[insert clever way of saying hello here]

[Matt]

Hello all.

My name is Matt and I became a Hugh Howey fan just before the second Wool book was released. A member of my book club suggested the first book since it both sounded interesting and was a short read. Well, the entire book club has since become hooked (some of us more than others) and have all read through every wool book out so far. We even had the fortune to have had the opportunity to get to chat with Hugh over Skype.

My favorite (paraphrased) quote from that meeting was when Hugh said to "just write the sentence and move on, you can come back to it later," which is fantastic advice for me being a terrible procrastinator.

At the moment, my favorite part of any of Hugh's books would have to be from The Hurricane, which I am just about finished with, where he makes a metaphor likening saw dust from a chainsaw to yellow snow. I think we actually talked about it during the skype chat, but I didn't really get the full picture of how amazing that passage is until I read it. Fantastic!

Anyways, Hugh, all joking aside, I love the stories you craft and and really looking forward to everything that is coming in the future. I am so happy that you have received such great success, because if you hadn't I might not have found Wool and all of your other amazing stories that I have enjoyed so much (and all of the ones yet to come!)

Thanks, and.. uh, hi

[tink]

Welcome, Matt!

[Matt]

Thanks for the welcome. I wasn't one of the lucky winners but still glad that the contest got me to join in the discussion... even if just a little.

[Lisa]

Your avatar looks familiar...have you posted on Hugh's FB? (Welcome!)

[Matt]

Yeah I have. I forgot there actually was a forum until the contest.

[charla.arabie]

[insert clever way of saying hello here]

Glad I found you in "new posts". I am reading Hurricane now and remember

where he makes a metaphor likening saw dust from a chainsaw to yellow snow

as well.

It brought back a lot of memories because we had to evacuate for Hurricane Rita years ago. (I live in Southwest Louisiana.- Rita hit us a few weeks after Katrina hit New Orleans.) I could identify with the main character from my own experiences as a teen riddled with self doubt and my 16 year old's issues with self esteem. Daniel reminded me a lot of my son. Hugh has this magic in helping readers to relate and become invested in his characters.

[Ryan]

Charla, what kinds of things do you do to try to help your son? My son is five and the world is still telling him that he is a beautiful unique snowflake. I worry often about how he'll do when kids at school or random strangers show him the less-kind side of life I wish that I could always be there to remind him of what a great person he is, but that's just not how life works

[Ryan]

Great to hear it! I'm not looking forward to the time when my son stops trusting my opinion by default... it's coming though haha. Right now I can tell him how great he is and he just believes me . You sound like a great mother, Charla

[Deb R]

Hi, Matt! Do stick around, we have a lot of fun talking here. This is also the best place to keep up with Hugh's adventures.

[Ryan]

Hey Matt! I'm sorry that I jacked your thread a bit! Welcome!!

I like your thoughts on Hugh's writing, the part about the saw dust looking like snow. I, too, find that sometimes I read a line of his and it just makes me smile, how perfectly he captures something, or the way he phrases things... they just roll off the tongue. I've taken to highlighting the lines in kindle that I really like. I think highlights are shared among kindle readers - eventually it would be cool to see what parts we all thought were great