Finished with Edits

I’ve tried to write this blog a lot. Each time, I kept writing only one word … Done. In fact, one draft was just “Done. Done. Done.” I sent A Ghost of Daylight, the eleventh and last Merry Gentry novel, off to my editor. After three years of writing, editing, laughter, and tears, it was done. It’s always exhausting to finish a book, but this book seemed to truly take everything. There are many reasons for that. I’ve tried to write about it all, but apparently I’m not ready yet, as evidenced by how long this blog has taken to write. So, for today, I’ll start sorting out my office. Piles of old drafts lying like abandoned bodies on the field, or hidden away where no one will see them. Or the most painful: pages of all the great scenes, the fun dialogue, the characters that were written so well but didn’t belong in this book. This was particularly hard because it is the last Merry book, so every character wanted to be on stage. If you’ve read all the Merry books, you know how big a cast it is, so I had to finally tell some characters I’m sorry, truly and deeply, but there wasn’t room for everyone. In fact, that’s one of the reasons this book took so long to write: I kept thinking, “This is it.” This is the last book. The last chance for that character arc to resolve. The last chance for the babies to be on stage. The last chance … The last time. I’ve been writing this series for twenty-six years, yes, with a twelve-year gap, but still, that’s a lot of my life poured out on paper. That twenty-six years only counts from when the first book, A Kiss of Shadows, was published; before that, there was world-building and first drafts, second, third, and more. I’ve been writing Merry Gentry longer than my first marriage lasted. That’s a long time to be with a character. To grow, to cry, to laugh, to love, so many emotions.
            I keep trying to write more. To explain why it took three years to write when my normal time frame was four months to a year. But every time I tried to share more about the process, I got lost in the weeds again. So I guess I’m done for now. Usually, when I finish a book, I can’t wait to get to the next book, the next story, but I think because it took so long to write A Glimmer of Death and A Ghost of Daylight, my muse and I are just staring at each other. “Are you ready to write yet?” I ask. My muse shakes their head. “Me neither,” I say. I will be doing a blog a week from this point on. So see you next week.