ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

C’mon: you and I both know that no one reads the acknowledgments section in a book when it’s much more fun to dive right into the meat of a detective novel, a historical fiction, and even a book on computer software. But if I’ve by chance caught your eye here, I’d like you to know that if you enjoy this book (the correct answer is yes, you will), the folks who worked together had just as much fun creating it. I can’t think of a single book I’ve written in the past when the author, the production and layout people, and the editors just clicked as we did with this book. The bonus was that we got to know each other as we worked against deadlines to bring you this hefty piece of documentation. I’d like to introduce my friends to you now and to thank them for making my part in the CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide the best kick one could possibly have without breaking any federal laws:

• To Megg Morin. Once again, Megg has played the gracious asylum keeper. She has freely offered me encouragement, advice, lots and lots of support for the direction in which I wanted to move this book, at times has humored me, and has let me get silly at least once in every chapter. Megg is good therapy for me, and this book will, in turn, be good therapy for you in the way it’s written while you learn a very, very deep suite of applications.

• To Meghan Riley, for not only keeping track of an immense amount of data, but also for helping me stay organized, in the kindest, most gracious fashion a freelance writer could hope for. Oh, oh; look, Meghan—the figure on page 285 is upside-down!!! Onnnnnly kidding! Thank you, Meghan.

• Project Editor LeeAnn Pickrell. Let me make it known that LeeAnn didn’t just work on copy for this book; she worked with me to bring a sense of organization, worked with my style and not against it, and discussed chapters with me down to a level where at times I felt she was sitting in my office. Unfortunately, I have only one chair here, but I still want to thank you, LeeAnn, for making my mots into bon mots.

• Copy Editor Jan Jue. Jan went to extremes to ensure the book you’re holding is accurate. I know of no other copy editor who actually installs the program a book is about and works alongside my documentation. Jan, thanks for your thoroughness, and for pointing out that certain thesauruses actually do contain synonyms for “thesaurus.”

• Technical Editor William Schneider. Bill really should be listed as coauthor on the cover of this book, but that would probably mean making my own name smaller. Nah. Bill flew with me through every chapter, even the online bonus chapters, and he didn’t stop at letting me know when I made a (small, insignificant, hardly worth mentioning) mistake in a tutorial step, or accidentally called the Mesh fill tool “that funny looking icon that messes up fills.” Bill always offered a different and better way to cast a sentence and put a tutorial step in more reader-friendly terms. Bill, thanks, as always, for being my favorite technical editor for over a decade of books.

• Nicky Elliott, Barbara Bouton, and William Schneider for the use of their photography in this book’s tutorials.

• Nick Wilkinson for portions of his original manuscript on VBA.

• Lyssa Wald for once again making the color section look as good on the printed page as it does on my monitor.

• Production Supervisor George Anderson. Thanks to George and his expert team for the layout of this book’s interior.

• The folks at Glyph, who allowed me to get in there and work on a few figures to make them look their best in a black-and-white book.

• John Falsetto at Corel Corporation. Thanks for going that extra mile, John, and promptly providing me with answers to technical questions during the beta cycle right up to the release version of X5. The sort of candid backs-and-forths we exchanged in email were productive, refreshing, and ultimately for the better of the book.

• Tony Severenuk at Corel Corporation. Thanks to Tony for his technical support, his speed, and his ability to cut to the chase when I needed frank answers at a moment’s notice. I’m sorry you never took me up on putting a cartoon of you in one of the book’s illustrations, Tony; I had to make fun of Bill Schneider as a last-minute substitution. Hats off and a big bow of appreciation to you and all the people at Corel Corporation for supporting this book and my efforts. I hope I did you all proud.