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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

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 ...
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Mokule‘ia Beach Park from Year of the Dog

In chapter 27 of Year of the Dog , Mari takes the dogs running at Moluke’ia Beach Park. My grandma and my parents would often take us here to swim when we were kids. It has a lot of rocks near the shore, but the sand is soft and fine, and the rocks are fun to snorkel around.

The last time I went to Hawaii, I took some photos of the beach, so you can see what it looks like. Running on the beach is actually super tough, so Ashwin isn’t a weakling or anything like that—Mari is just a beast!

Year of the Dog is releasing in the anthology, Danger in the Shadows. Get it for 70% off at the special preorder price of $2.99!

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