R.V. Doon's Blog, page 8

Writers: Reduce Eye Fatigue With Gunnar Glasses

As a writer, I’m on the computer a lot. As technology advances, I’m spending free time on devices with screens (smart phone, kindles, tablets, big screen TV’s).

My eyes grew fatigued, unfocused, and tired. It got so bad I made up a diagnosis for it, “Scroll Sickness.” I logged off for a few days and my eyes recovered. This is hard especially while writing a new novel.

I’ve tried changing screen brightness etc, but as light changed in the window, or from the light fixtures I had another type of problem. All this angst and worry ended when I put on Gunnar Glasses.

These yellow-tinted glasses aren’t just for gamers. I use them while I’m on the internet for everything, except when I’m writing fresh text.  My brain needs to see white in order to let me write new words. It does take a few minutes for your eyes to adjust to the tint, but then it’s like they’re not there. My eyes felt much better after I started using them, and I recommend them as worth a try, if you can’t give up all technology for a day or two, regularly. Consider using Gunnar glasses to ease the symptoms, but they do not take the place of seeing an optometrist.  According to this article from PC World, you can order these glasses with prescription.

My son called me and asked if they had really worked for me. I told him like night and day. It occurred to me I may not be the only reader or writer suffering from technology eye strain. I recommend this product.

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5 Steps To Help Select The Right Book Cover

A part of me says to,”Just do it!” I’ve followed that order through various cover problems. Don’t rush choosing your book cover because it will come back to haunt you.

In my article, Going On a Cover Hunt, I asked readers to tap the Image Wall tab on the top menu of my web site to check out the numerous covers for Body Wave. I thought I’d learned my lesson.  I asked a cover artist to design the chosen one. I had asked for something not cartoony, but she knew the cozy mystery titles better than I. She made one cover based on her knowledge and offered me a second choice that I specifically requested. I chose her version. The following books will look the same, but the colors and titles will change. This is one way to brand a series.

For Swarmers, I picked a premade cover. I had quite a few writers tell me the cover looked YA. What I liked about it was the girl and the color. The artist also made the book title look like there were some bites taken out of it. So, I asked for the cover to be jazzed up for a more apocalyptic look, but asked to keep the girl. The result is the current cover. The book looks darker and doesn’t convey the YA appearance of the first version. I do believe I handicapped the cover artist by keeping the girl. I also believe that premade covers are a great deal if you understand the market, but may not be the best way to go if you’re clueless about graphic design.

My new book is a straight up contemporary thriller about a whistleblower. The tagline is: Not every whistleblower survives to tell their truth. She’s an ordinary person without the money, political clout, or legal teams that are the norm for successful corporations. Like me, you need to know your audience before selecting the cover. I also recommend reading this article by Susan Quinn.

5 Steps To Make Cover Selection Easier For You:

1. Know your audience and genre. For this book (unnamed) my audience is thriller readers. Your book cover should convey genre to browsing readers on sight at the thumbnail level. Romance covers are the most obvious example. Basically the cover you select must send the right signal to “your target readers” to stop and read the blurb. It should look like the others but stand out from the pack. The way to understand this feeling is to go to Amazon or other book stores and scan the top 100 covers in your genre. Note the colors, the fonts used in the title, the tagline placements. After this study, you should be able to identify your genre covers at sight.

2. Go to as many cover artists sites as you can find and study their work. Some lump their premades under genres for you. For a newbie this helps a lot. Others present their premades in a general mix, but most artists tell you they may specialize in a certain area like fantasy or romance. Premades move fast, so they’re usually current with market taste. Basically, you want to get a feeling for designs you like. Warning: If you buy a premade cover, ask the artist if they think it fits your genre. If they say no, heed their advice.

3. Check out writer forums like Kboards. Authors do a lot of cover reveals and members give their input. (I’ve never done this before, but will on this cover). Cover designers come on to offer font tips or other advice. This can be very educational when you’re in a cover search.

4. If you go with a custom design, give the artist pictures of ideas you like (pinterest board would be handy) or tell them which of their premades caught your eye. You’re revealing your personal tastes, and this gives them a baseline on how to please you. Some artists give you a list of questions to answer about the book, so they have a foundation baseline. If choosing a custom design, ask for choices. This can be a rough draft, but you want to make sure the cover is on the right track. The beauty of custom designed covers is the artists are willing to work with you because they want your repeat business. Cover artists vary in price and many are very affordable.

