Write The Darn Book! Beat Writer’s Block, Strengthen Your Craft & Finally Finish Writing Your Book.

Maddison Michaels
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Semiweekly

Welcome to Write the Darn Book™, a mindset-first, craft-supported, spiritually aligned podcast for writers who feel called to write a book, but keep getting stuck somewhere between the idea and the finished draft. If writer’s block, procrastination, self-doubt, perfectionism, overthinking, or the everyday chaos of life keeps pulling you away from the page, you’re in the right place. And my friend, you are not broken! You are a writer with a story, message, or book inside you. And sometimes what you need isn't more pressure, more hustle, or another generic writing routine. Sometimes what you need is a deeper understanding and awareness of how your mind works, how you are uniquely wired to write, and what actually helps you move from stuck… into creative flow. Hosted by Maddison Michaels, award-winning, multi-published author of 9 books, certified Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, Hypnotherapist, and creator of the Write The Darn Book™ Method, this podcast blends mindset, neuroscience-supported tools, writing craft, story structure, intuitive creativity, emotional regulation, faith, and grounded writing support to help you finally write and finish the book you’re meant to write. Each week, we’ll explore both sides of the writing journey. On Mindset Mondays, we’ll dive into the inner work of writing: writer’s block, procrastination, self-doubt, perfectionism, fear, resistance, creative flow, writer identity, nervous-system safety, NLP tools, intuition, and the deeper patterns that shape how you show up to the page. On Writing Wednesdays, we’ll move into the outer work of writing: story structure, character, dialogue, pacing, revision, synopsis writing, query letters, publishing insight, author life, writing routines, and the practical steps that help you move your book forward. Because writing a book is never just about the manuscript. It’s about the writer you become while you’re writing it! Each episode will help you: ✨ Break through writer’s block, procrastination, and self-doubt ✨ Develop a stronger writing mindset and deeper creative confidence ✨ Understand your writing personality and unique creative wiring ✨ Build a writing process that works with your mind, body, and life ✨ Strengthen your craft, story structure, and manuscript momentum ✨ Use NLP, emotional regulation, and neuroscience-supported tools to reconnect with flow ✨ Navigate the practical realities of writing, revising, querying, publishing, and finishing ✨ Trust your voice, honour your story, and finally write the darn book Whether you’re writing fiction, non-fiction, or a book to support your business, message, or calling, this space is here to support you through both the inner work and the outer work of finishing. So grab your cup of liquid gold, settle in, and let’s write the darn book together. 💕 And remember...You are the vessel for the story. Let the words flow through you and onto the page. 🌟 Make sure you hit follow so you can binge listen and never miss an episode! And if you’d love to discover how you’re uniquely wired to write, take the free Writing Personality Quiz at maddisonmichaels.com/quiz. For deeper personalised support, you can also book a Writing Personality Blueprint Session at maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint.

  1. 1h ago

    52. How to Write the Book Only You Can Write: Accessing Your Unique Creative Truth

    Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Have you ever looked at your book idea and felt that little tug inside that says, this matters, this is mine to write? And then almost immediately, another voice comes in. Who are you to write this? This is too personal. Someone else has already said it better. Maybe this story only matters to you. In this episode of Write The Darn Book, we’re exploring how to write the book only you can write by accessing your unique creative truth. Maddison talks about why the most personal parts of your story are often the parts that become the most universal, why writers sometimes pull back right before the truth comes through, and how your NLP modality shapes the way you naturally access emotion, meaning, story, and voice. You’ll learn how Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Auditory Digital writers may each access creative truth differently, and how to begin writing the scene, chapter, or message you may have been circling for far too long. This episode is a reminder that your book does not become powerful because you sound like everyone else. It becomes powerful because your lived experience, perspective, emotional honesty, and creative wiring are allowed to come through on the page. In this episode, you’ll explore: • Why personal stories often become the most universal • The difference between literal truth and emotional truth • Why resistance can show up when the writing starts to feel real • How NLP modalities shape the way creative truth comes through • A simple practice for writing one honest page from your natural wiring   Free Masterclass Invitation If this episode stirred something in you, I’d love to invite you to my free live masterclass on 30 June 2026 at 10am AEST: Write To Your Wiring: Discover Your NLP Modality and How It Shapes the Way You Write Inside this free masterclass, we’ll explore the four NLP modalities, Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Auditory Digital, and how each one shapes the way you access story, process ideas, experience blocks, and find your way back into creative flow. You’ll learn what your modality means for your writing rhythm, your story access, your resistance patterns, and the practical shifts you can make in your very next writing session. Reserve your free place here: maddisonmichaels.com/masterclass   ⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗 And remember, you are the vessel for the story. Let the words flow through you and onto the page.

