Sometime around the year 2003, I got up one morning and decided I wanted to write a novel. I had an idea, so I sat down and started Chapter 1. It was then that I realized I had no idea how to write a novel.

To back up a bit, I’d just been laid off from a job that I’d poured the previous four years of my life into. It was a small company that grew fast as so many companies did in Silicon Valley in the late 90s. But much like Maggie, the main character in my book, my ride didn’t last. The bottom...