Since I published my first book a little over a week ago, I have been feeling a considerable void. I nurtured my book baby for over two years — writing, re-writing, editing, screaming at it in frustration, nearly breaking into tears of joy when I realized that I finally got a good sentence, paragraph, chapter nailed down that I knew readers would enjoy. Now that it’s over, the passion needed to dive into something like that is now pared down quite a bit. I still write every day. I have to. But the work is much less involved when compared to trying to craft a full-length book. It feels sort of empty, I guess.

Emptiness aside, writing a book was incredibly rewarding, but I have found myself wondering why I would ever want to write another one. It was a unique and not always enjoyable sort of mania that I lived in while trying to put it together. I drove a lot of the people who are close to me crazy. I’d dive into writing mode and not come out for a few days. While writing and editing the sadder parts of the book, a lot of feelings that I’d spent a great deal of time trying to forget flooded back in to my consciousness. I’d be distant and withdrawn as a result. Other times, I’d be working on a more uplifting section or chapter and get the old buzz from that time back, letting it carry me through the present day. The back and forth became exhausting at times.

I’m probably just over-thinking things. I know I’ll write another book. I’ll probably even start on it soon. There are just too many stories stuck in my head not to share them. I’m not a very articulate speaker, so writing them down will have to do. I’m enjoying a little breather at the moment, but still feel the burgeoning urge to get to work on something new, something just as big as the last project that had so much to teach me. I wonder what I’ll learn from this next one?

Regardless, the point of putting in all the work will always be the same, which is something I return myself to when I get frustrated or find myself at a loss for motivation — it’s always worth trying to create something that will (hopefully) outlive you.