*sound of fingers drumming*

[uilnslcoap]

Right, it's official, the waiting has now become intolerable.  Tom 
Petty said it, "The waiting is the hardest part."  I mean, rationally 
and most of the time, I'm perfectly willing to wait for the book to 
pass muster in JKR's own mind, and for everyone (Bloomsbury, 
Scholastic, WB) to be happy and ready to deliver, but I'm really 
starting to go crazy here (yet in my heart of hearts, I still will 
wait so that it can turn out the way Rowling intends it *heroic 
sigh*).  I guess it's my own problem, but maybe a few others here 
understand.  Are other people starting to become just a tad unhinged?

Many people seem to think *nods to Amy Z* that Book VII's arrival 
will herald an era of desperation for the lot of us wherein we all 
have to join Harry Potter Anonymous and wean ourselves off of what we 
can't have a new source of anymore.  I don't particularly think that 
will be true about myself, however.  I have a relatively obsessive 
personality (do others here have this type of personality or is Harry 
Potter just a one-time thing?...that is if you consider yourself 
obsessed at all), and I find that when I have reached the end of 
something, I feel this sense of completion, like the obsession is now 
full-circle and can come to rest.  I will, of course, re-read or re-
watch or whatever an old obsession, but it doesn't prey on my mind 
after "the end" has been given.  It feels finished, and so life goes 
on.  Therefore, I don't feel ambiguous in my desire to see the next 
few HP books, and I really am starting to get to an unhealthy point 
of desire, I think.  I was good with the idea of one every summer, 
but I guess she spoiled us in her speed at putting them out up to 
now, and it was foolish for me to think that she could 1) continue at 
that rate, 2) keep up the quality if she did so prodigiously produce 
them, and 3) continue to fool me at the same time (I've been 
surprised by every ending thus far).  I guess it's that with this 
particular obsession, the end is not in sight, and I don't think any 
other obsession I've had has been so...relatively unterminal.  That 
said, I suppose it will be that much more sweet the day I read the 
seventh book, huh?  Can you imagine the anticipation, say, a week 
before the last book comes out, on these boards for instance?  I 
mean, no one will get anything done.  They'll be like Hermione in PoA 
the day before the Quidditch final.  They'll have to take off time 
from work just because "I can't concentrate!" is a perfectly valid 
excuse.  Or at least I will anyway.  I mean, admittedly, some of us 
are going to be pretty crazy in the period right before OotP comes 
out, but can you imagine how that will pale in comparison to Book 
VII?  Oh, Lord, I need to get another obsession to wrap myself up in 
for awhile.

Poor Rowling, some screaming nutcase is going to be unhappy with 
*something* she writes by the time the series finishes...a 
character's death, some or other SHIP, etc...and is going to try to 
pull a Kathy Bates in Misery.  Poor woman, can you imagine her 
walking in the streets and someone screaming, "How could you do it?!  
You have to go back and fix it!"  Poor Rowling, poor dear.

Do people think that this long wait has to do with plot complexity or 
what?  Is it that she's having to figure out newer, subtler ways to 
fool us (my roommate is determined to pay much closer attention to 
little details, he says, and not let himself be duped much more)?  
What about the fact that at least some aspects of these later books 
or going to have to come across as heavy?  Certainly sadder, more 
nuanced, etc., than the first four.  Is it that the relative 
heaviness of the tone of the latter books in the series doesn't lend 
itself to the speed she had in writing before?  Or perhaps that this 
new tone took her awhile to adjust to and she now is blazing away?  
I'll just pray for that one, since it implies that if she gets used 
to writing thusly, the sixth and seventh books will come out quicker 
than this fifth one is going to have come out.

Oh well, guess I'll just have to wait.  Maybe I'll take up 
shuffleboard in the meantime.  Goodness knows I need some diversion 
or other...

Devin

PS  I read the greatest random theory on the main board (I'm sorry to 
whoever wrote it that I won't go and look it up right now, but I have 
to go to bed).  What if The Grey Lady (the Ravenclaw ghost) is 
Voldy's mom?  That would be so cool, all the more so because Rowling 
has said ghosts will play a big role in the later books and because 
the Grey Lady's gotten so little "screen time" while the other ghosts 
have gotten pretty decent mentions at the least thus far.  Perhaps 
Rowling might be pointing us toward ignoring her.  Isn't that a great 
idea?!