So what happened? Well, when Almost Sisters went to press, we all had some idea of what was going to happen in book two. We even had some text written. It was tough, but we managed to finish Three Tickets to Peoria in time to meet Deseret Book's accelerated schedule. Then we panicked--none of us knew what was going to happen to our characters in book three!
We had some ideas, of course, but that's quite different from having an outline and a clear picture of the significant moments. We knew, for example, that the COBs would be vacationing together in Williamsburg, Moab, and Sedona. We knew that children would grow up, fall in love, go on missions, and get married. That parents and grandparents would pass away. But that's only the structure of the story. We didn't know the heart of it yet.
Discovering the heart of the story took time. Oddly enough, writers can't bully their characters. They have to listen to them, just like parents have to listen to their children. And characters, just like children, are sometimes reluctant to reveal themselves.
Another reason it took us so long is that we were committed to making the book an eminently satisfying conclusion to the series. When Almost Sisters came out, a friend of Lael's said, "I hope you make it mean something." That's been on our minds ever since. We wanted readers to slow down as they neared the end of the book, reluctant to come to the end of Juneau, Deenie, and Erin's stories. We wanted the book (and the series) to mean something to readers. To be significant, to use Juneau's word.
Cutting text in order to meet the page count given us by Deseret Book was also a challenge. Actually, it was torture, because each character's story was complex enough to fill a book on its own. We had to keep asking ourselves, "If this event or character isn't in the book, will our readers sense something is missing?" If the answer was no, the section was cut. We did it reluctantly but are pleased with the end product.
Finally, there was that pesky problem of combining text written by three different authors in correct order. Thank goodness for flash drives, e-mail and unlimited long distance! And, since we missed our first print date, which would have had the book out in March, it wasn't easy to find a new slot in the print schedule.
So, dear readers, we thank you for being so loyal, and we're grateful for your support of this series. We hope that you'll enjoy opening Surprise Packages!
As always, if you enjoy the book, please write a review. Click on the **Write a Review link to have your thoughts on this website. We'd love it if you'd post your reviews on Deseret Book and Amazon.
Happy reading!
