It's not always to the benefit of the story to have it so preordained.

The opening novel of the 'Bayou Trilogy' was the first one I finished.

But I've been at writing long enough now to know that every three or four books I have to start a new direction.

Love and hate hold hands always so it made natural sense that they'd get confused by upset married folk in the wee hours once in a while and a nosebleed or bruised breast might result. But it just seemed proof that a great foulness was afoot in the world when a no-strings roll in the hay with a stranger led to chipped teeth or cigarette burns on the wrist.

I felt like a number of things in me as a writer just clicked.

When I started to be a writer, I was not going to run the risk of boring you.

Fading light buttered the ridges until shadows licked them clean and they were lost to nightfall.