I write crime fiction, so there are often references to when the crime occurred in relation to when in the story the discussion about the crime is taking place. “The girl with the blue hair, I saw her four days ago in the alley behind the curling club,” for example. In one traditionally published book I DNR’d, the story, which was being told chronologically, accidentally moved from Sunday night to Sunday morning, so you can see why it’s important to catch timeline inconsistencies.
For my last two books, I’ve taken a strategic approach to editing for timeline inconsistencies, and in doing so, have each time found passages where I, for instance, miscalculated someone’s age in a given year, or, when referring to an event that happened earlier in the story, wrote the wrong day.
If you plot every time-related detail before typing a word, or if your story is completely linear with rare references to past events, then you probably don’t need to do this or something like this, but for those authors whose timelines are making their heads spin, here’s my two-step, no-software-required process.
Step 1: During one of my full revisions, I choose a digital highlight color and consistently highlight all passages that relate to time (age, day of week or other time markers, passage of time, etc.) It can be a waste of time to do this if you anticipate major structural changes ahead, so you may want to wait until you’re a couple of drafts in. It becomes second-nature after a bit, the highlighting; easy-peasy.
Step 2: I get myself an oversized piece of paper, and I mean big. You could use the back of a desk-calendar tear-off or splurge on a large piece of bristol/poster board or take six regular-size sheets of office paper and seam them together with tape on one side only. You’ll be writing in pencil, so have a good eraser handy as well. Draw as many lines across the length of the paper as you have timelines. I draw two, one for the present-day timeline and one for events that happened before the story started. Now start at the beginning of your story, and add every highlight to your paper timeline along with the scene in which the mention occurs. As you go through this process, look for and iron out all the timeline inconsistencies. Keep your timeline FOREVER, because you’ll need to refer to it at all stages of editing.
At which stage of your revision process do you take a close look at your timeline? Do you use software for this or a pen-and-paper solution similar to mine? Chat with me in the comments!
I wrote this post for the monthly Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. To continue hopping or to join the hop, click here. (There are more than 200 of us, and it’s fun!)
That sounds brilliant. I’m exactly where I need to be as far as editing to try this, Raimey. Thank ou!
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What great timing I have! 🙂
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That’s a smart idea. Fortunately I write linear, but with a series, I still had to keep track of what happened when so I didn’t screw it up later on.
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I haven’t done a series yet, but I imagine I’m going to need bigger paper. 😉
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Scrivener. Hands down. Scene by scene index cards if you want to look at a bulletin board, in order chapter/scene down the side if you want, full screen no distraction if you want, split screen, global search, search replace, highlight/find/note flyout. I am not a shill, nor do they give me swag, software, or coffee cups. But if you write anything longer than a book report, Scrivener. not very steep learning curve, output to any format you might need to test (locked or unlocked formatting). Front matter, TOC (linkable), headers, footers, even silly chapter art if you want. You might still knock out a scratch thought in Word on your phone or by hand but when it comes to visualizing your work it’s the DAW of writing. Drag and drop, shift things around, running word count and word count by scene. I found out the accent mark I used on someone’s name was going the wrong way for the pronunciation – Three clicks later and it was done. Don’ t like a character’s name? Bam. Oh, name generator? Covered. Dictionary? Yes and import. I got Scrivener several years ago and now I only print to find the clams I’ll miss onscreen.
What? Around $30? And they run a sale on the ramp up to NANO? If you aren’t using it it’s your own time. But still…Like I said, I get nothing from them but an excellent product for productivity at a fair price. And these days, like editors, that’s a rare find.
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One of these days, I will definitely give Scrivener another shot, but I’m just not drawn to it. It’s a very visual app, and that may be why I hesitate. Thanks for the insight, Phil!
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Like with a DAW, in creative mode I’m in the scene I’m in. In construction mode I back out to song view and I see how they all relate. (or don’t!) But then I used to use fountain pens because I thought it made me more cognizant and all it really did was turn the heel of my hand black!
