"How to Make a Pot in 14 Easy Lessons" is a novel of fire; fire in the kiln and fire in the heart. Joe is the potter and he lives in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. He's fallen in love with an actress from England called Lucy and he wants her to marry him. Lucy has other ideas though. She wants to keep chasing the stage, not get stuck in some pottery shop in the middle of nowhere. However, the beauty of the setting, the cast of quirky characters that come in and out of the shop and the strength of Joe's love eventually change her mind. Which is when Joe, himself, starts having second thoughts. Firing his pots in a wood-firing kiln has taught Joe to expect the unexpected no matter how much love he puts into each piece. But when the unexpected is Lucy going missing on a hike into a wilderness lake, Joe finds his emotions spinning like a pot on a wheel.