The Secrets Behind-the-Scenes of Letting Go

Here are answers to many of the questions I am frequently asked, and a few scenes that mean more than may appear on the surface. I hope you enjoy learning a little more about this story.

Letting Go is a story about loss and grief and hope and family. What inspired it?

I lost my father when I was around a year old and he was only 22. I'm 49 this year, so I've had the ability to considering the event and its impact on my family through the lens of life experience over the years.

But my experience was just a cornerstone for this story—a foundational place I could revisit as I considered the perspectives of my characters. Letting Go is completely fictional, with one small exception that I'll explain shortly.

Are Callie or Brett based on real people?

No. They are fictional characters that stem from two different points-of-view I explored about loss and living with trauma, from my personal experience. But like the story itself, Callie and Brett quickly grew into their own, fully formed, unique characters.

However, like Callie, I did leave a corporate life in the city for life in a small community—but under less dramatic circumstances!

Why pharmaceuticals and botanicals, chemists and herbalists, corporates and cooperatives?

I am interested in technical subjects, and how two seemingly opposing worlds might come together or even overlap—like pharmaceuticals and natural skincare, chemists and herbalists, corporates and cooperatives.

Interestingly, all these can be easily split between Callie's old and new worlds, bring people together as "found family", and create stakes for the wider community.

They also provide Callie with a set of unique skills she can take into her new life in Jackson's Bridge, and carry the story across a long series.

Is Jackson's Bridge a real place?

Not as named, but it's located in the same place as Lyons in Boulder, Colorado. Spring Creek is similar to Longmont, and Jackson's Reservoir is located where Carter Reservoir is located.

I've been to all of these places and, although there is strong alignment in a lot of ways, I maintain creative license to be inventive in others!

Is Makanara Harbour a real place?

Not as named, but it is loosely based on the Hokianga Harbour in the Far North of New Zealand.

Have I been to San Francisco?

Many times. There's something about the city I really love—in addition to Fisherman's Wharf, Macy's and Designer Shoe Warehouse!

Did I use symbolism in the story?

Yes. Some of the most poignant scenes in the story were symbolic and designed to take readers deeper, emotionally, into the story. Here's a few you might remember:

• Secret letters—symbolic of truth being hidden.

• Absence of Robbie's photos—symbolic of how loss can be immediate and irreversible, and how it can impact future generations.

• Surprise re-emergence of Robbie's photos—what we believe is the truth, may only be our narrow part of the story.

• Brett's search for evidence of his father and his belief that knowing himself requires knowing his father first—symbolic of the absence that loss can have in our lives and on our identities, and of coming-of-age.

• The transition from agriculture to medicinal plants on the New Zealand family farm—symbolic of hope that, one day, there will be a 'homecoming' to heal from trauma and loss, to atone and make reparation.

The part that was exactly my experience

Early in the story, Brett makes his way through the streets of San Francisco city toward Peace Plaza. The sights, sounds, and feelings he experienced were my own. I still remember the eerie late afternoon light and the sound of the saxophone music bouncing between the buildings as they towered over me!

My promise of a heartwarming ending

The final behind-the-scenes I'd like to share are the ones where I intentionally signaled that the story would resolve in a heartwarming way. I like using calming, wide-open spaces, humor and beauty, and the support of caregiving characters. Here are a few examples:

• Brett drops to his knees in Peace Plaza, moved by the sudden feeling that everything was perfect in that moment—the light, the blossoms, the sturdy pagoda at centre of his photograph.

• At The Herb Farm, Dave made Callie feel safe and secure enough to be playful, as they each raced to place the last glasses on tables for the spring working bee party in the Leafton Botanicals' barn.

• Callie's father is right beside her once more, chaperoning her from Denver Airport, to The Herb Farm and back again, as her life unravels for a second time.

• The rough and tumble, and good-humored ribbing of Brett by his cousin Rohan, and Uncles Steve and Tye.

• Following Brett's intense emotions, Janice takes him to the ruins and garden of his great-grandparents' home—the place his father proposed to his mother—to broaden his perspective and deepen his sense of belonging.

Why did I include the bonus epilogue chapters as the new ending in the second edition?

Good question! The romantic ending reserved for the bonus epilogue always felt like the true ending of book one. It landed Callie firmly in Jackson's Bridge, ready for book two.

Escape to Jackson's Bridge today with the first three chapters of Letting Go, FREE!