How long is too long?

[Sharon]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Rebecca Bowen" 
<dontask2much at ...> wrote:
> Rebecca:
> Considering all the charity events and other excursions she's 
taken, one 
> might assume it will take another 2 years before she finishes; I 
also think 
> that the whole "news" posting Wednesday is to assure everyone she's 
working 
> on Book 7 since she's obviously had sooo much else to do.   As it 
is, the 
> Daniel Handler's series (while not as popular) is going to end 
with "The 
> End" October 13th - 7 years since "The Bad Beginning" was 
published. 
> Chronicles of Narnia from the first book to the last were 
> published/completed in 6 years.  By publish dates, it's been 9 
years already 
> since the PS/SS. I can tell you that for me, JKR is fast 
approaching the 
> same feeling I have about Axl Rose and his Chinese Democracy 
album.....if it 
> takes this long to produce.

>


Sharon:

Six years?  Nine years?  Heck, you haven't even scratched the 
surface.  Look at the Lord of the Rings cycle - the first book, 
<i>The Hobbit</i>, was published in 1937, but readers had to wait 
until 1955 before the trilogy was actually published....an 18-year 
wait!

And let's not even get into Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, 
which began in 1990, was supposed to conclude with the seventh novel, 
and so far has 11 published books with no sign of wrapping things 
up.  

Personally, I am not one bit surprised that it's taking JKR this long 
to finish her series.  She's been living with Harry and his 
companions for over fifteen years - longer than her kids, longer than 
her husband.  And they've been a huge part of her life until now.  
Saying goodbye to them - because ending the series IS saying goodbye, 
no matter how many encyclopedias or Hogwarts, A Histories she may 
write - has got to be the single hardest thing she will ever do.

(And yes, I know she's written the last chapter.  But that's not 
goodbye, that's only a direction.)

I went to Lumos, and it quite frankly shocked me how many folks there 
were so quick to assume that we'd have the seventh book in our hands 
by Summer 2007.  If we have it by Spring of 2008, I will consider us 
to be lucky indeed.

A thirteen-year wait for the conclusion of the series, to my mind, 
looks awfully good, given the alternatives.

--Sharon/azriona