I finished <i>Love in the Morning Calm, </i>the prequel to <i>The Pendant’s Promise</i> and turned the manuscript over to the editor. 

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/morningcalm_6-for-webpgs.jpg"><a href="http://judythewriter.wordpress.com/my-books/" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2181" alt="MorningCalm_6 for webpgs" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/morningcalm_6-for-webpgs.jpg?w=224" width="224" height="300" /></a></a>

Now I’m sad.

I know I should be happy. IT’S FINISHED.

There is a sense of relief and exhaustion considering the amount of energy and focus required to “birth” this particular novel. I’ve been working on Lily and Alex's love story for years.

My very wise book editor suggested I split the original manuscript into two books, which added a year to the writing process, but keeping the tale as one book would have made <a href="http://www.amazon.com/James-A.-Michener/e/B000APVC66/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1359310470&amp;sr=1-2-ent" target="_blank">James A. Michener’s </a>multi-generational works look like short stories.

Really, I am excited that I'm finished.

Except for this lonely feeling that keeps creeping in--sort of like postpartum blues.

Sigh.

I found comfort in knowing I had Lily and Alex’s romance to resume every morning and think about at night.

I already miss the arguments trying to persuade them to follow my outline. Then sometimes settling for something close to what I planned, but perhaps better and more interesting.

Other authors have shared that they experience the same sluggishness, a lack of motivation, and energy when they finish a book. I know my feelings will subside. Lily and Alex have, after all, found their happily ever after.

It’s time to do the next thing -- start a new manuscript. I began that process this weekend.

I’m looking at two quotes as the new story's theme. One from<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Forever-Sarah-Dessen/dp/0142406252" target="_blank"><i>Truth About Forever</i></a> a Sarah Dessen novel: <em>“There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.”</em>

 The other from <a href="http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jun/laotzu.html" target="_blank">Lao Tzu</a>:<em> “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”</em>

Once my new friends, Darcy and Andrew, and I have done that dance of the first 50 or 60 pages they'll begin to talk to me then my real work will begin.

I can truly bid Lily and Ace farewell.

<strong>YOUR TURN: </strong> Do you get the postpartum blues when you finish a book? What do you do about it when you do?