The short gap between Books 1 and 2 of the Birthmarked trilogy lasts about two weeks, but the break between Books 2 and 3 lasts nearly a year.  The main reason I let so much time pass is because the action at the end of Book 2/Prized was leading into a lot of grueling, painstaking work, not dramatic problems.  Tension and negotiations were likely, and plenty of quiet, happy scenes, but a book needs real conflict and these productive episodes wouldn’t have had enough.  So I skipped ahead to when the real trouble picks up again and imagined where my characters would be.  I’m glad I did.

Today on the Promised Blog Tour, Kate and Kristen at The Book Monsters ask me if Promised was harder to write than the other books in the trilogy, and why I chose to send Gaia back to the Enclave for the third book.