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This is exactly what I’m working on today! Great advice! I started moving scenes around and was getting very overwhelmed.
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Thanks so much, Jill. Did I ever tell you there’s a character in one of my novels with your name? 🙂
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The wall, yes! I do this too! Fine tuning the timeline is very nearly the final edit. (The craziest timeline I worked on was a time travel story. I vowed never to write another.) Thanks for another great post, Raimey!
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Time travel, yikes! That would definitely be a challenge. 🙂
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Thanks for the tips! I’m constantly surprised when I’m editing how often I find inconsistencies I’ve missed.
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Same! I think I’m brilliant the first time around, and then I edit and realize, not so much. 🙂
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Great post, Raimey! I’m on the 15th (and final) book of a series and had to go back through ALL of them to get that timeline together – something I should have been doing the second I realized a series was in the making. What a difference a day makes to eagle-eyed readers. Thanks for the highlighting suggestion which I WILL employee . . . and for being co-host this month!!
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15 books, Nancy! I still can’t believe it. How amazing are you??
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Thanks for an excellent tip.
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My pleasure. Thanks for stopping by, Liza. 🙂
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I also write about murder and crime, so the time line is super important. I use paper and pen to plot out each day of the book. Oversized calendars work well too! Thanks for co-hosting!
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Great minds, Jennifer!
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This is great advice! I noticed a comment above about using Scrivener. Although I enjoy Scrivener – especially the corkboard! – I still like paper-in-hand kind of tracking. Plus, I never can seem to export correctly in Scrivener. Highlighting timelines and then spreading them out in order is a perfect way to find any mistakes.
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I’ve heard of others having that same problem with Scrivener.
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Oh, I love this. It could also work for other genres too, like to point out characters that meet and fall into powerful everlasting love in the dspace of three days! Or in a historical novel to account for slow travel times for news, etc. Thanks for the tip!
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I think you’re on to something. 🙂
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Great idea Raimey. When I wrote a fantasy series that not only had multiple pov characters doing different things in different parts of the world I actually printed off four years’ worth of calendars to keep track of the whole mess. Travel times by sea and land had to be figured in. AND I was keeping track of moon phases. It was insane, but it worked. 🙂
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Moon phases, too! Wow!
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🙂 It was ridiculous.
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Great idea! I often find blips and inconsistencies even on the short stories I’m writing. This would be helpful on those too. Thanks for a great post!
(Visiting of IWSG from Writer’s Zen)
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I agree. Sometimes short stories can be very intricate.
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I look at the timeline in revision, because nothing’s going to stay in the same time or place, anyway. (I’m moving pieces around right now, as it happens.)
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Happy editing, Karen!
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That is a great idea. I think my books have had linear time lines with a few flashbacks, so I haven’t had to make a big timeline, but I do have a separate file for notes that ends up almost as long as the novel by the time I’m done.
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I try to keep my notes organized. Doesn’t always work out the way I want. 🙂
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I’ve enjoyed reading this discussion, including the Scrivener comment. Would it be possible to post an photo of showing a timeline entry? “…add every highlight to your paper timeline along with the scene in which the mention… ” I’m struggling to visualize all the entries on the timeline. Thanks Raimey for this post and being this month’s IWSG co-host.
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Hi Lynn! I’m a little wary of posting my own timelines, because they’re for novels I haven’t published yet, so maybe I’ll just try to describe it a little better if that’s okay? Let’s say your past timeline for your novel is set over one week. In that case, you would draw a line on a large piece of paper and put the dates or days of the week, and every time there is a mention of something having happened in the past, you would make a note on the correct day of the week and in parentheses, indicate the scene the reference was made in. It might be something you have to sit down and try, because every novel is going to have different requirements for what type of timeline needs to be drawn, how many timelines, etc.
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Thanks for co-hosting!
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My pleasure! Thanks for stopping by, Deb. 🙂
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I struggle with this also. Believe it or not, I work out time, dates, ages in my head. That’s probably why I struggle with it. LOL. You’ve given me some good advice. TY
Thank you for co-hosting this month!!!
