Reading is like . . . chocolate?

Mood of the day - whimsical.

I'm on the home stretch on the novel I'm currently writing. The words are flowing like a waterfall, although I have to admit, the closer you get to that last page, the less water is falling. There's something about reaching "the end" that makes you pull back so that you can savor those last, final moments with your characters, before you wave them on to their happily ever after.

I wish I had the same problem when I read. I recently received an advanced reading copy of Jude Deveraux's next book in her Nantucket Bride's series titled True Love. The book was in the neighborhood of 450 pages and I started it on a Sunday. 300 pages later, my dear husband looks at me and says, "why are you reading it all in one day? Don't you want to make it last if you're enjoying it?" The obvious answer is yes, I do. The real answer? Reading is like chocolate. When it's good chocolate, you want to eat it all at once. Binge eating.When it's not so good, that's when I struggle to keep going. I put the book down when my husband pointed out to me that I'd been bingeing, but I kept reaching for it. "It'll taste better if I savor it." Yeah, well. I have a 70 minute commute on an express train into the city and when I rode in on Monday, the book didn't stand a chance.

As an author, writing the end of a book is less like eating chocolate and more like sending your child off to college. The longer you can delay that parting, the better, and yet, your child has to make their own way in the world. I still have a ways to go before I reach, "the end," but I'm getting close. I have been making the most of my time off from the day job to put the story down, between visiting family and tending to chores that have been ignored during busy season. The good/bad news is that even after I finish the story, there will be much work to do. This story has been flowing so fast that I'm making a mess of it just to get it down. Good news is that I will be spending more time with my characters before I have to let them go for real, cleaning up the mess. Bad news is that this is the grunt work part of writing.

In case you missed my barrage of posts and tweets, Mist on the Meadow is free for download for a limited time at select online book sellers. Please take advantage of the Memorial Day offer, share this steal-of-a-deal with your friends, and when you finish reading it, leave a review at your favorite book site (authors love feedback). Details are in the previous post.

Time to finish writing.