The words were pouring out of me like bats from a cave – dark and mysterious. I was pulsing with the thrill of it. The first draft was completed on a seven-day solo retreat in which I entered a dreamlike state, sleeping and waking when the urge overtook, existing in complete silence with no human contact. My character’s world became my world. I became my characters.

After, the rewrites began and continued and continued and continued (you get the idea). Almost two years later I finally felt the m...