Good news first, friends. Drum roll. My publisher, Kregel, is contracting me for Book One, Trouble in Tacoma as well as Book Two [unnamed at this point]. I finished book one so I will be able to send the ms in by February 2026.
Bad news: They do stuff way ahead of time. I was hoping for a fall 2026 release, but they have scheduled the book’s release for May 2027. That feels like forever from now! Also, they like the series but only contracted me for the first two books. The others will probably be added later after they see how sales go.
Good news: Book two will come out only a few months later, August 2027.
Bad news: I haven’t even begun to think about book two past a few flimsy ideas. More bad news. They would like the chapter one sample to throw into the back of book one. Gulp.
Good news! I have you to help me with this. Below are my flimsy ideas for the other books. They are listed in no particular order. Any of the books (2-5) could be “Book Two”), since everything in the series takes place the summer before Jenny goes off to SF for school and eventually meets Andi (and I thus end the series). So choose the book you think would be most likely to succeed as a fun book with lots of adventure.
BUT . . . with your choice, please list a bunch of things you think could happen as plot events, fun things, etc. CONTACT ME to send your ideas so I can easily keep them. Or, you can share in the comments.
- Book One: Trouble in Tacoma. Too much rain, an early snowpack melt from Mt. Rainier, and unscrupulous logging practices from the Timberland (Grants) logging company’s main competitor turn the Puyallup River into a disaster waiting to happen. Jenny and her Appaloosa gelding play a major role in the river rescue of a young teen’s desire to be the town hero (which goes sideways). (Actually, my friends, this is exactly what happened in this book so I’m happy to say I followed my summary.)
- Point Defiance Peril. Historically, the Pacific NW (especially Tacoma) is a hotspot for bigfoot sightings. The Salish Indian word is Sasq’ets (Sasquatch), and Jenny, Micah, and Gideon stumble onto strange happenings inside the old Point Defiance military reserve (unoccupied). I envision thieves guarding their hideout by creating the Sasq’ets fear, but in the end the prints are made from large, carved boards (yes, really!) Do you think a “bigfoot” subject is appropriate for you guys? Does it sound exciting or too scary? I need lots of Indian “happening” if I do something like this.)
- Vashon Island Venture. The Three Musketeers (their nickname) are excited to try out their new sailing skiff (I changed this to a canoe) on the Sound. Sailing to Vashon Island, just across from the tip of Tacoma, is a leisurely trip with no apparent danger. They’ll see a couple of Orcas and some other fun sea life, and somebody might even fall overboard in a comedy of errors. But the trip to the island goes without a hitch. It’s the return voyage that is fraught with sudden peril as a summer storm comes up, and the outgoing tide and current takes their canoe off course and straight through the dangerous waters of the Tacoma Narrows (been there, done that. It really was scary! The Coast Guard had to rescue our disabled motorboat). Once they make it to shore, they are a long way from home. The three kids must use their frontier survival skills to find a town/people/or ?? to get back to where they belong. (I’m leaning toward this for book two, as I think I can fill out the book with enough plot points to make 36,000 words).
- Puget Sound Plunder. After a Puget Sound summer squall, Jenny and Gideon discover something washed ashore (not sure what yet—a wooden box with a map? A wooden box with valuables? Maybe a young woman or boy who had been held captive by smugglers or other bad guys). The main thrust will be the treasure/castaway and the uncovering of a (true-historical) smuggling ring (but they won’t be smuggling opium. That’s just not for kids. I’ll think of something.)
- Logging Camp Chaos. A series of “accidents” is breaking out at the Timberland Lumber Company’s logging camp in their new place–many miles from Tacoma, in the high, untamed wilderness. They even build a short flume to get the trees down to the river from the high elevation. I’m thinking of a logger’s rodeo, competitions with the log rolling (who can stay on? That would be funny!) at the boom on the bay (I can see Micah involved with this), etc. Jenny can ride the flume (but for what reason?) The trouble might climax with a slash burn gone wrong and a forest fire. Maybe some Dickson lumbermen trying to cause mischief and trying to poach on the Grants’ lumberland. (This is really a better book for book 5, as the fire destroys a lot of timber up there, making it hard to send Jenny to the school in SF, so Grandmother and Grandfather can step and pay her way.
