Deux

"A sequel is an admission that you've been reduced to imitating yourself." – Don Marquis

Lately I’ve been trying to work on the follow-up to my unpublished post-apocalyptic novel "Falling Skies" – trying being the operative word. I keep getting distracted, revising old stories or starting new tales that hit me without warning. I can't seem to dig in and keep the sequel going.

The working title is "Progeny." It takes place almost two years after the original 120,000-word epic. I like the characters; I understand the plot and where the story needs to go. But I just don't feel a driving desire to finish it. I average maybe a thousand additional words in a good week. Pathetic.

Part of me knows I need to go back to "Falling Skies" and cut 20,000 words, revise it to be the best it can be and then resume querying agents. That same part of me thinks it's stupid to write a sequel for a book that hasn't even hit the shelves yet. But there's another part of me that hopes having a series ready to go might sound intriguing when I'm sending out queries. Your thoughts?

I guess the most important thing is that I'm writing. I just wish I could pick up the pace and finish the first draft of “Progeny.” That would be a huge weight off my creative shoulders. (And then I could start playing around with my prequel ideas: "When Tomorrow Comes".)

In other news, I've decided to query Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Dark Recesses, and Aberrant Dreams regarding the status of submissions that they've been holding for months. I always try to give the editors a few weeks past their posted response times, just so I don't appear overzealous. I've got better things to do, right?

Write.