Roughhousing a sequel to A Bit of Rough

I'm writing a sequel, Roughhousing, to my m/m contemporary erotic romance A Bit of Rough. Revisiting the characters of James and Bram has been a complete delight. I adore both men, understand their flaws and sympathize with their fears. I revel in their carnal energies, amazed at how often they pull me into their bedroom with them. Men really are insatiable. And they don’t always use the bedroom. The scene I working on today is a bit of passionate lovemaking in the front seat of a king cab pick-up truck. A piece of work for our guys to accomplish, but they rise to the occasion.

But in writing this, I have a few fears of my own. A Bit of Rough is very popular. It’s won awards, been nominated for both a CAPA and a Passionate Plume Finalist, received the #4 slot in the Preditors and Editors Readers Poll and is the publisher’s best-selling novel to date. That’s a bit of awesome history to live up to. I try not to let all that affect my writing of the Roughhousing, but at the back of my mind I keep asking myself ‘will this one measure up? Will readers like it as well as they did the first one?” A little nerve wrecking.

But the nice thing about Roughhousing is that James and Bram DO take over the book. They write their own story. The entire novel is flowing right out my fingertips like sweet, slippery gel and oozing over the keyboard. They make the storytelling easy and fun. Granted, they keep a lot of it in the bedroom, but then new relationships, especially between healthy men, do spend a lot of time exploring the physical side of their partnership. I know I always did. Luckily my marriage remains new even after all these years. Picking the right man and holding on to him is so important. Something Bram knows and James is learning.

As to the question of whether or not readers will like it as well as A Bit of Rough? I’ll just have to finish this little puppy and get it out there and see! Maybe, they’ll like it even better!