Birthing Twins

You know, it's very difficult to write two books at once. One might even say...twice as hard.

I knew it would be hard, but man, it's a real killer. I have to keep all the detailed events and little character traits consistent within both parallel books, so I'm constantly looking at everything from twelve different angles to make sure I didn't miss anything. Not only that, but because all of the flashbacks happen before the current timeline in book(s) one, I have to make sure that every little thing that happens in flashback is consistent with what we see in the present.

It's tough. If I were to write all of the Elder Empire books at once, it would have been way easier to write the flashbacks first, and then simply move on to the main storylines. But even then, keeping Calder and Shera's storylines parallel, but intersecting just enough, and yet distinct enough so that they feel like two different stories...

I would say that I've bitten off more than I can chew, but I can chew a lot! Seriously, too much. It's disgusting.

Anyway, the books are absorbing most of my attention these days, but there's more than that going on. First, I just ordered the first physical copies of Of Sea and Shadow and Of Shadow and Sea! That's the last step before I upload them to Amazon for sale, so assuming that nothing goes wrong, they'll be available very soon!

And I'm still working on the House of Blades audiobook, as I announced last time. I have no idea how long that takes, having never put up an audiobook before, but we'll learn together.

Now, for both of you who have read this far in the blog, I have a question. I'm expecting Dawn / Darkness to be out this summer, but I'm still early enough in the process that I can include a few little Easter eggs.

If enough people agree on what to put in, I can hide some little inside jokes or references in the second book that only those of us savvy enough to follow the blog will catch.

So, back to that question: any suggestions? Any little lines, suggestions, or cameo references I can/should make in ODAD?

Let me know in the comments!