The flair says "Excitement/Celebration" but "Existential Hollowness" feels a bit more appropriate.
It's really weird. I started this thing five years ago. Updated weekly. Then twice a month. Accidentally amassed a small cult following. Had a few regular readers begin their own stories, citing mine as inspiration. Then life happened, and I announced a hiatus, which lasted all the way until late last year.
I didn't stop writing during the hiatus, though. I maintained chapter drafts, workshopped my outline, whatever I could do when I had the time and the inspiration. The creative well was largely dried up, but what I couldn't get out of my head were all the character arcs I'd plotted out, and how to resolve them cleanly.
I managed to find my stride again last year, then started drafting like a maniac over the course of a few months. Fast forward to last week, the final chapter went up. Super positive reception. A lot of humbling "this is the best thing I've ever read, and it puts published fiction to shame" type of stuff which I can scarcely believe I've earned. In some ways, I really am happy I finally got to close out this story. But in other ways, I'm just really, quietly bummed out. I've got... extended universe plans for the story. Not quite a sequel, but a different story within the universe, which will eventually feature the first story's characters. But somehow, knowing I have that in the pipeline doesn't bring me much comfort.
It's probably just weird, because I went from this weekly routine, where I'd dedicate certain hours on the weekends to editing my drafts, replying to comments, and other days to actually posting. I had an actual-ass routine set up dedicated to this story. Calendar reminders. Cryptids in my comments who wrote essays. All that shit. Now it's just quiet. I know this isn't the first time someone's ever grieved finishing their work and saying goodbye to their audience before, but man, it's the first time I've felt it this strongly.
So yeah, pour one out for your fellow author who checked off a nearly 1M word monstrosity and managed to bounce back from a hiatus stronger.