modifying inactive sheets

[unxzst]

how do I write to inactive sheets in VB6? instead of activating, i'd like to keep one sheet on top, while writing data to sheets at random.

Set oExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
For N = 1 To num
        SheetName = "Sheet" + CStr(N)
        'oExcel.Sheets(SheetName).Select
        oExcel.Sheets(SheetName).Name = CStr("Layer " + CStr(N))
        Set therange = oExcel.Range(oExcel.sheets(SheetName).Cells(1, 1), oExcel.sheets(SheetName).Cells(12, 6)) 'this gives me runtime error 9 - subscript out of range
        therange.Value = thearray
        oExcel.Sheets(SheetName).Columns("A:A").EntireColumn.AutoFit
Next N

or should I be going this with WorkBook object?
thanks for helping me!