Aurelia introduced herself to me on a yellow notepad several years ago. I do not remember when, exactly, but I remember her because she was complaining loudly about an itching ankle. I spent a couple days with her at the time and wrote what would eventually become the prologue, chapter 1, and chapter 3 of Aurelia. I am ashamed to say that I left her hanging onto the edge of a river bank.
This is not to say, however, that Aurelia shut up. In fact, she told me her entire story, which extends well beyond the final scene in my first book. I filed her words away in my brain where any number of other stories reside. At the time, this was how I always worked, writing bits and pieces, imagining the rest of the story for my own pleasure, and moving on to write part of something else.
But Aurelia does not like being ignored. During Christmas vacation in 2003, I spent several more days listening to her, typing up the events surrounding the horse fair, and becoming acquainted with Robert. I dragged him into the stables at Midbury, then left him there for another year. In 2004, I finally decided that I needed to dedicate myself to completing a book I could really submit for publication. Aurelia volunteered for the position.
I rescued Robert from the stables and finished my first draft by the end of school year. I had decided to take a year off from teaching to focus on writing and naively thought that by writing full-time, I could finish revising within about a month. I attended classes, conferences, and a critique group, all of which taught me that I had a lot more work to do. Yikes! Seven months and umpteen revisions later, I sent out my initial submissions. Ultimately, however, Aurelia has had her way. The beginning of her story is finally complete. In my head, this is the first of three books. I hope you will all want to hear more from her because I have a feeling she will not stop talking until her entire story has been told.