Building a wall

Eight years ago, the Wallkeeper trilogy was born.

It began as a short story written for a collection of original fairy tales. At the time, my husband and I were building a retaining wall in the backyard. It was physically grueling, and I’d end each day with my arms and legs peppered with bruises. Because it was stone from a local quarry, the boulders came in all shapes and sizes, just as rough as when they were blasted out of the mountain.

The mental exertion needed to puzzle these ill-fitting stones together taxed my creativity, and I literally could think of nothing else to write about. So my fairy tale featured a stone wall and the fear that simmered just below the surface as I wrestled each one into place: What if it fails? What if it all falls apart?

That short story became a very loose outline for what would become—three years and well over three hundred thousand words later—the Wallkeeper trilogy. As I approach the anniversary of the publication of the first book, Burden of Power, I'm delighted to dust off this old story and share it with you.

Watch for it later this week!