Authors have written extensively on how to start a novel, how to structure a storyline, shape believable characters, and build gut-gripping suspense, but none tell you how much single-mindedness, and patience and cooperation with a good team one needs to get a book to print. You can be sure, I will have quite the tell-all blog post this summer, when everything is said and done, and my forthcoming novel, Crazy String, is finally in your hands.

Until then, please send lots of rainbows emojis and kitten pics and a well of unlimited fortitude to buoy me through the final editing process. The best reward, I remind myself, is that readers such as yourself enjoy the novel. To that hopeful end, I must get back to it!