Last month, I wrote about my theory that we like to see fictional characters change because this doesn’t occur often enough in life.

Sometimes, though, change does happen to real people—even it’s just changing your mind. When you alter an opinion you once held, you remove barriers to ideas that had been dammed behind your previously unshakable attitude. Those ideas spur new ones and connect with one another. Soon, the gateway to a whole new world of creative opportunities opens wide.

This is what happened to me when I changed my mind about refusing to write sequels.

My initial dislike of sequels for my novels had come down to (1) low threshold for boredom with the same characters/settings and (2) none of my books had sold well enough to warrant a sequel.

The change in my opinion started at 4 a.m. a month ago. I’m cautious about choosing a new path in the early morning. Awake prematurely and lying in the dark, I know I’m vulnerable to flights of fancy. Any scheme seems achievable at 4 a.m., any dream attainable. I’m most creative then—my mental editor/critic/naysayer likes to sleep in—but many ideas I conjure in the wee small hours fail to withstand scrutiny only a few hours later.

But staring up at the dark ceiling, wife and dogs deep in slumber nearby, I thought about my suspense thriller Watch What You Say coming out on November 5th and how much fun I had writing and rewriting it over the past 18 months.

In this novel, web-radio interviewer Bo Riccardi is pushed beyond her mental and physical limits when her husband, Oscar, is kidnapped by a man from her dark past. The abductor commands her to interview him live on her show, with Oscar’s life on the line. Giving in, though, creates an endless nightmare for Bo, as Oscar’s captor begins to destroy her career and alienate everybody she loves. Bo’s secret asset is chromesthesia, seeing colorful shapes that reveal the intentions behind anyone’s speech. She can literally watch what they say. But relying too much on this gift renders her vulnerable to the madman’s purpose, making her even less likely to rescue Oscar—and escape the guilt and shame that binds her to the kidnapper.

Bo—a professional, mother, and wife—was the most badass protagonist I’ve written about. She reminds me of a more mature version of Janet Wright, the snarky, free-spirited heroine of Aftermath. And both of them share some things in common with Rienzi, the smart, independent girl who practically stole the spotlight from Bud in Hardscrabble Road. Two ideas came to me then, united by a common theme: why not write a sequel?

Fans of Hardscrabble Road have been asking for a sequel for years. And sales of this book have now edged into five-figure respectability. Wouldn’t it be fun to reunite the boys with their mother and sister and bring back Rienzi as they all try to make sense of, and put some order to, their gritty, hardscrabble lives? As I continue to do book club talks about this novel much more often than my other books combined, I’ve found that I miss these characters and would love their company after so long.

I also think readers will enjoy spending time with Bo Riccardi of Watch What You Say, and wouldn’t it be fun to team up that intrepid heroine with Janet Wright of Aftermath, and send them on adventures together? Plenty of possibilities for mystery, suspense, thrills, humor, and conflict. They could even encounter the modern-day relatives of my Hardscrabble Road characters, for a blending of three universes.

Hey, it works for Marvel. Why not for me? (That’s my 4 a.m. voice, and sometimes it scares the hell out of me with its plucky enthusiasm.)

I’ve plotted and outlined my Hardscrabble Road sequel and written about 30 pages so far. I’m having fun with it. The train could go off the tracks and into a bottomless ravine tomorrow, but right now, it’s full speed ahead.

Amazing, what can happen when you change your mind.