Regular readers might have wondered what happened to me. I got a lot of work. I'm a freelance writing consultant and it's graduate school application deadline time. Suddenly, people who never excelled at writing or who are working in their second or third language need to write an extremely important professional document--the Statement of Purpose. They don't just need to get the commas right; they need to convey their passion for their research interest with vivid detail. Lots of fun for me! One, working on style is one of my favorite aspects of writing. I love to consider the connotations and differences in tone between "besides" and "furthermore" as transitional expressions. Two, the students care a lot. So, they pay careful attention to my suggestions, and I see their statements improve dramatically. Three, I did not work for basically four months this year, and if we want to redo our backyard, I want these gigs.