More! More! More!

One of the earlier contemporary novels of women's fiction that featured black characters was Terry McMillan's Waiting To Exhale. As everyone knows, this book became phenomally successful, becoming a bestseller and being optioned (and actually made) for a film adaptation, which was also quite successful. It's hard to believe that it's been nearly 16 years since my nose was buried in that book.

Terry's next book, Getting To Happy, will re-visit the women of Waiting To Exhale in the present day. I don't know when it'll be published, but I'm pretty sure that any manuscript Ms. McMillan turns in will have a short lead time to publication.

Another book I read and was captivated by was Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant, around the mid-1990s. The authors have written a sequel, Gotta Keep On Tryin', that features heroines Pat and Gayle 10 years later, that will hit stores next week.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not much for sequels, but with such a long time between stories, it'll be interesting to see what the 35-ish women of Exhale are up to as 50-year-olds, and what's happening with Pat, Gayle, and Marcus, friends from childhood who witnessed a tragedy as youngsters. I also like the way the titles tie in to the original novels.

I promised readers years ago that I would do a sequel to my 2002 romance From This Day Forward, featuring the much-younger sisters of the heroine, who were mere teenagers at the time and would now be in their early to mid-20s. I haven't forgotten. I just never liked the idea of moving in dog years, if you will . . . having characters age 10 years in 2 because it's convenient. I'm working on a storyline, but it needs more oomph.

I'm feeling a little more confident about a proposal I recently completed for a sequel to The People Next Door, which many readers have also asked me for, with action occurring 5 years after the original left off. I'll keep you posted.

I guess I like my sequels delayed.