Have you ever watched the second movie in a series and thought, “That was actually really good, but I still feel a little underwhelmed”? Or have you ever finished the second book in a series, after being completely blown away by the first, only to feel like it was just more of the same? A little bit... bleh.

Well, same. But instead of picking apart what other people may have done wrong, let’s use a food analogy — because, honestly, why not?

Take breakfast. Not the lovely weekend kind, but the everyday morning meal — the one that does the job and gets you going. During the week, I often fall into that routine. Work, work, and more work mean there is not always much time to be creative. And that is fine, up to a point. But the same breakfast on Tuesday does not really do anything more than it did on Monday.

Now think of wine. If the first small sip takes the edge off just a little, then it is reasonable to expect the second sip to take the edge off a little more. Alcohol has a compounding effect. The second sip works because the first one already started something. It builds on it and takes you further.

Some authors write sequels like breakfast: more of the same, served again, because they assume you must be hungry for it.

Parallel Recollections - The Aftermath is more like wine. I worked from the assumption that the first book had taken readers to a certain point, and that the sequel, The Aftermath, needed to begin there and then push further.

That is risky, of course. When you push the boundaries, there is always the chance that you might take things too far.

So, I let the manuscript rest for two weeks. Then, this morning, I picked up an author copy and read it again. And I have to say, nothing made me trip over. In fact, I came away feeling like I may just have pulled it off.

The challenges of memory, morality, ethics, and the duality of being are all there, and I think they will make readers pause and think. I also take a big hammer to the beauty industry, which so often does more damage than good.

But I still stuck to my guns: the story keeps the same surprising plot, full of twists and turns.

In the end, I feel incredibly proud of this book. I am going to take a break from Parallel Recollections for a while and work on something quite different. More on that sometime next year.