Cari Smith
(Address Disclosed)

Dear Cari,

Thank you for your letter; I apologize for the extended delay in answering it. I spent so much time finishing The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, A path of Daggers, and "New Spring," that I managed to get very far behind on my mail. I am glad you like The Wheel of Time, and hope that you will enjoy future volumes too. I am now working on book nine, Winter's Heart, which is due for release in the fall of this year.

What you write for your own use, I have no control over, but once you publish it--whether on paper or the Internet, whether profit or not -- you have violated my copywright, and I do mind that. Some of the fan fiction that I have seen for other worlds has been really bad, sometimes pornographic, and that is not what my books are about. I am not saying that you would write something like that, but once the door is open, lots of people rush in. Please, if you're going to write for others, create you own world.

Thanks again for writing.

With best wishes, I am,