Um, now that you've been through the full cycle of things, um, uh, that have sort of helped you have ... help, helped you grow as a writer, uh, are there any habits or things you've learned that have made a real difference along the way?

Oh, gosh.

I still repeat the same mistakes.

I must be a slow learner.

I think ...

Well, actually, that's not true.

In terms of the writing itself, um, I think I recognize earlier when I'm going down a rabbit hole and that I need to pull back.

Um, so when you're writing characters with lived experiences far from your own, what's, like what's the way in for you? Um, how do you make sure they're, they feel grounded?

What drew you to exploring those different dynamics? Because the three are quite different.

Yeah.

And the whole book is about fathers and daughters, like to me.

People will read it.

Of course, you read the story, the plot, and it's a crime novel.

But underneath that, it was a story about the relationship between fathers and daughters and that the um i think yeah these different men who um in a way there's commonalities with with all of them that they in their minds they're wanting to be the best father they can be In reality, Joe, whose daughter is not in fact his biological daughter, is probably the best father, the most consistent, steady of them all.

And so I found that sort of an interesting thing to examine.

When you sit down with a fresh idea, what's the first bit that grabs you? Is it the character situation or is it something else?

Yeah,

she's the father of his son who is set to take over upon his death.

She's the matriarchal figure that I guess if you were a fan of any of the Underbelly series, there's a few women that you could easily model Rosa on.

But, yeah, Ashley is – has – got herself in a situation where she can't really stay where she is, but she can't go either.

And those around Silas don't trust her.

They are questioning what her motives are.

And then she's carrying a big secret as well.

Well, you've partly answered this question in terms of tension, but that part two when Fuller comes in comes as a bit of a shock, right?

Christine, biggest challenge that you faced writing this one, do you think?

Ooh.

I think it's the same challenge that I always have, is that I have a lot of threads and have a lot of ideas, and I need to sometimes sift through that and pull it back a bit, you know, to really get to the heart of what the story is, 'cause i- you could go down any number of rabbit holes.

I think it was easier this time when I felt myself going down those rabbit holes.

I didn't just dive in and follow it to wherever it went, which when you're trying to write your first book, you're learning all of this, and I definitely went down a lot of rabbit holes the first time around, which I, I could recognize I was doing that the second time much earlier.

Oh, probably having...

What, what is the challenge for me? Again, it's not necessarily this book.

Perhaps something that you've found useful or that you've learnt along the way, or anything that, that, yeah, you, you'd like to share as a writing tip or piece of advice.