    24 min

  2. 4d ago

    51. Can Coloured Pens Help You Write? How Stationery and Handwriting Can Unlock Your Creativity

    Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book.   Have you ever walked into a stationery shop and felt that little spark of possibility wake up inside you? The coloured pens. The highlighters. The sticky notes. The beautiful notebooks. The fresh blank pages. And maybe you’ve wondered whether you’re just procrastinating, or whether there’s something about those tools that genuinely helps your creative brain come alive. In this Writing Wednesday episode of Write The Darn Book, we’re exploring how coloured pens, handwriting, notebooks, highlighters, sticky notes, and messy handwritten pages can become practical tools for unlocking creativity, especially when your writing feels stuck, flat, tangled, or too much like a task. This is not about abandoning your laptop or hand-writing your entire manuscript. It’s about understanding how colour, handwriting, and physical stationery can help your brain access your story in a different way. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why stationery often feels so creatively energising for writers How handwriting can shift your brain out of stuck, screen-based thinking Why coloured pens and highlighters can help you make invisible story threads visible How to use colour without creating an overwhelming colour-coding system How notebooks, pens, and sticky notes can become writing-state cues The difference between stationery as a creative doorway and stationery as avoidance A simple three-colour practice to help you work through a scene, chapter, character, or idea Try this simple coloured pen practice Choose one writing problem or creative question you’re currently holding. Take a notebook or blank page and choose three colours: One colour for what you already know One colour for the questions One colour for the sparks, meaning the words, images, ideas, or emotional truths that make something inside you lean forward Give yourself ten minutes. Write messily. Draw arrows. Circle things. Highlight the sentence that surprises you. Then ask yourself: What is the colour showing me?   If this episode made you realise that the way you brainstorm, plan, organise your ideas, and reconnect with your creativity might be deeply connected to your writing personality, you can book a Writing Personality Blueprint Session at: maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint   And if you’d like to begin by discovering more about your own writing personality, you can take the free Writing Personality Quiz at: maddisonmichaels.com/quiz   ⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗

    29 min

  3. Jun 1

    50.The Magic of Words: How Writers Shape Their Creative Reality

    Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Words are never just words, especially for writers. In this episode of Write The Darn Book, we’re exploring how the language you use around your writing shapes the way you experience the page, your manuscript, your creative flow, and even your identity as a writer. Because it’s not just the words that end up in the manuscript that matter. It’s the words you speak to yourself before you write, during a difficult session, after you close the document, and every time you decide what kind of writer you believe yourself to be. If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “I’m behind,” “I’m inconsistent,” “I never finish anything,” or “I’m not a real writer,” this episode will help you understand why those words land so heavily, and how to begin choosing language that supports your creativity rather than shutting it down. This is a grounded, practical conversation about self-talk, writer identity, nervous-system safety, creative confidence, and the way your words can either reinforce resistance or open the next doorway back into your writing. In this episode, you’ll learn: • Why the words you speak to yourself are part of the writing process too • How language shapes your emotional state before, during, and after writing • Why a hard writing day is not a verdict on your talent • How pressure language, judgement language, and identity language can block creative flow • Why the way you speak to yourself after a writing session matters so much • A simple Magic Words Reset to help you shift from self-criticism into grounded action • How to use your words to support the writer you are becoming The Magic Words Reset In this episode, Maddison walks you through a simple three-step process you can use when your inner language turns against your writing: Notice the sentence. Hear what you’re actually saying to yourself. Soften the meaning. Find a truer, kinder, more useful version. Choose the next doorway. Take one grounded step back toward the work. This isn’t about fake positivity or pretending writing always feels easy. It’s about using language to return yourself to the page with more steadiness, self-trust, and creative safety. For deeper personalised support If this episode helped you recognise that the words you use with yourself are tied to bigger patterns in your writing, your resistance, your confidence, and the way you see yourself as a writer, a Writing Personality Blueprint Session may be a beautiful next step. Inside a Blueprint Session, we look at how you are uniquely wired to write through your Bird Writing Personality, your creative patterns, your resistance points, and the kind of support that actually helps you move forward. You’ll come away with clearer insight into why you write the way you do, why certain approaches haven’t worked for you, and how to build a writing process that feels more aligned, practical, and sustainable. Book your Writing Personality Blueprint Session at: maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint ⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗

