You may remember how these updates came out. They used to be my anxiety updates, but I changed it to life updates because my life is about more than my anxiety.
Still, every life update seems to come about when I either am or have been struggling with something. That said, here's the most recent life update.
While this isn't weird, it feels a little weird.
Usually, I miss my characters the same amount once I've finished their story.
And then there's Corey and Olivia from Nepenthe. It's my book that gives me all the feels. The book that makes me proud while breaking my heart because I want everyone to read this book the most out of all my books. It means so much to me.
So, so much.
You see, whenever I'm struggling with either the anxiety or depression side of things, I think about Corey and Olivia. Among the craziness, I think about this book. I think about what I wanted to accomplish with it, what readers have told me about the effect of it on them, and what this book means to me.
Corey managed to crawl out of the hole when he was at his lowest. It was a slow crawl, but he made progress, little by little. He managed to see the speckles of light to push him forward, to keep trying, to hold onto to hope that things would be better one day, to know that he would one day simply be able to throw a football again.
While I love all my characters, especially those you'll be introduced to in December with Without a Doubt, I wish Corey and Olivia were real.
I miss them and think about them the most. These characters fuel me into hanging on and knowing I can survive whatever life hands me. They remind me that though we may not want seek help, doing so is highly beneficial.
If one book has my heart and soul within the pages, it's Nepenthe. When life is hard, one of the people I turn to are Corey and Olivia. (See why it feels weird?) I'll read the book and find a source of contentment from their accomplishments and their love. It always makes me feel better about whatever's going on.
So, basically, my life update is that I still struggle, but I'm still doing my best and doing well in the grand scheme of things. I guess I felt the need to share all of that about Nepenthe because I relate to Corey so much. We're both trying to keep making progress and keep pushing through the tough times because we know we can and we know it's worth the fight.
When you're thinking about your past characters in these situations, do you ever write more about them? To me it would seem like a natural progressions. I think I would find it difficult to just drop characters. That's why I like series with the same characters so much.
ReplyDeleteI do not, or I haven't yet. Rereading their story seems to do the trick for me so far. It does seem like it would be a natural progression, though. Next year, I will have a two book series featuring the same couple, and I hope to do another series where it follows the same characters vs those which work as standalones.
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