November 2025: Opening the Portal

Last month, we shared that we’re back at work on Wolfe’s Blood, thanks in part to resuming our morning meetings. This month, we want to share why these meetings matter—especially on the mornings when we have nothing to report about the actual writing.

We meet most mornings, barring the occasional parent-teacher interview or other commitment. It’s a bit like coffee around the water cooler or the morning meeting to touch base with the team in the office.

The agenda shifts depending on the day. Sometimes we discuss plot points or character development. Sometimes we’re just talking through the business side of Counios and Gane—upcoming markets, new ways to get the words on the page, or how we’re managing our finances. Other times, there’s not much to report at all—the writing didn’t happen or no progress was made.

But we’ve learned that these meetings are valuable for reasons that go far beyond checking in on word count or plot problems. They’re vital to our partnership.

The Origins: Book Four and the Deep Hole

Morning meetings hadn’t always existed. They emerged out of necessity during Shepherd’s Call, our fourth book.

Angie had completed her work, and David was working on the second half when he got stuck.

In the original plan, Tony was supposed to fly to British Columbia, do what he needed to do, and return. In Angie’s draft, though, he drove instead, and she’d spent quite a few words on Tony’s journey. As well, Angie brought a lot of fun and humanity to the characters of Hadley, which had been originally a meaner and uglier place.

Instead of throwing all her good work away, David tried to integrate these detours into the mystery. It was harder than it looked, and the writing slowed to a crawl.

He wanted to do his part and not let Angie down, but the longer he worked alone, the deeper the hole became. The pressure mounted. He kept digging, refusing help, until finally he hit the wall.

He couldn’t save himself, and he called Angie. By meeting with her every morning for a couple of weeks and explaining his issues, he was able to untangle the story knot and get the writing moving again.

Keeping the Portal Open

Once we started having those meetings, we realized their real value—by showing up daily, we kept the connection open between us.

This process reminded David of something he had read in Barbara Turner-Vesselago’s Writing Without a Parachute:

“I frankly don’t think it matters how long you write for each day. John Grisham claims that for a long time, his commitment was to write only one page, but to do that every day. Any amount of writing will keep the portal open, and gives the kind of solidity that’s increasingly hard to ignore.”

Think about any practice that requires discipline—going to the gym, meditating, learning a new skill. The hardest part is showing up the first time. It takes tremendous energy to open that portal, to create that connection.

But once it’s open, it’s easier to keep it open. You showed up yesterday, so you can show up today.

Skip a day, though, and the portal starts to close. Miss two days, and suddenly it’s easier to stay away than to return. If you let the portal close completely, opening it again requires all that initial energy once more.

Once we opened the portal during our regular morning meetings, it paid off. It kept us accountable, allowed us to think through problems together, and helped us avoid digging ourselves into a private little holes to suffer alone.

So even though we may not have anything to report, we still show up to keep the portal open.

More Than Just Writing

As this year has shown us, this relationship is more than just meeting up and talking about the book. It’s about showing up for each other.

It’s important that we understand each other and what’s going on in our lives. The connection we maintain is just as vital as the act of writing itself. These minutes build compassion and understanding; they’re like bridges between the pages and story segments. We’re not saying we’ll never get frustrated with each other, but we know we’ve got 24 hours until our next conversation.

What anchors us isn’t just the work ahead, but the trust and rhythm we’ve built together—cup by cup, morning by morning.

Until next time,
Angie and David​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​