​2019 witnessed one of the most incredible moments of my life as a writer to date, and one of the worst. At the start of the year I signed my first book contract. In the fall, a few weeks before my debut novel was set to be released, the publisher announced they were closing - effective immediately.

​For me, the start of a story is a fickle, elusive element difficult to capture. Of all the parts of a story, it is where I spend the most time. The middle and end often write themselves, pouring out onto the page in a rush. But the beginning, the entry into the story, takes time and work to make it right. Over the years I have developed tactics to make the process easier.

​I like puzzles. I always have. I have fond memories of sitting for hours with my grandma building huge, complicated jigsaws. Back then she had all the puzzles. I now own a small selection and my kids have a larger selection we build together (they aren’t quite ready for my thousand-plus piece puzzles). 

​I’m arguing with myself over food. Not my own food (though I do do that) but the food my characters are eating. One of the many, many items that go into world development is agriculture, and right now my character needs a different kind of food to eat. 

​It seems unreal the year is almost at an end. I completed #NaNoWriMo and actually made it to 50K words - much to my surprise. My final count was 51,275 so with ignoring my editor and everything else, I now have a very rough draft of the first three-quarters of a new novel. I’m very excited about that.