While the topic title would have you thinking I mean the end of a book I’ve been reading, it doesn’t. I’m talking about the depression that sets in when you finish writing a book. It’s the feeling you get when you finally type/write the end to a story that has taken up much of you life and you emotions. I’m going through that now, after having finished a five book story arc concerning a gay couple I created. The ending just…drained me and now…I don’t know what to do with myself.
You’re probably asking…what are the symptoms of such a feeling? Let me tell you.
You feel drained, not quite happy, but not quite sad. At one point you may have even hated you book, wishing that it would end. Now that it has, there is a tinge of sadness hanging around your head, dragging you down when you go to open that file only to realize that it’s finished.
You get this right before you send the story off to be critiqued and edited. Once it’s in the other stages, you start to hate it again and can’t wait for it to be done.
How does one deal with such an emotion? You know the characters in the book aren’t real, or at least I hope you do. But you’ve spent every day with them, sometimes hours in a day and now…you won’t be seeing them as much anymore. It’s time for them to go into the world and though you are proud, how do you let them go? Are there any special rituals you have, things you do, celebrations you hold to purge the sadness that lingers once the last page is turned and you put down the pencil?
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts.