I was doing so well, and then I stopped.

Where did the time go? One minute I was happily plugging away at this site in early March, and the next it was nearly May. That’s a bit annoying. But to be fair, the Sailor Moon Super Live distracted me for a few days, since some friends came into Pittsburgh to see it with me. I also went to Ohio a couple times to celebrate another friend’s birthday. Then, at some point, I had the flu. I also hurt my back obnoxiously badly doing… something? A few migraines, work getting busy, Easter took me out of state, and I’ve also been working on my gardens and cosplay.

And with Joann going out of business, I’ve been there more than I have since I stopped working there 14 years ago. At first, I thought, “Good riddance!” The company had driven out smaller fabric shops, raised prices, and dropped quality. I’d already switched to online suppliers.

But walking into the store—and seeing the former quilting corner empty—hit me harder than expected. I haven’t stayed as apathetic. Now I just hope we’ll see a resurgence of independent fabric shops.

ANYWAY, this is not why I started this particular blog post. I wanted to rant about writing. I have been in a slump lately, and while I listed all the other things that have been preoccupying my time, I’ve figured out the root cause of my block.

Despite having numerous projects—the next book in my series, an alternate universe version of my first book, and a prequel of sorts for one of the characters—what I really want to do is go for another round of queries. I’m actually craving the rejection right now, because maybe, JUST MAYBE, I’ll find that right agent.

But I feel like I can’t query right now. My first manuscript is done. It’s on the “this is it, the final, final, FINAL version, for real, I mean it this time!” draft before I hopefully get a pro editor. However, it’s a hefty book. 187,794 words as of this moment. This may be negatively affecting all of my queries. There are technically two arcs in my first book, and I did find a spot that would work as an appropriate split into a duology.

In some ways, this could be good! I would have an opportunity to expand some details earlier in the story, introduce some of the recurring characters earlier, and make the historical fiction arc its own little pair of books, introducing the readers to the world before the main series picks up in 2005. The first half takes place during the Revolutionary Era, the second during the Civil War—so the split would also tighten the timeline for each arc.

However, the overall plot of the whole book spans those two eras. The problem starts during the American Revolution, and it is finally resolved during the Civil War. Narratively, the main conflict does pause for those decades, so I’d also need to heavily rewrite the “conclusion” that occurs midway. While things just stopping abruptly works in real life, that’s not a satisfying ending for a book. Now, I have thought of a way to make the resolution work that also hints at events that will come centuries later, but I don’t know. I’m stumped. It was not intended as a story that was split in half.

While a lot of other stuff happens that isn’t exactly part of that main issue, those are crucial to character building and establishing the supernatural world. The first book is about the two main characters adapting to the circumstances of immortal life, and a looming threat keeps rearing its head. I’m torn. And I’m not so sure it would be worthwhile to mention in my query letters that I’m willing to split the books if desired. Ugh, there are pros and cons to keeping it one long novel and making it two shorter ones. I wish I had a pro to help me decide.

So here I am: stuck between submitting a single, intimidatingly long book or splitting it into two and reshaping the story structure entirely. If you’ve ever had to make a decision like this—split a story or keep it whole—I’d love to hear how you handled it.

I suppose I just need to keep on querying… Wish me luck!