    30 min

  4. May 27

    49. Can Music Help You Write? How Sound, Silence, and Background Noise Shape Creative Flow!

    Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book. Can music actually help you write, or is it quietly pulling you out of the story? In this episode of Write The Darn Book, we’re exploring how music, silence, and background noise shape your creative flow, and why the best sound environment for writing is not the same for every writer. Because sound is more than background noise. It can become a writing-state cue, a doorway into your manuscript, and a signal your brain begins to associate with story, focus, creativity, or safety. In This Episode You’ll learn: How sound can become a cue your brain associates with writing and creative flow Why music can help you access the emotional world of your book, but may also pull you into the wrong state Why silence supports some writers beautifully, while making the inner critic louder for others How background noise can reduce pressure and help some writers bypass overthinking Why your sound needs may be shaped by your creative wiring, Bird Writing Personality, nervous system, and trained writing habits How to use the Sound Check Method before your next writing session The Sound Check Method This episode introduces a simple tool to help you choose the right sound environment before each writing session. Instead of asking, “Should I write with music or silence?” you’ll learn to ask: What state do I need for this session? What sound supports that state? Is this sound helping me stay with the work? Because the better question is not simply, “Should writers listen to music while they write?” The better question is: what sound environment helps you enter the work, stay with the work, and come back to the work again tomorrow? Writing Personality Blueprint Sessions If this episode made you realise your writing process might be fighting the way you’re naturally wired, you might love a Writing Personality Blueprint Session. In one focused session, we map your unique Writing Personality, uncover the patterns affecting your writing rhythm, resistance, focus, and follow-through, and build a personalised strategy for how you plan, draft, revise, and keep moving with your book. You can book your Writing Personality Blueprint Session at maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint. Loved This Episode? ⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write The Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗

    30 min

  5. May 25

    48. What to Do When You Stare at the Blank Page and Nothing Comes

    Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. Have you ever opened your laptop, placed your hands on the keyboard, stared at the blank page, and felt absolutely nothing come? No words. No clear thought. No spark. Just that awful white space staring back at you. In this Mindset Monday episode of Write The Darn Book, Maddison explores what is really happening when you freeze at the blank page, and why that moment is rarely proof that you have no story, no message, or no ability. Often, blank-page freeze is a sign of pressure, overwhelm, perfectionism, fear, or a nervous system trying to protect you from getting it wrong. The page becomes loaded with expectation, and instead of writing one small sentence, your mind tries to prove you are a “real writer” before you have even begun. This episode gives you a practical, compassionate way back into the writing. You’ll learn how to lower the pressure, ask the page a smaller question, and begin with one honest sentence, so you can move from frozen to writing again. In this episode, you’ll learn: ✨ Why the blank page can feel so confronting ✨ How pressure and perfectionism can shut down your words before you begin ✨ Why “I can’t write” is often a pattern, rather than the truth ✨ How to use the 5-Minute Momentum Method when you feel stuck ✨ Why the first sentence of a writing session is allowed to be ordinary ✨ How to ask smaller, more useful questions that help your mind re-engage ✨ How your writing personality and creative wiring can shape the way you begin You’ll also be guided through a simple five-step process you can use the next time you sit down to write and nothing comes: Name what is happening. Lower the pressure. Ask the page a smaller question. Write the first honest sentence. Build momentum for five minutes. Because the blank page is not a verdict on your talent. It is simply the starting place. And when you learn how to begin gently, practically, and in a way that feels safe to your system, the next sentence becomes possible.   Ready for support with your own writing blocks? If this episode made you think, yes, this is exactly what happens to me when I sit down to write, then this is your invitation to go deeper. Blank-page freeze is often a pattern. It may be connected to pressure, perfectionism, fear of getting it wrong, self-doubt, uncertainty around structure, or simply trying to write in a way that works against your natural creative wiring. Inside a Writing Personality Blueprint Session, Maddison helps you understand how you are uniquely wired to write, using your DOPE Bird Writing Personality and your creative patterns as the starting point. You’ll walk away with clearer insight into why you get stuck, what kind of writing process actually suits you, and practical next steps to help you return to the page with more confidence, clarity, and momentum. If you’re ready to understand your writing patterns and build a process that works with you, rather than against you, you can book your Writing Personality Blueprint Session at: maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint Your book is still calling. And you do not have to keep trying to figure it all out alone.   ⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write The Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗

