What's next?

     Publishing has changed in so many ways in the last five years. The gatekeepers are gone. Anyone can publish now, which is both good and bad. Authors publish a lot more now. A lot. In the '80's, when Stephen King turned out one long book per year, he was considered "prolific." Now, writers like Elle Casey and Russell Blake publish 10 books or more per year, without sacrificing quality. I'm not to that level, yet, but I am ramping up my production levels for the rest of 2014. I have a lot of different projects going right now, so I thought I'd bring you up to speed on what I'll be releasing the rest of the year.
     First up is the third story in the Second Chance Love series. It's kind of ironic that this has turned out to be my first series, since it was started as kind of a lark. In late November last year, I asked my Facebook fans to come up with some plot ideas and Second Chance Christmas was the result. The next installment will be called Second Chance Summer. It will continue the romantic adventures of Steve and Elizabeth as they settle in to being a couple and face a whole new set of challenges. Second Chance Thanksgiving and Second, Second Chance Christmas will be out later in the year. Second Chance Summer will be out the first week of July.
     I've got three other full-length projects lined up for the rest of the year.
     One that I'm really excited about is a currently untitled project that I am co-authoring with Terry Schott. This came about when I read Terry's book The Game (The Game is Life) while I was on vacation in Vegas. (You can download it for free here) I loved it so much, I dropped him a line to thank him for writing it. Coincidentally, he had just finished reading Feels Like the First Time and liked it as well. We got to talking about writing, one thing led to another, and suddenly we were writing a short story together. After two days, it was obvious that this wasn't a short story, it was a book. I think of it was a Science Fiction story with a heart. It's set in a dystopian near future where the world is winding down and escape off-planet is the hope for mankind's survival. Mostly, it centers on the relationship between Sarah and Zeb, two characters that I've already come to love. We don't have a release date on that one yet, because we're both tied up with other projects as well, but it will be sometime later in 2014.
     Another upcoming project is also untitled so far, but I think of it as my "reluctant messiah" book. It won't be called Reluctant Messiah, because Richard Bach used that very effectively as the subtitle of his book Illusions, which I love. This book came about because I am fascinated by the way the media focuses on one story at a time, like a missing airplane, or a little girl down a well, or the murder trial of a former Heisman Trophy winner. I started wondering, what would happen if the world focused its attention on someone - and then it turned out that they actually had something to say. Something meaningful. This book will be the result of that wondering. It is all plotted, and I've started writing it. I have a hope that it will be out by the end of August. Wish me luck!
     Finally, I've got another book started that I was originally calling Adorkable You, until my editor and everyone on my FB page told me that was a terrible name. Now it is also untitled, but I'm sure the perfect title will jump out at me soon. It's a young adult romance set during their senior year in high school. This book started out with a simple idea that I am very fond of: What would happen if the prettiest, most popular girl in high school chose to be with the nerdy boy instead of the captain of the football team? It's evolved into something more, now, and it has more depth. I want to explore the idea of what it is like when you are living up to other people's idea of who and what you are, instead of what is inside you. Almost everyone in the book will be doing that to one extent or the other, until they learn how to match their inside self to what is happening on the outside. I don't have a release date for it, but it will be some time in 2014.
     So, that's it for the rest of the year - a second chance romance series, a sci-fi with a romantic twist, a YA romance with a little depth, and a metaphysical allegory that means the world to me. I hope you'll come along for the ride with me, at least for one or two of them. If you're not reading them, it doesn't make much sense for me to write them!