I gave the first chapter of Trust to a writers' group and got the feedback today. As I've mentioned, with a second book you have so many Exposition Options:
Option #1: Character background
Option #2: Situation background
Option #3: What happened in Book 1
Option #4: What's happening now in Book 2
And it's basically impossible for me to figure out how much of what to put in. So this was really valuable, because it let me know that I had a maybe little too much of #1 and not enough of #3 and #4.
The problem with having a good feedback session is that you immediately want to go to LOTS of groups to get TONS of feedback, and the problem with that is that you have to give to receive (or at least I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't). In order to participate in a writers' group, you need to read a bunch of other people's work, ideally carefully and thoughtfully, and that takes time--time you aren't spending writing. So, while I do think it's worth doing, I also want to sort of ration my participation.
Anyway, I haven't been doing much work the past week because it's the end of the school year, which is a really busy time. But this upcoming week should be a little better.