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These are great tips. As I write, I create an outline and story notes to keep track of everything.
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Sounds like you’re on top of it!
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Great tips. Especially when you’re writing a series, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of details. There are times I’m editing and discover something that COMPLETELY contradicts something from one of the other books. Aggravating!
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I can imagine!
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Thanks for co-hosting this month.
I’m a plotter, so along with outlining my stories from beginning to end, I also write timelines for all my major characters. It’s just part of my process.
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I like it. I do that to a degree as well.
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I’m a pantser so timeline issues there are likely to be. In the piece I’m currently co-writing, we started out with the paper solution, but it became unweildy and couldn’t be shared across our separate households, so we’ve now gone with Scrivener – as Phil Huston recommended above. Of course, it has other benefits – not least of which is allowing us to share the manuscript. Hoping it does the job as well as the old paper and pencil solution!
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I really like the idea of cloud software for co-author situations. Good call.
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Great tips for keeping the times consistent. I go through and make notes after the first draft. Thanks for being co-host this month!
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My pleasure!
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Great idea! I especially like the part about highlighting in different colors on the screen.
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Thanks. I generally only use one highlight color, but I can see how it would be beneficial to use multiple colors if you’re trying to separate out different timelines. 🙂
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I do pretty extensive plotting before I start to write, but the characters always inject their own opinions. I print up a calendar for each month in the story and note the scenes in pencil. This saves me from what happened in an earlier novel, when I created the world’s longest Thursday.
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lol, I’ve used calendars in certain situations as well, for instance, when it’s really important to make sure certain events happen on weekdays.
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A great editing idea, Raimey.
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Thank you so much!
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Great advice, Raimey. I use a digital calendar and/or a spreadsheet to keep track of time details. It’s so easy to make a mistake.
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Agreed!
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Given that I write about time travel, I should probably do something like this. I mean, at some point I’ll have to deal not only with timelines in different eras, but also timelines that got erased because of people meddling with history. But for now, I’m just handling this one story at a time. I don’t really know enough about all these timelines to really plan them out in detail yet.
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It sounds like a really interesting story!
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What a terrific method for mapping time! Thank you.
I had that happen to me in one of my earlier works.
Have a great rest of your week Raimey 🙂
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Timelines can be so pesky. 🙂
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To keep an accurate track of time in my stories, I create timelines that include both real-life historical milestones, as well as major happenings for the characters in my novel. I also keep a chart that shows the age of various characters at different points in the plot. The whole process is pretty low-tech, but it works for me.
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I chart ages as well, when the situation calls for it. Sounds like a similar process to mine.
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Thanks for co-hosting this month. As a bookworm, I never gave much thought to how authors keep track of their times and characters. I know my friend Toi writes outlines and timelines all the time. It’s cool to learn about a different process. Nice post.
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Thanks so much for saying that!
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Most of the stuff I write takes place over a very short period of time (like a few days) so thus far this hasn’t been an issue. I’m also generally vague about character ages and dates so I don’t need to worry about it. But I know one of these days this is going to come back to bite me
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I agree that this process of timeline tracking isn’t going to be super necessary for a lot of stories. 🙂
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When I begin, I start with day one am/pm/etc and continue noting the story timeline from there. The crime has its own detailed reference page which I keep handy. I think of it was my story behind the story. 🙂
Tracking timelines and clues/red herrings are a challenge.
Anna from elements of emaginette
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That’s an awesome way to think of it, Anna! Crossing my fingers you’ll do a post about that for #AuthorToolboxBlogHop. 🙂
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Because I quite often change the order of events I’m quite good at messing up timelines and ending up with three Wednesdays in a week and the like. Once noticed such errors seem obvious, but they can be very tricky to spot.
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Agreed. 🙂
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I’m just so ridiculously happy there’s another author out there in the “eh, no thanks, Srivener” camp. Doing things by hand, we will prevail! LOL. Thanks so much for co-hosting today.