    29 min

  6. May 20

    47. Show Don't Tell - How Your Creative Wiring Shapes What Lands on the Page!

    Writing Wednesday episodes explore the outer work of writing: craft, structure, revision, publishing, process, and the practical steps that help you finish your book.   Have you ever been told to “show, don’t tell” and immediately felt yourself overthinking every sentence?   In this Writing Wednesday episode, we’re looking at one of the most common pieces of writing craft advice through a completely different lens: your creative wiring. Because showing versus telling isn’t only about adding more description. It’s about helping your reader experience the moment. And the way you naturally process the world often shapes the way you write the world. In this episode, Maddison explores how the four NLP Writer’s Mind modalities — Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Auditory Digital — can influence what lands on the page. You’ll discover why visual writers may naturally lean into imagery, auditory writers may hear dialogue and rhythm first, kinesthetic writers may write from feeling and body sensation, and auditory digital writers may move quickly into meaning, thought, and explanation. None of these are wrong. They are clues. You’ll learn how to recognise when one modality may be taking over your scenes, how to revise with more intention, and how to use the Four-Modality Showing Pass to make your writing feel fuller, more embodied, and more alive. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why “show, don’t tell” is really about reader experience How your dominant NLP modality can shape your natural writing strengths Why visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and auditory digital writers may all “show” differently Common signs that a scene is leaning too heavily on one modality How to revise your scenes using the Four-Modality Showing Pass Why your creative wiring is not a flaw, but a powerful clue to your writing voice This episode is especially helpful if you’ve ever received feedback that your writing feels flat, over-explained, under-described, too internal, too emotionally heavy, or hard to picture — and you weren’t quite sure what to do with that feedback. Your natural modality is part of your gift. The more you understand it, the more intentionally you can use it.   Want to understand how you’re uniquely wired to write? If today’s episode made you realise that the way you naturally process story might be shaping what lands on the page, then my Writing Personality Blueprint Session is the perfect next step. This is a personalised 1:1 session where we look at your unique writing wiring, including your Bird Writing Personality and creative patterns, so you can better understand what supports your writing, what creates resistance, and what kind of process will actually help you move forward. You’ll walk away with practical, personalised strategies designed around how you write best, so you can stop fighting your natural process and start building a writing rhythm that truly works for you. You can book your Writing Personality Blueprint Session at maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint   Resources mentioned: Discover your writing personality: maddisonmichaels.com/quiz Book a Writing Personality Blueprint Session: maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint   ⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write.

    34 min

  7. May 18

    46. Part 2 - The Walt Disney Strategy for Writers: Three Guided Visualisations to Access Your Dreamer, Realist, and Critic

    Episode 46: The Walt Disney Strategy for Writers Part 2: Three Guided Visualisations to Access Your Dreamer, Realist, and Critic Mindset Monday episodes explore the inner work of writing: blocks, beliefs, identity, resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, and creative flow. In Part 1 of this Walt Disney Strategy series, we explored the three creative modes every writer needs: the Dreamer, the Realist, and the Critic. In this bonus episode, we move from understanding the framework into actually experiencing it. Maddison guides you through three gentle visualisations designed to help you deliberately step into each creative mode. You’ll connect with the Dreamer, who imagines without restriction. The Realist, who builds the bridge between idea and page. And the Critic, who refines the work once something has been created. These visualisations can be used together as a creative preparation ritual before a writing session, or individually whenever you need to access a specific mode in your writing process. Inside this episode, you’ll experience: A guided Dreamer visualisation to reconnect with possibility, imagination, and creative freedom A guided Realist visualisation to access grounded momentum, structure, and the next practical step A guided Critic visualisation to invite constructive refinement without letting self-doubt take over A gentle reminder of why the order matters: Dreamer first, Realist second, Critic third A practical way to use this NLP-based strategy before planning, drafting, or revising your book If you’re driving, walking somewhere busy, or need to stay alert, save the visualisation section for a time when you can settle in and give it your full attention. 👉 WANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW YOU ARE WIRED TO WRITE? And if you’re ready to stop fighting the way you write and finally understand how your creative mind actually works, my Writing Personality Blueprint Session is the perfect next step. Together, we’ll uncover your natural writing personality, the patterns that may be creating resistance, and the personalised tools that can help you write with more clarity, confidence, and flow. You can learn more at maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint. ⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗

