She Cooks: Author's Notes

·         After writing One Last Play, I wondered what major Emma might be pursuing.  I asked around and Psychology was a popular guess.  Technical fields like Engineering or Computer Science were other common answers.  Medicine, because of her parents, came up as well.  As you can see, I went with Culinary Arts.  Her whole arc is about trying to balance her life as a typical college student with the side hustle of being a highly trained operative for this shadow organization.

·         After her college major was selected, I decided to put Emma in a situation where she had to handle something and not blow her cover.  I thought sending her to a baking competition would be fun.

·         At the beginning of Chapter 15, when Emma pulls out the scotch and figuratively throws down the gauntlet, I had a mental picture of Julian turning to Emma and saying, “Are you f****** kidding me??”  He is stunned as is everyone else, but since he is in competition with her, maybe even more so.  I made the changes to fit his character.  😊

·         Part Two of the story was actually outlined first.  Since I am more familiar with her lethal skillset, that part was easier to figure out.  Part One was a rabbit hole where I spent many, many hours researching pastries, recipes, baking competitions, and all the vocabulary.  So much information did not make it into the story, but I wanted the background so that it would feel real.

·         Pockets.  Every woman loves pockets in their dresses and will take the time to show other women that their dress has pockets.

·         Speaking of vocabulary, researching French curses was fun.  Sophia and Julian do some of the translating for us, but I will let you research exactly what she says to the separatists on your own.  Spoiler alert: it’s very rude.

·         I was reviewing one of the scenes in a draft of Part Two.  The panel truck was in the scene, and someone mentioned Chekhov’s gun.  This alludes to a narrative principle by Anton Chekhov who stated that every element introduced in a story must be necessary; in other words, if a gun is shown in Act 1, it must be fired by Act 3.  So I decided to name the panel truck after him.

·         The phone call after the fireworks is intentionally incomplete.  Did she call her parents?  Her professor?  The Exchange?

·         So, to new readers…SURPRISE!  You thought you were reading a story about a baking competition and stumbled upon an action thriller.  You can find out more about Emma and The Exchange in the stories in my blog.  To returning readers, I hope you had fun.