Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Day After

Merry Christmas!

As many times as I heard that phrase yesterday and the day before, another featured prominently as well. "I can't believe it's over already." All the weeks of hustle, bustle, and anticipation to prepare the perfect holiday for friends and family have come to an end and Christmas is over for another year.

But rather than ending, I like to think of it as beginning, with a new kind of anticipation. Wondering what was in all of the colorful presents beneath the tree had many on pins and needles. Now the anticipation of getting to play with, watch, read, wear, use...all of those wonderful gifts comes into play. Revisitng the open gifts under the tree is as much fun as wondering what was in them in the first place. And they can be enjoyed for the weeks, months, years to come.

Writing a book is much the same. Weeks, months, sometimes years of work are put into creating the perfect story for your characters. And then one day, you write those magic words: The end...and they lived happily ever after...or something to that effect. There is a little bit of let down...afterall, you've spent quite a while with these characters and their love affair, how can you just let them go?

But you're not letting them go. Now it's time to revisit them. Make things just so. Not just for yourself, but for the legion of readers that awaits! And hopefully one day, you, and all of those readers, will hold that book in eager hands and enjoy it in a completely different way.

So in the week(s) ahead I have a lot of reading, watching, and writing to do!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have two books in progress. One has gotten stale and so it's cooking away while I wait for ideas.
:P
The other is a book for my children. I only haven't been able to write on it because of the holidays.
:P
Merry Christmas to you all.

Debra St. John said...

Marilynne,

Good luck with your projects!

Morgan Mandel said...

Sometimes it's hard to part with your characters when a book is finished,but they must make their way into the world!

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

Deb Larson said...

I feel the same - my characters are a part of me - much like my children. I worry about them and hope they can survive out in the world!
Merry Christmas all!
DL Larson