Since The Seer Trilogy is my first attempt at writing a trilogy, I have no pearls of wisdom to pass along -- only a cautionary tale of how I'm stumbling through.

      I did write a sequel once (In Search of Sam which followed Truths I Learned From Sam/Dundurn Press) and I also wrote three connected novels (the Zach and Zoe books/Lorimer). That series would have contained more titles, but Lorimer axed the Streetlights imprint, and that was that. In both those instances, the additional books were the publishers' idea. Who was I to argue?

      The Seer Trilogy also began as a single novel, but this time it was an observation by my granddaughter that prompted it to morph into three books. After reading the first draft of The Druid and the Dragon, she said she didn't understand how Maeve could be a seer if she wasn't a Druid.

      And she was right. You got some 'splainin' to do, Lucy. Thankfully, it took only one shower for me to figure out how to proceed. Maeve needed to discover her true identity, and as I dug into her 'roots', her story became much more complex. (I could go into detail for you, but then you wouldn't need to read Books II & III, and we can't have that.) Anyway, my publisher thought it was a good idea too, so I was off to the races. 

      I remember watching a television programme in which a critic was analyzing the writing of the Harry Potter books, praising J.K. Rowling to the skies for how skillfully she'd plotted the series from start to finish. Call me a cynic, but I wasn't buying the woman's assessment for a second. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was Rowling's first published book. She would not have had grandiose visions of a multi-book series at that point. She was struggling to make ends meet and would have been over the moon to get one book published.

      Which brings me to my situation. I didn't intend to write a trilogy, but now that I was about to, I needed to bring forward seemingly insignificant bits of trivia from the first book and make them relevant plot points in the following books. But the first book was already going to press, and it was too late to plant any seeds that would flourish later, so I had to make do with what was already there.

      It's a good thing I love a challenge. Keeping in mind where the next two books needed to go, I combed through the first book searching for threads I could pick up and turn into something useful later on. 

      Amazingly, there were quite a few and if I didn't know better, I might well think I'd put them there on purpose. (Maybe I could fool that critic like J.K. Rowling did!) Of course, in the second book, The Bridge of Whispers, I did make a point of dropping hints for the third book. (I'm a quick learner.) But I'm still open to massaging details to make them fit, so when -- during the recent round of line edits for Book II -- my publisher noted that unless a particular detail I had referenced was going to play a role in the third book, I needed to lose it. So, naturally I said it absolutely played a role.

      Now I just need to make sure that it does.

• the first Viking invasion of Ireland took place in 795 AD. That opened the floodgates. Monasteries were the usual targets -- quick surprise raids to burn the churches and relieve them of their treasures. Masterful boat-building and helping themselves to other people's things were the Vikings' main activities.

• in the 9th century the Vikings began settling in Ireland and mingling with the locals. Hence the birth (sorry, I couldn't resist) of surnames such as Doyle (son of the dark foreigner), MacAuliffe (son of Olaf), and MacManus (son of Manus).

• perhaps the most famous cathedral of Ireland -- Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin -- was built by the Norse King Silkbeard in 1030 AD. (Maybe he was trying to make up for all the monasteries the Vikings had plundered and destroyed.)

• Line edits are done for The Bridge of Whispers. About 8000 words were cut. I didn't think that was possible without really changing the story, but I guess that's why I'm the writer and not the editor. According to the schedule, I'll be seeing the copy edits at the end of March.
• I have completed the first chapter of The Sorcerer's Revenge. And already I'm not following my outline. But on their way to a sleepover with a dragon, Maeve and Traveller (the donkey) came upon a stone circle, so how could they not check it out? Good thing too, because ... (You didn't really think I was going to tell you, did you?)