With so many lovable characters, how do you organize and outline all their stories? Example, when you started writing Breaking Up with Barrett, had you already planned all his brothers' and neighbors' stories, or do you focus on one at a time? I ask because I am an aspiring writer, and sometimes I feel as though my stories are getting ahead of me.

Katy Regnery I outlined the English Brothers first - very generally - but I was careful to include (in "Breaking Up With Barrett") references to the other five estates/families on Blueberry Lane. (This part happened when Emily is speaking to Felicity and informs her that there are people who live in the gatehouses and guesthouses.) So, I always knew that I could add the stories of those families, but only if there was reader demand. Which, thank goodness, there was.

But even though those families (the Winslows, Rousseaus, Storys and Amblers) were in the back of my head, I concentrated solely on each individual English Brothers story first. The big experiment was "Anyone but Alex," The English Brothers #3. I waited to see if readers would demand to hear more about the handsome Winslow Brothers. (They did.) The next experiment was "Kiss Me Kate," The English Brothers #6. Would readers want to learn more about the Rousseaus? (Again, they did.) So, I became more and more encouraged.

I don't write in a vacuum. I write for an audience and my goal - as an author who creates her stories and as a businesswoman who sells them - is to feed the audience demand.

So, I will be writing all 21 stories.
(Unless they stop selling...because that relationship works the other way too!)

My advice? Concentrate on the first one or two stories. Don't worry about the rest for now. Just write two really, really captivating stories. And see if the audience wants more.

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