Finding the California Compromise
The novel opens in the way a great clipper ship, contrary to its design, can hold the lee tide, balancing wind and current at the edge of a continent.
Beginning in the Dark
Something comes first in a coming-of-age novel. Like a living thing, it is only small and simple for a moment. It expands and grows more complex with each word. Writing has been an exquisite task, such that I might wish drafting to never end. Revising the opening yet again, has reinforced the mind’s nonlinear capacities….