If you think about it, publishing is just an unending quest to find a home for things.

First, it’s the blank document that will house all of your big ideas.

Next, it’s the agency that will give you a home as a writer.

And then a publishing house (See? The word house is even in this one!) who will claim your story and help take your work from manuscript to physical book.

The setting of a story plays a huge role in how the rest of the book is created. What is the weather like there? Is the air clean, are the trees green? Or maybe the pollution is awful, the skies are gray, and traffic is a nightmare. What holidays do they celebrate there? What industries are they known for?

Changing the setting of a story means changing almost every aspect of it, so it’s best to know, deep in your soul, that you’ve chosen the right setting before you begin your story.

For me, that setting was Philadelphia.

First and foremost, I need to admit that I am neither from Philadelphia, nor have I ever lived there. I did see Lorde in concert in Philadelphia, and have enjoyed girls’ weekends in its suburbs, but I have never spent enough time there that someone would confuse me for a local.

You probably don’t need to be a resident of Pennsylvania to know that there is a world of difference between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, not to mention several fierce sports rivalries. And me? I’m a Pittsburgh girl, through and through. I moved here right after college from a tiny town an hour and a half away. I began my career here, met my husband here, bought houses here, had two kids here, and am lucky to be raising them here.

They say to write what you know, and I think it makes sense that many writers choose their hometowns or current cities as the setting of their first book. But I knew right away that when I wrote a book in Pittsburgh, I wanted it to feel like it really belonged here. The character in my book was making a big life change and feeling the stress of city living. She was working for an artist who married into a family with some serious wealth and even more serious connections. And yes, there are rich, connected people everywhere, certainly in Pittsburgh. But if you’ve ever spent time here, you know that Pittsburgh manages to feel like a small town while also existing as a major city.

I didn’t want this story to have a small town feel.

But I also didn’t immediately want to transport my story to a major city like Los Angeles or New York. They are glamorous and shiny and bustling and the setting of some of my favorite books, but I’ve simply read so many stories that take place in these trendy places, I wanted to find a spot that was just as cool and innovative while not feeding into the stereotype of “the big city.” (Not that that’s a bad thing! Many stories demand it!)

My brain latched onto Philadelphia right away because I know so many people who hail from there. The college I attended had a good mix of students from both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, which meant that I had many friends who wrote midnight green and silver while I donned my black and gold.

Philadelphia was close enough that I understood its weather patterns, its history, its culture. I knew that there was no one answer to who had the best Philly Cheesesteak and that locals had a ton of pride in their city and the role it played in the country as a whole. Philly has the big city feel that I don’t get in Pittsburgh (it has around 1.6 million residents compared with Pittsburgh’s just over 300,000), and has a lively art and food scene. I was able to create restaurants inspired by Philadelphia staples and even feature real artists who made a name for themselves in the City of Brotherly Love.

While I may engage in some smack talk when the Penguins play the Flyers, my life has been made richer by the people and culture of Philadelphia. Did you know the Slinky was invented in Philly? Who doesn’t love a slinky?!

In the end, Philadelphia became the perfect city for my amateur sleuths to gallivant through, collecting clues, eating pasta, and attending elementary school holiday concerts (you’ll need to read to understand.) While my heart and feet belong in Pittsburgh, my debut will always belong in Philadelphia.

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