One day three sisters – with no better sense – became accidental writers.  It happened on a whim at a seaside café with a staggering view of the Olympic Mountains.  We were hunched over a bucket of clams, crusty sour dough bread, and a bottle of wine.  A guy played jazz on the saxophone and a hunky waiter got hotter as the night went on.  (OK.  It was Happy Hour.)  Our sister Kristen was visiting from Chicago.  We talked about the books we’re reading, the men we’re seeing, and Uncle Hal’s god-awful toupee.  We wanted to find something that would help us stay connected when we got home.  That’s when we decided to write a book. Growing up, we created our own Nancy Drew dramas.  We sisters have always been passionate about mysteries.  Regretfully, we knew nothing about writing them.  But we figured if you write as a team, you only have to be 1/3 as smart as a real writer.  Do the math. Julianne called the hunky waiter over and ordered a round of mojitos.  We scribbled notes on a napkin.  Soon we had Cat DeLuca and her Pants On Fire Detective Agency.  Cat’s a lot like us but…

Here’s the fairytale version: Our heroine has lost her way in the forest. She’s been trudging along for far too long and is of course, tired, hungry, and losing sight of where she was headed in the first place. And then, magically (because this is a fairytale, remember) a tiny cottage appears up ahead. It is warm, light, and stocked with delicious food. Perhaps even a writing desk. Real life isn’t like that. Or I should say, life isn’t usually like that. But sometimes, when we’re in the thick of it, a moment of grace presents itself. And that moment carries with it exactly what we need. Maybe even exactly what our hearts desire. Let me back up a bit here to tell you about my own trudging along through a forest’s worth of manuscript pages. THE UNDERSIDE OF JOY is my debut novel. But I’ve been writing fiction for years–decades, even–ever since I graduated with a degree in journalism and promptly realized that what I really wanted to do was make things up. I took a lot of workshops, wrote short stories, wrote a novel, wrote another novel, then wrote yet another. I worked as a copywriter, writing advertising…