends) who discovers she can’t stop drinking.  On the surface her life is fine. She is happily married to Tom (well at least she thinks she is – he works away so much she doesn’t often see him).  She’s also fallen out with her sister and they no longer speak. But SJ is determined to sort that out one day.

At least her best friend, Tania, is on her side, although lately Tania is increasingly preoccupied with her own (secret) problems.  SJ feels very alone sometimes and quite scared, but it’s not as though she’s an alcoholic, is it? She doesn’t keep a bottle of vodka by her bed. She doesn’t even drink every day – well not till the evening anyway.    

It isn’t until she seeks the help of Kit, the hunky guy at the addiction centre, that she realises things may have got a little more out of hand than she thinks. 

SJ is by far the most three dimensional character I’ve ever created. I fell in love with her from the very first chapter.  Mostly I think because she is so flawed and so human.  And yes, she is based on someone I’m close to – although I’m not telling you who J  But one of the reasons that I love this novel  so much – and I don’t say that lightly, I’m the biggest self critic around – is because it’s the one in which I think I found my true voice.

I didn’t realise it was going to happen.  In fact, after so many years of writing, I thought I’d already found my voice – and I think I have as far as short stories go – but novels are different, aren’t they?  The canvas is bigger, the pace is different – everything is different. Although I loved writing my first two novels, Passing Shadows and Helter Skelter, writing Ice and a Slice was like being in another dimension.  It was easy to write – the words flowed out of me – I didn’t have to plan what SJ would say – she just said it. Being inside her head felt like putting on a second skin.  It was an amazing feeling.  And I’ve had some amazing reactions to this novel.   Since it came out for Kindle at the end of March it’s had 26 five star reviews on Amazon.co.uk and 3 five star reviews on Amazon.com. I’ve pasted the most recent one below. Not because I want to blow my own trumpet, but because I feel humbled that Ice has touched people enough to say such lovely things about it.

I’ve always loved Della Galton’s short stories and I have to say Ice and a Slice is a writing triumph as a novel. I loved the characters and I can honestly say from when I started reading it I could not put it down – even to go and get a G & T with ice and a slice! This is a book you must not miss.

Bookworm

My book launch for Ice and a Slice is being held on Saturday 13 July at the Red Lion Pub in Sturminster Marshall. I will be there signing books between 11 and 4. If you’d like to come along I’d be delighted to see you.

If you’d prefer to read the digital version you can borrow it for free if you’re an Amazon Prime customer. Or buy it for £1.94 (less than the price of a glass of Chardonnay) by clicking here.

Thank you for reading.

Della Galton x

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Posted in Ice and a Slice, News | Tagged | 7 Comments

The Wednesday Writing Spot – Plotting the Short Story

Plotting a short story is something that many writers, both new and experienced, find difficult.  I include myself in this.  It is not always easy, and I say not always, because occasionally we all have those magical days when it is.

For the days when it isn’t, I have outlined some techniques below that should hopefully help.

Starting from Scratch

Give your character a dilemma to solve. Preferably make it the sort of dilemma that will force your character to re-evaluate his life or his attitudes.  In this way he will have changed before the end of the story.

Be as nasty as you like.  The tougher the problem that your character has to face, the more drama you’ll be able to create.

Make sure the resolution to the dilemma is credible, but also make it as unexpected as you can.  This is the tricky bit.  Knowing you have to provide a resolution to the story before you start can be very off putting for some writers (it is for me!).

Starting Halfway through

Now, this might sound strange, but I find this is by far the easiest way to plot.  By starting halfway through I am saying that you should just start writing.  Certainly give your character a dilemma to solve, but don’t worry about the rest.

For example :  I once sold a story  of 1000 words called The Best Laid Plans, which I’d started the previous year and got stuck on.  My original idea was as follows:

The story opens with Katie in bed in hospital on her 25th wedding anniversary, which is not quite how she planned to spend it. Since she married Paul most of their anniversary plans have gone wrong. On bad days she thinks they’re jinxed and on good days she thanks her lucky stars they ever got this far. This was a light hearted story and the humour was provided by flashback (the story is in Katie’s viewpoint) to previous disastrous anniversaries.

