How many years did it take me to create the opening paragraph of The Fifth Man? Too many to count. I've lived with my characters in the Kenora & Jake series for so long, I knew I had to start the second novel off right.
Where did I get my inspiration? I was sitting on a stopped commuter train to Toronto, staring at the frozen stalks of weeds in a farmer's field and wishing I was somewhere sunny and warm, when the sentences popped into my head. Truth be told, since I first scribbled them down in the notebook I carry with me everywhere, those sentences are probably the only ones in the book that I haven't edited again and again.
Sometimes, as a writer, you get lucky.
* Image credit: Composite image created with AI from an original prompt, incorporating a Pexels photograph by Courtney RA (https://www.pexels.com/@courtn...), from Nova Scotia.
