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| Meh. |
by Emmie Dark
I think I need to poll writers to see how they all feel on the day after
deadline day.
I think the poll would be multiple choice, and I think the options
for answering would be along the lines of:
- Quite sad.
- Very sad.
- Extremely sad.
- Am crying into my fish fingers and custard right now.
Is it just me, LoveCatters, or is it a writerly thing? To
me, it’s kind of like saying goodbye to house guests. You know, the really
good kind of houseguests: the ones that do
the dishes, provide entertaining company, and don’t make a mess in the
bathroom. You stand in the driveway, waving goodbye as they back their car out
into the street, and then you go back inside. But something’s missing. The
house is too quiet. There’s a subtle kind of energy missing.
It’s a futile feeling, because of course my characters haven’t
really gone anywhere. I could just
open that document and visit with them all again instantly. But that special
time has passed – the time when it’s just me and them, when I get to learn all
about them and play with their lives like a devious, capricious god.
When I visit them next time, with my editor’s and copy
editor’s revisions, it’ll be different. It won't be just us, and what will be happening will be far more "work" than those lovely first weeks we spent together discovering what was going to happen.
I've just said "farewell" to my biggest book ever. It involves a wedding, dogs, vampires, Twitter, household accidents, a 1970 Ford Falcon XY GT, and quite a bit of steamy hawt stuff. I always love whichever book I'm working on at the time best. But I really really love this one*.
And I've hit send. It's off to my editor. And now I'm here, at my 'puter, wondering what to do. The fact that I have a "to do" list as long as my arm filled with all the things I didn't do while I spent every waking moment writing (and some of my sleeping moments too), seems, well, irrelevant. Thank goodness I had you guys to come and chat to. Otherwise I don't know what I would have done!
Luckily, Melbourne town has put on some sunshine today. I think I might peek out, blinking hard, and see what the outside world has got up to while I've been locked inside the deadline cave. Maybe go find a cup of tea somewhere in the sun. And then, maybe -- if I get really desperate -- have a go at attacking that "to do" list.
Wish me luck!
*Watch me say the same thing about whatever I write next in a couple of months' time!
