Friends, sugar, and a truly kick-ass red coat

This is what I see when I look up from work (today I’m busy with line edits for my new book, The One Safe Place)

A little red cape hanging on the wall. In the pocket there’s a photo of me, age three years, wearing the same red cape. My big sister is on my left and two pals are on my right. A plastic bag of sweets dangles from my hand.

It didn’t take much to make me happy back then.

Now, looking at this cape and this photo (one’s attention tends to drift when doing line edits), I can’t help wondering whether anything much has changed. When it comes right down to it, the ingredients for happiness have stayed pretty much the same for me.

Friends, sugar, and a truly kick-ass red coat.