Publishing is so freeing.

There's this process to writing. You get an idea and you spend so much time planning and masterminding where you want the story to go and what you want it to say.

Then comes the writing and, if you're like me, that takes ages because of time but, little by little, you get there. Once you finally finish, you get giddy with excitement because you did it and you want to share it.

So then comes revising and beta readers and more revising. Then editing and perfecting.

You need a cover. Promotional graphics. You talk about your excitement and get others excited too. Cover reveals. Countdowns. You write behind the scenes posts about characters and world building and your motivations.

There's so much, and it's thrilling.

But then comes release day, and your book is finally out there in the world. After that, there's contentment. You did it. You did the whole entire thing. Your finished book is in the world, and people are reading it.

And now? Now things slow back down into the peaceful steady little by little writing that brought you so much joy and peace to begin with.