It took me up until 11:30 P.M. on November 29th, and came in at almost 70k words. It’s a little hard to empathize all the emotions I put into this book, and the emotional release I had afterwards. I’m going to miss the characters.
It was so hard to close the laptop that day and say goodbye to them. I think about all the time I put into reading books, hours upon hours of opening and closing (I do not finish a lot of books), trying and staying, the investment of not only my mind and energy, but emotions into the characters, and it’s a lot. But I never knew how much time, emotions, mental energy, and physical stillness goes into writing a book until I became an author.
For the several hours it takes me to finish reading a book, an author put in ten times as much just to write it, and that’s if they’re a fast writer. That doesn’t account for all the scheduling, planning, marketing, promoting, and so forth.
But I need that time away. It’s an invaluable part of my process that allows me to truly sit back and marvel at what I’ve done, both as an author and as a reader. As an author, I get to tell the stories of characters that come to me, and as a reader, I get to enjoy seeing the picture those words paint. It’s a glorious cycle, one that you’re a part of too.
In every book that you open, put time into, and fall in love with, you help spur us on even more. Thank you, for letting us authors borrow you for a couple of hours and transport you into the worlds we’ve built. Thank you for trusting us. We couldn’t do all of this without you.