A Conversation on Craft with the Author of Vera March 2, 2021 So often, writers read their friends’ manuscripts and galleys, squinting while nervously tapping a foot: Will they pull it off? Will they blow it? I mention drafts and galleys because when the book exists, what’s to worry about? It’s too late; all you can do is dwell on what worked, what’s good. But here, everything was good from the get-go: characters who could leap; a “stage” that smoldered in a different way, pre-earthquake. I could tell right away how different this was. I’ve found every previous book of Carol’s riveting, but