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The Aftermath

Kristan Higgins

Updated: May 6, 2022



Last week, I finished my twenty-second novel. This one was a tough one to write for good and bad reasons. On the happy front, I was busy planning the Princess’s wedding, which was worth every second I spent on it, to see those two so happy, having so much fun, so in love, so perfect together.


On the difficult front, it’s hard to be creative when the world seemed to be falling apart in great chunks—the storms, the politics, the pandemic. My wonderful, kind “other dad” endured a long, long sickness, and while I knew the end was coming, I was crushed just the same when I got the call. It made those last couple of days of writing all the harder.


But then, I was finally finished. The book is with my editor now, and I will admit I have never been so relieved to pass in a book in my career thus far. I hope it takes her a long, long time to edit.


So what does this author do once she’s finished?


Well, the first thing was to attend to the family, since our dear Hank had died. This entailed making sure Nana was okay (you know her as one of the Flower Grammies). I went over, brought her some top-shelf gin instead of flowers, and had her over for dinner the next night. My job is to make her laugh, something that’s easy, because she’s so wonderful. My son came home from graduate school to see her, and we had a spontaneously full and wonderful weekend.


The next thing was to sleep. There is a mental exhaustion that goes along with book writing, at least for me. Soggy brain, I call it. I really believe it’s like recovering from a sickness. So lots of naps for me.



I also cooked and baked. I love doing those things, but when I’m closing in on a deadline, they get pushed to the back burner.


Then there’s the house renovation, which I’ve been ignoring since I had to do my job. Yesterday, McIrish and I picked out tiles and flooring, looked at paint colors, put down a deposit on countertops. I had to introduce myself to one of our carpenters because though he’s been working here steadily, I’ve been a ghost with a laptop.


I’m calling my various and sundry doctors, making the appointments I missed. Neuro, GI, ortho…all the fun specialties. I hope to get the hardware in my wrist taken out and have full range of motion back.



Friendship…all those friends who’ve put up with my silence, postponed visits or outings. It’s awfully nice to see them again. One of my besties had a few of us over for a feast of snack foods…nachos and fried mozzarella sticks, and just sitting there without this book hanging over my head, it was wicked pissah!


So here I am, waiting for my daughter to take me to the doctor for a little procedure that I was supposed to have some time last year, doing nothing, and man, it feels good.

2 comentarios


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