I got stuck at the 750 word point, which I frequently do.  I couldn’t think how to resolve this story.   This is where the plotting bits come in.  Because the story is already half written, there are only so many options.

  1. They could have a late anniversary celebration which could go wrong
  2. As above, but it doesn’t go wrong.
  3. They could split up (not very satisfactory for Woman’s Weekly)
  4. They could decide not to celebrate on the actual day itself, but at other times in the year, after all a marriage isn’t about just one day a year.

I stopped here because I’d found my solution.  I used a mixture of number 1, 2 and 4.

Plotting is actually just a chain of events that leads your character to a satisfactory resolution and that resolution will largely be determined by market.

Problems Finishing

When you’re stuck on a resolution – this is another problem I have frequently, then I suggest you ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What is it that I am actually trying to say?
  2. What is this story about?

The Best Laid Plans was a humorous story, designed to entertain, but it did have a serious underlying message – a universal truth, if you like.   A wedding anniversary is the day that couples celebrate on, but the other 364 days of their marriage were just as important.  They could also laugh about the things that went wrong.

The answer is in what you’ve already written

The seeds you’ve sown early in the story will provide you with the ending.  Look at what you’ve set up carefully and then explore every possible option.  One of them will be the right one.

The Title

Another quite useful thing I’ve learned is that the title should underline the theme, as in The Best Laid Plans – so if you are the type of writer who knows the title before they begin, then this can be very helpful.

And if you’d like any more advice on writing short stories, please check out my two writing guides. How to Write and Sell Short Stories published by Accent Press and The Short Story Writers’ Toolshed published by Soundhaven.com

Next week we’ll look at plotting the longer short story.

Happy writing.

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Posted in plotting, Wednesday Writing Spot, Writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Media Tart

Writers just write books, don’t they? Nope – not these days. Writing them is just the beginning. Then we have to blog, facebook, tweet, go on the radio, get interviewed by journalists and write features about them too. And if you have more than one book out at a time you have to do all this ten times more. So much for being a shy and retiring writer. You need at least a dozen other faces too. The week before last I was interviewed by Hot Radio about How to Eat Loads and Stay Slim. The interview is now on our page. I only just had the chance to listen to it. I was quite impressed. I am renowned for making a mess of radio interviews, especially live ones. On one memorable occasion when being interviewed about my How to Write and Sell Short Stories, I told the interviewer that it was selling much better than my novels and when she asked why, I replied – wait for it – perhaps my novels were rubbish. Not a good move 🙁  How to Write and Sell Short Stories is No 1 in one of its categories, I just noticed. Hey, maybe I’m getting better at publicity!

Another time on live radio I got so carried away talking about writing that I entirely forgot to mention the name of the book I was promoting – Short Story to Novel – How to Move On.

Hmmm, isn’t the rule of being interviewed that you slip in the title as often as you possibly can. Not leave it out altogether!

However, I must be getting better. The interview on Hot Radio is good. I sound like I know what I’m doing. Maybe it’s true that practice makes perfect! I actually sound quite entertaining 🙂 If you’d like to listen to it please click here.

Last week, I was also interviewed by the Daily Echo about Ice and a Slice and how I started writing – their photographer is coming on Monday to take pictures. Deciding what to wear is going to take up quite a bit of my weekend 🙂 I’ll post a link when that one is out.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a feature for 4Dorset about How to Eat Loads and Stay Slim, which includes a recipe for summer desserts.  The link to that one is here.

Mind you, it’s a lot easier to get it right when you actually have time to sit and write the darn thing and you’re not just having questions fired at you, live on radio!

Anyway, the point of all this rambling was to mention the fact that you don’t just need to be a writer these days. You need to be a radio star, blogger, facebooker, tweeter, and be up for having your photo taking on  a Monday Morning.  Hmm – not quite what I signed up for!

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Posted in selling your book, social media | 2 Comments