5. Whether going DIY, premade, or custom don’t labor to put a scene from the book on the cover. I think this is every newbies first starting point and causes the most frustration. Simplicity draws a reader’s attention. Simplicity though, must hint at the genre.

Stay tuned for my upcoming cover reveal. At this point I’ve narrowed the selection down, but haven’t made the final choice. What about you? Any tips to add? If you enjoy this post please share in your social networks.

 

One Year R. V. Doon Blog Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to me!

When I started to blog, I had no idea what I was doing. Maybe, I still don’t. I began blogging to support my indie writing efforts. Body Wave (A-Text-A-Nurse Mystery) was my first book published. It’s a southern-fried mystery series.  The Poet, a short story drama followed, and then I posted Swarmers, a dark fantasy thriller. Not bad for a first year run, but I’ve still got three books completed and waiting to go. Yes, they are in various stages of a self edit, but it’s basically me and my lax publishing schedule keeping me at three books instead of six.

So, for my second year, which begins tomorrow I’ve got a “new attitude.”  I’ve written out a publishing schedule which requires me to get the three books sitting in the wait queue out before 2014, plus the sequel to Swarmers and Book 2 of the Text-A-Nurse Mystery series as well. On January 01, 2014 I will publicly shame myself if I fail to meet this goal. (Do not expect naked pictures).

I plan to increase my blog posts, write a few reviews, and host a few other guest bloggers. My series on the historical background of Rh negative blood has a few more pages needed before calling it done. It was a labor of love really, for anyone wanting information about the Rh negative blood type, that didn’t include DNA cloning by aliens, reptilians, or fallen angels. I’m not mocking, I’m just saying it’s a diversion that makes many of us appear nutty:)

The positives are: I’ve written two full length novels and one short story and published them. I have three full length novels ready to move forward and one short story. The series follow-up books are coming along nicely, so the end of 2013 is looking good for me. After years of carrying a beeper that interrupted my sleep, I’ve embraced Twitter and I love it, I’ve waded into Google +, and put my author profile on Goodreads…yesterday. I’ve written a total of 69  blog posts and 19 pages,  which I hope to double by next year.

I still don’t know how to do a book launch, choose good cover art, and I still feel awkward on social media. I guess the point is, my writing is strong, I’m not a one book wonder and I’ve kept my blog limping along.

All best wishes or tips are welcomed.

Going On A Cover Hunt

If you’d like to see how many covers Body Wave went through click on the image wall on my blog. It’s a real hoot, so check it out. I started out DYI and well, I’ve learned covers are like stop signs for readers. Swarmer’s cover on the other hand, needs a redo, but I’ll wait until the second book is finished sometime in September. When it comes to covers, I know what I like, but can’t articulate it. Screwy, huh?

The new book is a contemporary thriller about a whistleblower that has tried every legal avenue to get a new drug, called EZ, pulled from prescription until her data is reviewed. The problem is her data is stolen. To get justice, the main character, decided she had to “go bad”  in order to do good for the public health. At the heart of Claire’s dilemma is the question: What would you do? Would you sacrifice your life to help others live? Naturally, because this is an R.V. Doon novel, the main plot is wrapped around the two sub plots.

I’ll reveal the name of my thriller on August 31, 20013 which marks the one year mark for my blog. After that, I’ll have a cover reveal. While I’d hoped to have this story out on 8-31, I have my nitpicking, “add more conflict”, Page Pounder friends for the hold up. Well, my mom’s medical crisis diverted me a bit as well. Anyhow, I’m back on track and this novel is not a series.

Readers if you’d like to point me to some great looking covers, I’d be grateful. Authors are usually happy to share their cover designers.

 

 

Writing a Book During a Family Medical Crisis

I know, it doesn’t make sense does it? The backstory: My sister after reading my historical novel commented, “I think you’ve missed your calling. You should write romance.” Thanks, Sis.

Right after that, I was completing self edits on a medical, whistle-blower thriller when my mom had to have surgery on her leg for a growth. The doctor removed the growth, but it left a gaping 3 inch wide and 1/2 deep hole. The good news no chemo needed, the bad news the wound in her leg made her depressed. To make her feel better, I did her daily dressing change for six straight weeks. Maybe it was the change in routine, or maybe it was because I thought more about loved ones being sick, but every late night I came home and wrote on a romance.

