An Imagined Goodbye

This has been a tough week.

I just finished the first draft of the last book in a series, and that means it’s time to say goodbye to some characters I’ve spent a lot of time with and sincerely do love.

Yes, I created the characters. Yes, I am the one who tortured them.

But I love them, and not visiting them from my keyboard every day will be really hard.

I’ll miss the funny things they say and picking apart their odd habits to make the reader see the absurdity. I’ll miss their epic romances and horrible heartaches.

Finding ways to work them out of trouble has been my task for months, and now that job is done.

The adventure is over. I’ve typed out “The End.”

I’ll go through the story during edits. I’ll read it aloud for the audio files.

But the creation of their journey is over. It’s locked in, all set, part of the canon.

I’ll move on. I have so many other stories to write, and more characters I adore to spend my time with.

Before I hop into the next world and see what trouble I can cause, I’ll hold these characters close and tell them each goodbye and thanks for coming to play with me.

They may all be imaginary, but without them, there would be no story. So they have my gratitude and will always have a special place in my heart.