By Jaycie Cash

Well, I’ve done it. I finished the first draft of my second novel and it feels mighty good.
I can’t help but wonder, though, if I might have taken a wrong turn at the very beginning.

My second book, THE SPLIT-FAMILY ROBINSON, has absolutely nothing to do with my first, MRS. GOODFELLER. Oh, don’t get me wrong, they’re both humorous suspense. But everything else about them is different: different characters, different setting, different premise, plus different problems and focus.

MRS. GOODFELLER is the story of Elyse Smith, the Rodney Dangerfield of her small hometown, Scissortail, Oklahoma. The poor woman never gets any respect . . . until she discovers an old magazine article and realizes from the accompanying photos that her very sweet, though inept, insurance salesman husband, Tony, looks exactly like an ex-mafia hit man who has been in the witness protection program about the same length of time Tony has been living in Scissortail. Elyse’s plan to use that fact to finally gain some respect by convincing her fellow Scissortailians that Tony is an incredibly dangerous man works all too well and she ends up putting both their lives in danger.

THE SPLIT-FAMILY ROBINSON, on the other hand, is the story of a couple that—having just been granted a divorce from each other—are at complete and acrimonious odds. Yet, due to a series of mishaps, end up stranded on a deserted island together, along with their three headstrong kids and his new fiancée . . . HER ex-best friend.

Both are stories I wanted to tell and I enjoyed writing each more than I can say. In addition, I feel I pretty much left Elyse’s story on the page with MRS. GOODFELLER. That book just didn’t lend itself to a continuation.

But I’ve had so many people ask if my second novel is related to the first that it’s left me scratching my head.

What do you think? Although I don’t really see making a series out of either of my first two novels, would you advise me to come up with a third storyline that could serve as Book One for more to follow? Do you prefer to read books from a series or would you rather each novel you read stand entirely on its own?

This inquiring new author wants to know! So dish, baby. Lay it on me!

A FREE COPY OF MY DEBUT NOVEL, MRS. GOODFELLER WILL BE RANDOMLY AWARDED TO ONE PERSON WHO LEAVES A COMMENT BELOW BEFORE THE NEXT WRITERSPACE BLOG IS POSTED.

Jaycie Cash blogs on a regular basis for Writerspace.com. Her debut novel, MRS. GOODFELLER, is available through most major eBook outlets, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She’d love for you to like her Facebook Author page.