As of about 7pm last night, the first draft of my next book is with my first reader. Yes, that first reader is my mom, but she’s an excellent proofreader and catches inconsistencies. Of which I fear there are a lot.

The Edge Rules is the third book in The Rules Series, and it tells Brianna’s story. If you’ve read the first book, you know she’s a terrible person and you’re probably wondering why anyone would want to read about her, but if you’ve read the second, you know something’s going on and you’re hopefully intrigued to find out what it is.

All three books take place over a set period of time, but this one has a countdown that resulted with me having to do math. And studying a calendar. And going back and forth a lot. (This is where my mom’s abilities come in.) (No pressure mom.) After an afternoon of playing outside in the first beautiful day Michigan has seen since October, I burrowed in with my laptop and busted through the calendar-math conundrum. Here’s an example of my notes:

I’m really excited for this book because this is the first time I’ve written a character who isn’t immediately likeable, and I hope by the end readers will be rooting for her. Well, really I want readers to feel for her much earlier in the book, but I’ll take what I can get. It was fun writing someone who says what she thinks and isn’t afraid to stand up to anyone, and making her vulnerable was particularly rewarding.

The Edge Rules comes out in October 2018, and while you can’t preorder it yet, you can add it on Goodreads. And you can read the first chapter here.

Now excuse me while I go take a nap.