Discovering the Swans ....

On this day in 2011, I discovered an ending for The Scorpion Rules that didn't require me to kill off absolutely everyone. (If you've read the book, you know that there's a stretch in the back half where it looks like lots of the best characters are going down like Old Dan and Little Ann, so this was a real relief.)

Also, I discovered I was writing a duology.

I love stand-alone books. I still think The Scorpion Rules can be read as a stand alone. It has a real and satisfying ending. It just happens to be an ending that introduced a whole set of themes that I wanted another book to play with.

And I'm glad that I discovered The Swan Riders. It is in some ways a better book than The Scorpion Rules, and it is dear to my heart. I'm excited that soon I'll get to share it with everyone!