- San Francisco Strangers. Jenny has had one too many “close calls” in the woods. When a tree almost lands on her, Mama (and Grandmother, who is there for a visit) decides it’s time Jenny cools her heels and starts learning some ladylike qualities somewhere away from the mud and rough loggers, dock workers, and fishermen. She has run free and wild long enough. She ends up in October 1880 going to Miss Whitaker’s Academy, where she has her own set of adventures before meeting Andi Carter the following February 1881. (This book has to stay as the last book in the series.)
Click the image to visit my “new” revised website. If you haven’t read the excerpt to book one yet, you can click on “Timberland” and read it if you want.
Andi Carter's Blog 
I’m sooooooooo excited!
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Are you sure you can’t write Andi into more of the last story?
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No because Andy is not there and if I did it with Andy there and there will book would be just like reading smugglers all over again. My publisher will never go for that
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Although you have given me an idea perhaps there’s some kind of things going out at the school that happens before Andy and Jenny get involved with Mei lin or whatever her name is. I’ll think about that That would be really fun….
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2027!!! That’s in forever!!! I can’t wait!!!!!
I like the Puget Sound Plunder idea
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Wow that’s a long way away! 2 years!
I love the ideas #3 and #4! Lots of adventure and mystery.
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Most people are the ones that I’m also leaning toward unless I get some really good ideas about a fake Sasquatch mystery. So far people are telling me they’re preferences but are not offering any ideas lol
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Ooh, so for book 2, you could entwine that whole plot with some sort of natural disaster or danger that was common around that time but no one, not even the thieves are aware of the danger of the area or something and it has a costly outcome…..
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20027!! That’s two years that we have to wait!!!!
For book 2 I like number 4.: Puget Sound Plunder (or it could be “Puget Sound Stranger”).
I’ll through out a crazy idea that I had.
I have another suggestion or 2 but i don’t have time to type it up right now. I’ll try to add it later.
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Okay! But you do have to remember this book has to be from Jenny’s point of view so all that background information I can’t give at all
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Ah yes! I’ll keep that in mind. Although, you could reveal bits and pieces of their background to Jenny through her interactions with the person while the smugglers are holding Jenny captive.
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To piggyback off my thoughts… “Ooh, so for book 2, you could entwine that whole plot with some sort of natural disaster or danger that was common around that time but no one, not even the thieves are aware of the danger of the area or something and it has a costly outcome…..”
Think about this: That is a old military reserve. I mean who’s to say there isn’t a whole secret store of gun powder or something in there and there is a point when Jenny is stuck in there when the thieves decide to burn the evidence of their illegal activities not knowing that it will blow everything up including themselves. Jenny however knows the danger because she when doing research on the fort and the legend finds hints to the fact this fort very possibly holds a huge hidden store of gunpowder. She then has to risk her life making herself known in order to save someone or something and to keep them from burning all the evidence.
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I like your ideas in fact I was thinking about secret floorboards and secret things in the old reserve but then I went on to find out that point defiance has been set apart as a military reservation but they had never built anything on it and they let it fall away and they sold it to the city for a park you know 20 years later
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So I can fudge a few things like dates like in my first book I have a livestock ordinance that’s a few years off but I could use it but I can’t put old forts on military reserves that never actually had them. So sad. Too bad.
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So does it have to involve the old military fort? I don’t know what you can add without messing up the history, but what is sent to say that pirates didn’t use it as a hideout at one point? They could even have hid treasure in there but the cost of finding the treasure is the whole area blowing up. It could also be an old Indians village that the pirates used for a hideout.
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You could always put a historical note in the book saying that event didn’t actually happen and it was just part of the fictional story.
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The main thing that would make the book the most enjoyable to me is having a plot but it is only used to throw everybody off until the underlying plot -which is the real problem, is discovered. I was just using some of those ideas as examples. I do think it would make a great story!
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