Finishing a book is huge. It’s a major accomplishment, something to be proud of. As such, it comes with a sense of excitement and awe at this thing you’ve just managed.
But then, there’s this strange little thing that happens after that.
It’s a kind of… blank space. A lull. A rut.
It’s like all the juice has been squeezed out of the orange, except… that orange is your brain.
Part of it is due to the knowledge that writing the book is only a very small portion of the process, and let’s be real here, the rest of it can be pretty daunting.
But there’s also just this weird empty space left in your brain that was once taken up by that story and those characters. The time in the day that was occupied by thinking of what those characters would do or say or wish for…
Is just open.
The story leaves a bit of a vacuum in its wake, and the brain just doesn’t know what to do with that time or energy, so that little section seems to collapse in on itself. Almost like the shaky exhaustion when adrenaline fades after a close call.
Now, normally, I have so many projects going on at one time that the vacuum is filled by a different project.
But in the past couple weeks, I released a book (A Blessed Darkness), finished the first round of edits in The Sword and The Savage (view on Goodreads here), finished the first draft of book one of The Regonia Chronicles, and finished the first draft of book one of Blood is Thicker.
That was a lot of projects coming to an end all at once, and while that means the initial feeling of accomplishment and was greater, it also means that the vacuum left in its wake was stronger.
It’s such a strange thing.
Yes, I do have more things in the works. Editing book two of The Regonia Chronicles, writing book two of Blood is Thicker, for instance. (I’m awaiting beta reader feedback on The Sword and The Savage, otherwise I’d jump into round two of edits.)
But there’s still this open space in my thoughts, like all those characters took their stuff and moved out.
And for Elairie and Beluroan (A Blessed Darkness), that’s kinda the case. That book is released, and I won’t be diving into their lives again. Their story is written.
It’s weird, saying goodbye to people that feel real but aren’t.
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