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| meet the zombie snowman |
Dead Bastards is now done and dusted and
the final galley proofs are now with my wonderful publisher as the zombie novel I never thought I'd ever finish has been published .
Do I
feel like celebrating? No. Instead I feel a sense of loss. Almost like a
bereavement, which seems stupid. Right?
I've finished the book and I should be celebrating. Instead, I feel empty inside.
The characters in my book were only alive
because I was writing about them - though on many occasions I felt as though
they were talking to me and I was just writing it down.
Talking to other writers, I can see that
it's not just me who feels that way and it's easy to understand why. You live with
those characters for so long.
Weeks, months, even years. You give them life and
they're no longer characters; they're real people with hopes, dreams and fears like you or I.
Then they're snatched away from you because
you've finished the book.
How do you handle that?
Here are some
things that have helped me -
1. Start work on something new. I'd started
Throwaways, the second Die Hard for Girls book and the follow up to Hell To Pay (the first Die Hard for Girls and Nancy Kerr and Tommy
McIntyre book) before I finished my other books.
2. Update your blog. Share your
experiences. It's cathartic.
3. Work on other shorter writing projects.
I write reviews for a few sites.
4. Chill out, catch up on your favourite TV
shows, don't work the crazy hours you were before.
Click on the title if you want to know more about Dead Bastards
