My first novel — where I learned what it takes to write a novel, and where I discovered that it’s as simple as having the discipline to start writing and to keep on writing until you’ve finished a first draft. When you’ve done that, your novel exists. And everything beyond that is simply the process of making your novel better.

You start out here. You go there, nudged by something too powerful to resist. At some point, you’re pulled back, by something else too powerful to ignore. The place you left behind may be the same when you return to it, or it might be subtly or dramatically different. The same thing goes for you, too. (Let’s write about that.)

The title is a massive spoiler for the end of the show, which could have put everybody off needing to watch it. In practice, it whetted people’s appetite for the joyous appearance of a real live dog onstage, being fussed over by a loving LGBTQ+ couple — who kissed, more than once, in a room full of children, without the world spinning off its axis.

There’s a story lurking inside everything. Anything can be the gateway to a story, if only you’re prepared to look. That certainly holds true for a seemingly unimportant piece of paper showing four different meal plans for a man on the first four days of a very special week-long trip. There’s a lot more to it than peaches and bacon squares, that’s for sure.