In the beginning, I thought the story thread would die but it kept going. I was afraid to work on the thriller while my mind had been hijacked by the surgery, doctor appointments, and follow-up wound care. I managed to work out my internal angst over my mom in the process of writing a romance. When I checked the word count and realized I’d written over 50,000 words, I was stunned. I concentrated on ending it.  And it’s pretty good, at least to me. Now, I’m letting it sit and putting my thriller in the Kindle to read from the device. After that check, the thriller goes to an editor and I start the cover art search.

I’m amazed how I managed to ride the unexpected and come out with a decent story. No sob story on how a crisis dried up my words for me. My publishing plan was to edit the thriller while finishing the second dark fantasy thriller follow-up to Swarmers. My brain wanted a break from it even though I was 30, 000 words in. I tried, but I went into writers block–a first for me. The words flowed like a rip tide for this romance which is still unnamed. I can’t explain it but I went with the flow, and I’m glad I did. I have a 66,562 word completed romance on the same day the dressing changes ended.

Tips for Not Letting a Crisis Hijack Your Writing Schedule:

1. Stay Flexible! I worried the crisis would dull the thriller edits. So, I embraced an idea my sister had planted. I let the words flow.

2. Don’t Deny Your Feelings. Release them in your words. Don’t try to box them up. Use the emotions that could scare you and keep you from sleeping, and turn them into something positive.

3. Stay Focused On Writing One Scene At A Time. Don’t overwhelm your mind. A family crisis comes with a unique set of problems. The romance wasn’t plotted out ahead. I thought about it while picking up meds or going to buy dressing supplies, or the drive to her house.

4. Add A Character Dealing With A Medical Crisis. Why swim upstream? Use the current event to release frustration in a make-believe character.

5. Don’t Check Word Count. Unless you’re on a red-line daily word count don’t check. Allow your writing word counts to fluctuate during a crisis. The idea is to release stress, not increase it.

6. Embrace Change When It Smacks You. You might surprise yourself.

 

I’d love to hear from readers on this topic. Has a stressor turned your writing in a new direction? Share your story!

BTW: I’m back writing the follow-up to Swarmers and it’s moving fast.

 

RH Negative Blood: The New Math

Writing ‘historical’ articles from the moment of Rh discovery to current time has been fun. Along the way I’ve discovered the math does not add up. Basically this, the math or percentages is screwy and it can’t be right. Prove to me that 85% of the population is Rh and 15% is Rh -. Please prove me wrong because I’d like to know how the numbers are derived. Now, I freely admit it’s possible my Rh negative blood is what compels me to find ‘source’ documents, because I’d love to just insert all the familiar numbers and percentages of ABO and Rh types quoted here and there and be done. I can’t. It’s like asking me to pull my eyelashes out and hey, I’m not even a math lover. So what the heck am I talking about? Statistics should move up and down over the years, but ABO and Rh tables stay the same.(85/15)

Here’s the problem in a nutshell. I surmised that in order to put information on ABO and Rh into statistical tables there must be a place that logs in the ABO and Rh of each baby born in the US. You agree? Of course you do, but the data is no longer being captured or put in any public data bases. Not the CDC, not State Public Health Departments, and not the National Newborn Screening Bank. Now, I know way more about newborn babies and their diseases than I ever wanted to know, but heck, no ABO or Rh groups are recorded. I know what day of the week most are born in, I know the % of smoking moms, I know the % of mom’s getting full prenatal care, but no data on ABO and Rh.

As an Rh negative mother, I learned my children’s ABO group and Rh at birth. Other mothers aren’t given the information. That shocked me because I knew the hospital labs ran ABO and Rh on cord blood. So I set out to find where the information would be, only to learn this. Of the 4 hospitals in my area, 3 had stopped running ABO and Rh on newborns and the 4th would stop in 2014. Look, to be honest, my state is the very last state to jump on a new trend, so if Alabama is doing it, you can be assured other states haven’t been running ABO and Rh for years!  No more cord blood typing , and I suppose this must be a huge cost savings to hospitals.

