So, Chapters 21 and 22 of Swing for the Fences have both been posted now, and they're what I would consider "transitional" (and shorter) chapters, giving Nick and Jack some time to "settle in" as new boyfriends and be happy and in love for a little while. But stay tuned for Chapter 23 (which will be posted on Wednesday, September 3rd), as some more "excitement" will come along to challenge Nick and his friends.

The second round of revisions/edits for Medellin is taking longer than I expected, due to a lot of changes and rewrites I've been making along the way, which I hope will make the story as a whole much better. For those who love the kind of innocent, sweet, saccharine love story (so far) of Swing for the Fences, Medellin will be much,  much darker in tone, with the complicated and more mature romance(s) being more intense, but experienced within the backdrop of a violent drug war. I hope some of you will enjoy it when it comes out later this year! But, because Swing for the Fences is so long, it still shouldn't affect my overall schedule, hopefully. I've also gotten some summaries and a couple of character sketches for some new story ideas that have been running through my head. There's also a sweet scene towards the very end of Swing for the Fences that we don't "see" (because Nick isn't present and the story is from his POV, obviously), only partially told about afterwards. So, I'm thinking of doing a quick short story version of that particular scene, told in the third-person for something a little different, and I would post that as we get closer to the end of Medellin to get everyone in the mood for the SFTF sequel (that I really, really hope I can pull off on-time!).

It's a very ambitious schedule and timeline, I know, but I've been enjoying very much so far, and especially the emails and comments have been great. And if you are enjoying Swing for the Fences, please don't be afraid to drop me a line and let me know if you're enjoying it or not, or maybe something you'd like to see in a sequel, whether a scene, or a relationship, or even a new type of character. For example, I didn't really introduce and exchange students in the original SFTF, but most elite boarding schools have them, so I already have a few ideas for some exchange students to stick in the sequel (one of which will actually be a crossover of a very minor character from Medellin who gets the chance to study abroad at Harrison West). Just don't ask me to include "more sex" in my writing. I'll include as much or as little as the story requires.

So, last week, I highly recommended reading The Eggman's "A New Life" story, an oldie but goodie. I just finished it today (it's quite long), so for my recommendation for this week, I have to go back to my all-time favorite (yet mysterious and no longer active) author, Dom Luka. You really can't go wrong with any of his stories, but my favorites are the original three:

• The Ordinary Us
• The Long Way, and its sequel, In the Fishbowl
• Desert Dropping

You really can't go wrong with a Dom Luka story, and they're looooong, so expect it taking at least several days to get through one, depending on if you're binge-reading (like I do) or only a couple of chapters at a time.

Lastly, if you're American, I hope you have an enjoyable, long Labor Day Weekend! I'll be spending most of mine writing, but it'll be nice to have a day off from work on Monday.