In February, my book, Written on My Heart, will be published by Plume. It's a sequel to Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea, it's a stand-alone. What is a stand-alone you ask? (I did.) It's a book that can either be read on its own merit, or as the sequel to the first book. I'd never written a stand-alone. It's a delicate balance between need-to-know backstory and the present tale.

I'm very conscious, as a writer, to walk a fine line between the two. I know that I've read books stuck in so much backstory that it affects the rhythm of the story and bogs down the action, and so I worked hard (with the help of an amazing editor from Plume, Kate Napolitano) to fill in a history quickly, yet comprehensively. It took some time, but I'm pleased with the result.

As I sit in my apartment looking out at the blue sky of a late November day, getting ready to do work on another manuscript, I'm grateful for the experience of working on Written on My Heart. It was a bit like deciding to have another child because everything about the first child has been so easy. And then that second baby turns out to be a heller from the get-go,as well as a marvelous, fascinating human being! I wouldn't change my second 'baby' for the world.