When I started SWAN it scared the shit out of me, so I tried to write it without looking at it.  And then I blacked out half of it in my notebook. 

It was named after a song, because of course it was, but that was after I sat around really focused on a Good Title.  I had this intense focus on the idea that it shouldn’t be a long name, or that if it was it should acronym nicely/in a way that is able to be pronounced.  I thought it was likely to get lost if it had a jumble of random letters that looked like a personality test or something.  

When I realized ‘Song Without A Name’ spelled out SWAN, I was equally as excited that it was a real word that would be remembered among jumbles of other things as I was that it meant all the songs I referenced could then be called ‘SWAN songs.’  

I tried for a long time for ISH to have just as good a name, with the added requirement that it sound good or be able to match with SWAN in some way.  It’s not as good, but I laugh about it sounding like ‘SWAN…ish’ when said out loud.  Which might be appropriate for a sequel, I guess.  

It feels less like a ‘sequel’ now, and more like just [Majel Barrett Voice] the Continuation. Maybe that’s because I wrote fully anticipating it this time.