I contacted science like places on the Internet posting blood group tables and percentage stats to ask for source documents. None had them. Silly me, I thought the data were being generated by numbers in real time and based on the annual birthrate and corrected as birthrates dropped and immigrants came in. Not happening folks…sorry. Which means all the tables that don’t cite the source are invalid. I should thank or curse Dr. Ralph who pounded the idea home in my masters thesis: Don’t use data without a scientific source.

My title may be misleading, but I’m hopeful someone will read this article and send me source data!  CDC doesn’t keep the national ABO and RH group data for the US. But I did learn one interesting statistic from CDC. Rh sensitization rate was last recorded in 2002 in their National Vital Statistics Report (note the link and check Table 26 page 67). CDC said as of 2003 Rh sensitization rates were no longer recorded. I was told the disease that had a 50% death rate back in the 1940s is now statistically insignificant. So, while this data is 11 years old it’s based on actual reports and is the last year data is available. I crunched the stats and here is the only math I have for Rh babies born to Rh – mothers in 2002 (called Rh sensitization). Try to guess what the percentage is before reading.

Live Birthrate in 2002 – 4,021, 726

*One state wasn’t required to report and others didn’t report consistent data on Rh sensitization.

Stats derived from 3,982, 314 completed records.

2002 Rh sensitization rate total 26, 648

Whites 24, 227 or .67% …Blacks 1,881 or .05% …Other 540 or .01%…

So what is the big deal other than people display math tables on ABO and Rh groups without a source? Well, if we don’t know the ABO and Rh groups in the US how will we ever know if say O negative blood or AB negative blood drops significantly in the population? How do we know Rh negative blood is still the minority at 15% and not 45%? The 15/85% may have been true in 1901, but even then the scientists tested small amounts of people. How strange that here we are in 2013 sputtering out the same numbers like robots. Where’s the math? 

I’m a busy writer but I honestly tried to find the answers. Even searches on science engines didn’t reveal a public data base. If you have the source, set me straight!

If you’d like the same answers share the ? on your social networks. Thanks. Love to hear from you!

 

 

Advice From Rats: Change Your Genes

Ever wonder if some of the war mongers among us missed a critical nurture function as babies? Do you ever wonder if they were hugged?

Ever feel the need to call your children and apologize for all the bad karmic debt you bestowed from your genes?

Ever want to confront your parents on how you were raised?

Well, the rats have given us a story, one scientists have examined and published, and from this study a new pill will emerge, but until then new parents have a story to consider. If you’re stressed out, and so was your mom, end the cycle or do your best by pulling ideas from the rats. Either blame your parents for life or change the cycle for your kids.

Basically, before we cracked the DNA code, we were told we were stuck with our genes for better or worse. Now, we know diet and licking our offspring can change the expression of our genes. Yeah, I said licking.

Low stress rat moms lick their offspring often and they “smother” them which is rat speak for cuddling.  Rat moms who lick and smother produce healthy, normal rats in both male and females. The females pass this loving behavior on to their newborns. Yea, a crack in the stress cycle that swamps the body in cortisol.

High stress rat moms don’t lick as much nor do they smother their pups. Stressed rat moms produce fearful, worried offspring. I’m suggesting in human terms these are the folks who see a terrorist under every rock, instead of considering the effects of never-ending war on society.

Then scientists took babies of the non-stressed mother rats and gave them to the stressed mother rats to raise. Guess what? These pups became like the rat mother who raised them. Stressed out and aggressive.

My takeaway: Humans respond to voice, touch, smell. These are human cuddling(smothering) behaviors. To nurture babies and to raise kind non-stressed children, read and talk to them in the womb and rub your belly while doing so. When your baby is born, continue spending more time holding them naked against your bare chest. Baby massage is a great idea too, but make this regular not a weekend event. Humans aren’t born wearing clothes and the skin is the biggest sensory organ we have. I think the key is frequency because of course you do this, but can you do so more often? The key is to combine the behavior with a diet high in methyl donor foods.

Scientists believe eating methyl donor foods and taking the supplements seen in maternal vitamins can turn on the stress lowering mechanism the same as the licking and cuddling behaviors. This means mothers and infants can reduce stress through “cuddling behaviors and a thoughtful diet.” People who’ve raised their children can still change their own gene expression through diet. Here is a list of foods to consider. One day there will be a ‘nurture supplement”, but don’t forget the cuddling and smothering.

 

 

Brains In Bell Jars: How Else Can They Travel?

