I Am Such A Pacific Northwest Girl.

She Used To Tell Me That She Couldn't Feel The Sunlight Anymore, Not Even When She Was Standing In It, Not Even When It Was Hot On Her Cheeks

In The Sea Of Grief, There Were Islands Of Grace, Moments In Time When One Could Remember What Was Left Rather Than All That Had Been Lost.

A Romance Novel Focuses Exclusively On Two People Falling In Love. It Can't Be About A Woman Caring For Her Aging Mother Or Something Like That. It Can Have That Element, But It Has To Be Primarily About The Male-female Relationship.

They Would Always Be A Family, But If She'd Learned Anything In The Past Few Weeks It Was That A Family Wasn't A Static Thing. There Were Always Changes Going On. Like With Continents, Sometimes The Changes Were Invisible And Underground, And Sometimes They Were Explosive And Deadly. The Trick Was To Keep Your Balance. You Couldn't Control The Direction Of Your Family Any More Than You Could Stop The Continental Shelf From Breaking Apart. All You Could Do Was Hold On For The Ride.

This Is The Problem With Forever Friends. They Know Too Much.