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We’re some of the last holdouts, I think. 😉 Actually, I think that a lot of authors prefer to stay fairly analogue…you know, except for Microsoft Word, and researching everything on the Internet. 😉
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Excellent idea! I’m very visual and need to see the big picture on a BIG piece of paper. Same way with maps. The computer screen just isn’t big enough for me. I’m already having issues with my time line (something on page 154 doesn’t jive with something on page 29) but instead of trying to fix anything in the first draft, I’m just bolding the reference or line for later editing.
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I have a hard time with computer-screen size as well. I need many more monitors!
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I had to do major timeline revisions, but that was due to events not working across multiple POVs. Man was that a pain in the rear! But I finally got it all worked out.
I read on another blog’s comment log that you’re ill. I hope you get better soon!!
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Thanks so much, Loni. My fever broke, so I’m on the mend. 🙂
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I do the same thing but in a Word doc. I either keep a timeline of events with dates and notes in list form, or I turn the text sideways and make notes along an actual timeline. I also keep a character document with names, ages, parentage, birth dates, etc., that I can refer back to if needed. That became particularly important when I wrote characters with slowed aging – I had to keep up with both their physical age AND their chronological age.
In my current series, I’m doing companion novels that don’t overlap much, usually only one scene, if that. It’s much easier than writing true sequels.
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Wow, that physical versus chronological age story would indeed have been a challenge. Good for you!
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Great idea! I had one story where I made a major plot change and I completely messed up the timelines! Ended up with a rewrite instead of a revision because it changed everything!!!
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That sucks. I’m sure it turned out for the best in the end, though.
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Wow, great post. I am bookmarking this. I will have to come back again later and reread I have a feeling I am gonna need this. Happy IWSG!
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Thank you, Juneta!
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That is an interesting approach. If I wrote mysteries, I’d definitely try it. In some mysteries, even minutes count.
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So true.
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I write down a timeline for all my novels and I’ve found many mistakes when I edit the first draft of everything. Usually, my novels span months or weeks but not years. Sometimes I draw a timeline and mark it up as I go.
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Sounds like we’re on the same wavelength. 🙂
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Great ideas! Thank you!
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My absolute pleasure. 🙂
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I more or less work linear, but do what you do and highlight references to time for later checking. With books going days at a time, I’ll do a day by day timeline in spreadsheet, with each character being where on which day. If I do that as I go I sometimes serendipitously have them all arriving at the same place on the same day, which can make for wonderful crossing-over scenes!
It’s also important if you have a werewolf in your plot to have 28 day full moons!
But where large passages of time are involved, I’ll do them in hope and check them later. Possibly too much later, as I found in my scifi books. But then I can always alter the speed the spaceships are travelling at lol
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Yea! Another timeline highlighter! Thanks for the werewolf tip. 🙂
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Thanks so much for this tip on highlighting any of the mentions of times in the story. I can use this!
JQ Rose
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I’m so happy to hear it will be useful to you!
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I’m a heavy plotter, and I use the same method before i start writing to keep my timelines in order, usually on big, green legal paper. Cheers!
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Thank goodness for big paper!
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My stories are pretty linear right now, but that may change in the future, so I’ll keep this hint bookmarked for then.
Thanks for co-hosting this month’s IWSG post.
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My pleasure!
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I’ve always tried to be very careful maintaining consistency in my stories. But I tend to keep up with things as I go. Your method seems very meticulous with good potential results.
Thanks for co-hosting.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
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Thanks so much, Arlee!
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Great post. Great method for heavy plotting. I write in a similar fashion. Thank you for co-hosting!
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Thanks for stopping by, Adrienne!
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I love this idea! Brilliant. Thank you so much for hosting this month.
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Thanks for saying that, Doreen!
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Hi Doreen! Try as I might, I can’t find your blog listed on the IWSG site. If you get this comment, I recommend linking your Gravatar (that little icon of you that shows up in my comments) to your website so I can find you. 🙂
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