 

Fair Warning: This post isn’t for the squeamish.

Someone recently asked me, “Hundred-year-old brains in bell-shaped jars? Really?”

The tone implied my story idea wasn’t believable. Well, it’s a true story that’s given me nightmares for years. Albert Einstein’s brain went on an unauthorized journey. To give the author credit, he tried to make the macabre road trip sound fun.

The aging pathologist and thief wanted to set things right, and return the brain to Einstein’s family. But look how long it took him (decades). Confession time >a similar ghoul stole my brother’s brain. Einstein’s brain was old when it went out on tour without family permission, my brother’s brain wasn’t even four-years-old. I repeat, true story.

Second confession > I couldn’t finish the book because I hated the man who stole AE’s brain. You wouldn’t enjoy it either if your loved one’s brain had been stolen.

Einstein’s brain’s travel history warranted a book to explain what happened after it was stolen. My parents don’t know what became of my brother’s brain. Indeed, the doctor who took it didn’t ask permission, didn’t get consent, and like the ghouls in horror stories he thought he got away with it. Okay, he did. But I haven’t forgotten.

My parents took my brother to my mother’s family home to bury him. The mortician, a friend of the family, told my grandparents he did the best he could to make his face look natural, but it was hard with the brain removed.

The doc who stole my brother’s brain never knew my father threatened to “kill his ass,” nor that my uncles had to tie him down to stop him from doing so. Instead, he held it together for the burial, but my parents were both changed by the brain theft. They had never heard of such a thing happening, and they felt their son’s body had been desecrated. They had a difficult time at the funeral…put yourself in their shoes.

My sisters and I were affected in the sense of the betrayal my parents experienced. A grief-like, stealth virus invaded them. We grew up with emotionally frazzled parents. I wonder if the doctor who stole my brother’s brain ever gave a thought to the consequences of the emotional aftermath?

I dreamed of that poor little brain for years and finally wrote something similar in Swarmers. This is the scoop. My brother was a little genius. According to my mother, she’d return to his hospital bed and find doctors sitting there talking to him. They were amazed by his vocabulary and intellect.  In secret they decided to steal his brain, but like Einstein’s brain, did they forget their so-called good intentions? Apparently, brains from smart people, even toddlers, were prized possessions to put on display.

Swarmers, a dark fantasy thriller, is told from the main viewpoint of four characters. Louis Janzen is introduced as he prepares to dissect his ancestor’s brain, found stored in a bell jar for over a hundred years. He’s tied up in angst, and I give him pain because Louis is a research doctor. I can’t strike back at the doctor(s) who scarred my family, but I can and do use my nightmares in my fiction.

It’s been decades and some things never lose their power over us. For me, it’s my brother’s brain. I hope it was handled with care.

During my years of being an RN, guess what I saw? Yes…body parts in glass jars.  I believe every hospital has them and imagine the numbers of bell-shaped jars I’m talking about. Some are held in dingy basements, some sit on office shelves, and some are hidden in closets that haven’t been opened in years. It’s past time for hospitals to gather the body parts in bell-shaped jars and give them a decent burial, or at least do as Cornell University did. Make it right. It’s way past time.

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Readers Are The New Rock Stars

Readers do you feel like an endangered species?

Have you recently changed your social media profiles to erase “book lover?”

Do you feel pressured to leave reviews for books you didn’t finish?

Do you feel roped into a “reading corral?”

Have you ever thrown your Kindle across the room?

Guess what? You’re a Rock Star!

First my disclaimer, I’m a writer and a reader (a hybrid). Once I decided to embrace writing, something I didn’t have the courage to pursue for my career, I entered a twilight zone world. Readers are the new “thing.” Readers have become subjects of polls, targets of Twitter follows, and have been hunted down on Goodreads. There you are in your favorite PJ’s, you know the faded ones, and you’re the target of a massive ‘reader hunt.’  What can you do? Don’t duck and cover. I say embrace the ride up the most sought after lists. After years of no one caring about your personal reading tastes, or at least caring enough to poll you, you (we) have the control.

READERS ARE NO LONGER SIDE SEAT DRIVERS, WE’RE BOOK PILOTS.

