I’ve been plugging away at my novels, up to 16k words on the new novel, a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-style adventure that uses Tai Chi Chu’an (Taijiquan) as a central element.
I’ve also been getting a reader to plow through my Great Depression-Era Range War/Western novel; when feedback is in from that, I will send it to an agent.
Writing-wise I am consistently, if slowly, scrimshawing out words. Submission- and agent-wise I am in the doldrums, drifting about the ocean sails-up with no wind in sight.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a writer without self-doubt gnawing at his/her bones. The current, devouring ones for me:
1) If I sell both books, can I really get away with jumping genres so wildly?
2) I don’t seem to write as cleanly or as muscularly as I used to. Will I ever be as skilled again with words?
3) The current novel looks like it will be huge, and the themes are very scattered. Am I skilled enough to pull it off? Will I have to go back and do a rewrite, mid-draft, to keep making forward progress?
4) Will I ever successfully write a sequel to anything?