I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
He had not had opportunity to speak to Miranda since the attack, but she was her usual calm self. When he had made it up the stairs to see how Ellie was doing in the nursery, Miranda had been there after finally coaxing her to sleep. Miranda had not looked as though her nerves were frayed or that she were likely to take to her bed, which was what his mother had done for an hour after he returned.She had changed, as had them all, for dinner. Her dark blue dress made her skin even whiter, and her hair glossy like a raven’s feathers. When he first saw her, she looked so lovely that he hadn’t been able to speak for a moment. Luckily, she hadn’t been looking at him, and then all the guests had started working on decorating the house with the greenery.
—From The Spinster's Christmas
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