The Art of the Hustle 2 (Complete)

Author's note

Thank you for reading The Art of the Hustle 2. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would even write this book. However, through the support of the fans, it really made me reevaluate the project.

I just wanted to say a few things about the book.

First, as you probably noticed, the style was very different than book one. When I originally wrote The Art of the Hustle, I didn't really know what I was doing. The idea for the story came about because I had a friend who I feared was suicidal. At that time, he was very depressed and not receptive to speaking about his despair. In an effort to connect with him and lift his spirits, I wrote him a lengthy email in which I described a particularly troubling time in my life and how I pulled myself out of it. The story was meant to show him that we all go through this kind of stuff in life and to not give up hope.

I sent him the email and he appreciated it very much. Now with a large chunk of text and an inspirational story, I thought that perhaps I could share that story with others who may similarly find value in it.

In December 2010, I sat down with a simple idea to expand on that email and write my debut novel. Six weeks later, I finished that book — The Art of the Hustle. That email is essentially the story in chapter 12 of the book.

Published in 2012, The Art of the Hustle became wildly popular and changed the course of my life forever. At that time, I was studying for the LSATs and wanted to pursue a career in law. However, with the success of that book, I decided instead to pursue a career in writing.

In December 2016, I sat down with an idea to write a sequel to that book. Six weeks later I finished that book — The Art of the Hustle 2. By this time, my writing had improved and I have picked up a few tricks of the trade. One of them was that I vowed to never write in the first person again. It's way too difficult and limiting. I go over this in more detail in my book 'How to Write a Novel'.

The second thing I want to address is why I choose to write this plotline with Deon, and with Ashley dying. I really wanted to follow the same rags-to-riches theme of the first book, but told with a character who has a much darker past than Trevor. Since Trevor talked about starting a foundation to help others in the end of book one, I figured I would play into that idea. While Deon doesn't ultimately become rich, he does take marked steps in the direction of self-improvement, which maintains the spirit of the first book.

Deon represents someone who is beaten down by life and circumstances, and has the odds stacked so heavily against him, that I thought it would be fun to challenge some of his ways of thinking and behavioural traits that hold him back. Perhaps through this character, kids from a similar socio-economic background and circumstances can break the cycle of poverty and make better choices, and walk a different path. While he had a billionaire in his corner, he still had many challenges and was not able to escape his past. Many of the deeply ingrained behavioural patterns lingered and were not so easy to overcome.

Also, since I never really addressed what happened with Darrell's death and how that court case played out for Trevor in book one, I used Deon's character to tie up those loose ends.

As for Ashley's untimely death. I thought it would be interesting to take away something from a guy who seemingly had everything going for him. I didn't know until the very end whether or not I would bring her back. In the end, I decided to.

Lastly, will there be a book three? I never say never. I do have some ideas for a third book; however, I don't plan on writing a third book at this time. If you're looking for something similar to read, check out The Secret Manuscript. It has a similar character to Trevor in the first book, but it's in a completely different genre. I will post chapter one for you below.

Thank you to all those who have bought, read, voted, commented, shared any of my books, recommended me to a friend, or followed me on social media, I appreciate the support immensely. It's because of you that allows me to do what I love, which is to tell stories.

Edward Mullen — 2017