the first time

My first novel comes out about a month from now. It feels weird to call it "my first novel." It is my first published novel, but it's far from the first thing I've written or even the first novel I've finished.

But I think there's some trial and error in writing. You never get it right the first time. The first novel I ever finished was this overwrought teen drama that I wrote when I was maybe seventeen. On the rare weekday afternoons when I was home (I participated in a lot of...