There’s a bit of a bird theme in UNITY, the second book of the Dark Light Dance Trilogy. This is probably because I love birds and often watch them outside my window while I’m writing. One thing I’ve noticed is that birds eat in groups. One chickadee lands on the feeder. Within seconds, there’s another. Then a cardinal. Then a titmouse, a sparrow, a wren, a finch... Before long they’re swooping and diving, taking turns at one feeder or another, or having a sip of water at the bird bath. How like birds we are at times—we wait for someone else to try something first. When it looks like it’s safe, we venture out. There’s safety in numbers. Yet, writing is a solitary quest. Sometimes, we can hash out ideas along the way if we have someone patient enough to put up with our mental meanderings. Most of the time, though, we go to the feeder alone. We carry off a seed of an idea, crack it open, munch on it awhile and digest it. Sated, back in our nest, we sink into the refuge of creativity, feathering our nest with made up characters that seem just as real to us as our family and friends. Then when those family or friends interrupt us, it’s a bit of a shock reentering the real world. Ah, that literary refuge of writing or reading books! I love analogies. What is yours about the writing refuge?