Shortly after starting work on Passing of the Thaumaturgist, I started attending support group meetings in an attempt to regain some semblance of normality in my everyday life. Part of this support group's program was to surrender the need for control to a higher power. Not being particularly religious, I found this incredibly difficult to do.

One day, it happened that I was struggling to let go of a situation that I had no control over. Out of sheer desperation, I reached out and grabbed the first object I could find - an old ceramic sculpture of a magpie.

Speaking to the sculpture I came to refer to as Margaret helped me to understand why so many turn to a higher power in times of need. There is power in putting your thoughts and feelings to spoken word. Regardless of whether anyone or anything was listening that day, I had the overwhelming sense that I was somehow heard.

All magpies are now Margaret for me. Wherever they are - wherever she is - it is a sign that I am exactly where I am meant to be.