This is the first reading day of the Leaving Hope Read-Along (there’s an introduction here.) So, on March 2, I read Leaving Hope Chapters 1-3. These first few chapters are mostly set-up, and here are a few of my thoughts on them.

First of all, it’s weird to re-read my own books just to read them. A part of me itches to make changes, to tinker with a word here or a metaphor there, and I have to remind myself to stop and just enjoy the story.

Even so, as I read Chapters 1-3, a few things do make me smile. Anya’s art (I’m always amazed by people who can paint or draw or otherwise make great visual art). The sibling sparring between Borsk and Sarka. The little bits about gardens and gardening indoors (I lived in apartments long enough to have a keen appreciation for container gardening.)

It’s also fun to recall how the dating system on Hope came to be. I took some research on the population needed in order for an endangered species to survive. Then I mixed that with some elements from the one-child policy (I was living in China when I first drafted this series.) To top it off, I tossed in the pressure that comes when a group of people that once was the privileged majority becomes an ever-shrinking minority.

How about you? Was there anything in these chapters that caught your interest?

The post Leaving Hope Read-Along Chapters 1-3 appeared first on The Pencil Princess Workshop.