First Draft by Summer

Quite a few of my recent blog posts have been oriented around tips for writers or book lovers, but this blog was originally about my writings, so I thought I'd switch focus back to that for this week and briefly discuss — and announce the anticipated title of — a book on which I am nearing completion of the first draft. This book will be the sequel to Lesson One: Revolution!, and there is one more book planned to round out the series. Thus, the "sequel" is really book two of three, provided I can actually finish up the third which is maybe about halfway through the first draft.

Photo credit: mconnors from morguefile.com

The title I am planning to use for book two in the series — Extra Credit: Loyalty! — continues the title theme that was started with the first book. With a bit of thought you might be able to predict the third book's title! However, I'm not revealing that here, at least not yet. As those who read it know, at the end of Lesson One: Revolution! the main character (Dan Starney) heads off to a future that looks quite unpleasant, but not as unpleasant as it could have been, thanks to some surprising (and perhaps confusing) actions on the part of someone he should not have trusted. His "love interest," Karena Walsh, sees him off without really understanding all that was going on up to that point.

At the start of Extra Credit: Loyalty!, Karena receives some disturbing news about Dan, as well as another teacher from the high school where they both taught. The mayhem picks up pace quickly; if the first book was too "talky" for you, the action in the second book may keep your attention more. People die, there are car chases, and more. But it's not just action, of course, because that can be boring by itself. The story develops and becomes more complex as a shadowy organization involves itself directly with Dan. In the second book, more is revealed about Dan's background and connections, and any reader confusion that arose at the end of the first book should be adequately resolved.

My goal is to have the first draft of the second book done before summer, so that I can have a decent chance of releasing the book in the latter half of 2014. Currently I would estimate that I have about 7000 more words to write, which shouldn't be difficult to complete by mid-June.

If you've already read Lesson One: Revolution! and would like to be a "beta reader" for Extra Credit: Loyalty! please let me know. If you are interested in being a beta reader for the second book but have not yet read the first book, you can get a free copy of it (as an e-book) if you sign up for my mailing list and using ECL-BETA as the promo code, as long as you do this before the release of the second book.

I hope those who enjoyed the first book will also enjoy the second. For those who were not satisfied with how the first one ended, I hope that the answers provided in the second book are satisfactory. Either way, I enjoy hearing from readers, and an honest online review, positive or negative, is sincerely appreciated!