I’m sometimes asked if I’ve actually participated in the kinds of activities I write about in my books: scuba diving, white-water rafting, tae kwon do, et cetera. The answer is yes, I have done some of those things—though never as well as the characters in my novels.
Day Sutter, who is indeed Nick’s Kind of Woman, is close to my heart because of her struggles to excel as an athlete…when she isn’t one. Like Day, I have pushed my mountain bike up the Moab Rim Trail, fought to make the crux of a 5.8 climb, and feared collapse while hiking under the weight of a sixty-pound pack As Day does, I’ve found parts of myself through these battles (not always parts I liked, by the way).
Also, like Day, I have worked as Girl Friday of a river outfit in Moab, Utah. Actually, my employers—book lovers themselves—allowed me to write novels on their word processor while manning the phones. These lovely people do not appear in the pages of this book, but I thought of them often while writing The Keeper and this story, which is its spin-off. With these tales, I have enjoyed revisiting the never-dull world of wilderness outfitting. Through Day and Nick—and Grace and Zac, whom you may remember from The Keeper—I’m happy to bring this world and the Colorado Plateau, my home, to you…again.
Sincerely,
Margot Early
P.S. I love to hear from readers. Please write to me at P.O. Box 611, Montrose, CO 81402-0611.