The main reason your anonymity has been obliterated is because of self-published writers and e-books. I’m not going to get into an us versus them, I wrote a blog post once asking readers to take a chance on self published books. Self published Indie writers like me don’t have a billion dollar advertising campaign behind us but we do have a story to share. We sought you out and the traditional publishers didn’t like us “luring” you or your dollars. We’re the ones who asked your opinion, and we asked you to share it in a PUBLIC review. Love us or hate us, readers became the new rocks stars because of indie writers. You’re opinion is now important and as a reader I’m glad. I’ll get to see more of the books I like, plus, the series I got interested in, won’t suddenly be dropped. While you’re doing your beach reading, I wouldn’t doubt if unpaid interns aren’t hiking the beaches to check out what you’ve packed to read for vacation. That’s the true measure of rock star status! Just don’t become a diva, stay cool.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP:

1. You don’t owe anyone a review. Yeah, they’re nice for indie writers because we can’t get picked up for advertising without them. Did you know that?  Still, you don’t owe us one, period.

2. Don’t leave your public library behind. I wish they carried more self-published books, but they saved my life once upon a time. I want them to thrive. Please renew your library cards.

3. I’d love you to refer my book to your friends by word of mouth instead of written reviews. My best-loved and favorite books came to me that way, and I want my next favorite book to come in the same manner.

4. Comment on author blogs if you’re anxious to see the next in a series. We love it!

5. Stretch your reading tastes out of the same genres. If you’re a romance reader, try a fantasy. This is the time to signal your reading tastes are diverse. Make your preferences known.

6. Enjoy your time in the sun, readers and their opinions have been in the shade far too long.

7. Keep your sense of humor. Remember the old adage about the peon whispering in the emperor’s ear. “Fame is fleeting.” At some point writers will quit stalking readers. (Ok, this may take decades).

8. Tip me on a great book in the comment section. Scrolling through Amazon on a book search makes me dizzy. I’ve even invented a name for it, “Scroll Sickness.”

I’m enjoying my time as a rock star. Whenever, I finish a book on my Kindle, the device begs me to review. In the past, publishers didn’t care if I enjoyed a book, and I like being asked. Still, as a writer I have to hesitate. Amazon has cracked down on authors reviewing other authors. But if you’re not a hybrid like me, give the rating if it doesn’t give you a headache. I’ve taken care of a legion of patients through the years. I can’t tell you how few took the time to thank me for going beyond the norm. Yeah, I got paid to do the job, but a little thanks sprinkled in made the job easier when the going got tough. If you’re the same and a “thank you” makes you smile, consider your review or rating a random act of kindness. You can’t be a Rock Star if you don’t read. For once, readers known world wide as book worms are finally the cool crowd. Honestly, I never thought I’d see the day. What about you?

“http://www.youtube.com/embed/955P74e6wnw”

 

Get Money For College: By Helping People

With all the college debt slavery news circling on the internet, this path to college scholarship rewards is worth another mention.

Occasionally, while editing one of my stories, my brain revolts, and I go surfing on the information highway.  I found this article, FEMA Corps Graduates First AmeriCorps Members. Now, as a homeowner in an area hit by hurricanes, I like FEMA. I read the story and the first class graduated after giving ten months of community service to disaster survivors across America. Many of them worked during and after Superstorm Sandy. They can serve one or more terms which the article lists. This is a new unit engaging YA’s aged 18-24. What a great idea. If your high school graduate wants to try the Peace Corps to help people, and you don’t want them to leave the US, this program may be an answer for both of you. After a term of service is completed, they can opt out of the education award and select a cash stipend. If you have student loans, you could be eligible for 15% cancellation. In certain circumstances, you can use the award for study outside the US. Plus, you have 7 years to use your stipend without penalty. Naturally, the IRS will tax this award (in case you were wondering).

The scholarship reward amount wasn’t listed in the first article, which I though was strange since it could be a recruitment tool. Graduates are eligible for a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to help pay for college or other learning opportunities. So, I looked up the SAEA to see what the money award would be. The full-time education award equals the amount of a Pell Grant in the year the service is rendered. In 2012, Pell grants averaged 5,500.

The real gold came under Additional Information. A current list of colleges that Match the Education Award and others may waive out-of-state tuition or other fees.

Folks, the two articles are worth the read. Tuition assistance in the military has been frozen, but this award hasn’t, plus it doesn’t involve guns or leaving the country. Any money to decrease current or future education debt should be considered.