I don't know you that well, but I admire how you dealt with all of the issues you've lived through this year and I like reading about your writing, because it sounds a lot like mine (very in depth with characters who do exactly what they want, even when you're desperately trying to shove them in the other direction or tone them down or just get them to stop talking, because they're meant to be going with the plot). I hope that one day I get to read the Starikov Chronicles.