    39 min

  8. May 13

    45. Pantser or Plotter or Something In Between? Find Your Writing Style and Stop Fighting Yourself

    Writing Wednesday Episode 45: Pantser or Plotter or Something In Between? Find Your Writing Style and Stop Fighting Yourself Are you a writer who needs a detailed outline before you begin, or do you prefer to discover the story as you write? In this episode of Write the Darn Book, we’re diving into the pantser versus plotter debate, but through a much deeper lens. Because your writing style is rarely just a preference. It is often connected to how your brain is wired, how you process story, and what makes your creative system feel safe enough to write. Maddison explores how the four Bird Writing Personalities, Dove, Owl, Peacock and Eagle, often approach structure, freedom, planning and discovery. You’ll learn why some writers thrive with detailed outlines, why others feel blocked by too much structure, and why many writers sit somewhere in the middle. Most importantly, this episode gives you permission to stop fighting yourself and start building a writing process that actually works for the way you create. In this episode, you’ll learn: • What the pantser versus plotter debate really means • Why writing advice can fail when it was built for a different type of writer • How each Bird Writing Personality tends to approach planning and drafting • Why your writing process may change from book to book • How to find the middle path between structure and discovery • Why the goal is not to become a perfect plotter or pantser, but to understand how you write best If you’ve been forcing yourself to write in a way that feels heavy, flat, or completely wrong for you, this episode will help you see that the problem may never have been you. It may simply be the method.   ✨ Want personalised clarity on how you’re uniquely wired to write? Maddison’s Writing Personality Blueprint Session is a dedicated one-on-one Zoom session where you’ll explore your Bird Writing Personality profile and receive a personalised Blueprint Report with your creative strengths, resistance patterns, and practical strategies for building a writing process that works for you. Book your session at: maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint   ⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗

    27 min
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About

Welcome to Write the Darn Book™, a mindset-first, craft-supported, spiritually aligned podcast for writers who feel called to write a book, but keep getting stuck somewhere between the idea and the finished draft. If writer’s block, procrastination, self-doubt, perfectionism, overthinking, or the everyday chaos of life keeps pulling you away from the page, you’re in the right place. And my friend, you are not broken! You are a writer with a story, message, or book inside you. And sometimes what you need isn't more pressure, more hustle, or another generic writing routine. Sometimes what you need is a deeper understanding and awareness of how your mind works, how you are uniquely wired to write, and what actually helps you move from stuck… into creative flow. Hosted by Maddison Michaels, award-winning, multi-published author of 9 books, certified Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, Hypnotherapist, and creator of the Write The Darn Book™ Method, this podcast blends mindset, neuroscience-supported tools, writing craft, story structure, intuitive creativity, emotional regulation, faith, and grounded writing support to help you finally write and finish the book you’re meant to write. Each week, we’ll explore both sides of the writing journey. On Mindset Mondays, we’ll dive into the inner work of writing: writer’s block, procrastination, self-doubt, perfectionism, fear, resistance, creative flow, writer identity, nervous-system safety, NLP tools, intuition, and the deeper patterns that shape how you show up to the page. On Writing Wednesdays, we’ll move into the outer work of writing: story structure, character, dialogue, pacing, revision, synopsis writing, query letters, publishing insight, author life, writing routines, and the practical steps that help you move your book forward. Because writing a book is never just about the manuscript. It’s about the writer you become while you’re writing it! Each episode will help you: ✨ Break through writer’s block, procrastination, and self-doubt ✨ Develop a stronger writing mindset and deeper creative confidence ✨ Understand your writing personality and unique creative wiring ✨ Build a writing process that works with your mind, body, and life ✨ Strengthen your craft, story structure, and manuscript momentum ✨ Use NLP, emotional regulation, and neuroscience-supported tools to reconnect with flow ✨ Navigate the practical realities of writing, revising, querying, publishing, and finishing ✨ Trust your voice, honour your story, and finally write the darn book Whether you’re writing fiction, non-fiction, or a book to support your business, message, or calling, this space is here to support you through both the inner work and the outer work of finishing. So grab your cup of liquid gold, settle in, and let’s write the darn book together. 💕 And remember...You are the vessel for the story. Let the words flow through you and onto the page. 🌟 Make sure you hit follow so you can binge listen and never miss an episode! And if you’d love to discover how you’re uniquely wired to write, take the free Writing Personality Quiz at maddisonmichaels.com/quiz. For deeper personalised support, you can also book a Writing Personality Blueprint Session at maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint.

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