On June 27, 2019, I uploaded the story Days of Studying at Hogwarts. On January 9, 2024, I typed "The End" at the end of its final chapter. It had taken nearly four years and six months.
This book was finally finished.
That was a huge relief. At least I had brought it to the ending I originally planned.
Originally, I expected to spend two years writing a two-million-character HP fanfic, but plans rarely keep up with changes. Back then, I probably never dreamed that I would spend so long writing this book, much less that Days of Studying at Hogwarts would reach 4.05 million characters by the time it was finished.
This was absolutely unprecedented in my long writing career, and undoubtedly a huge challenge for me. Over all that time, my original enthusiasm for writing gradually wore away. What kept me going was probably the fact that so many people were still paying to read it.
Then, around last summer, not long after I passed my driving test, just as I was planning to finish the book in one final push, paid readership dropped by half. That unexpected blow broke me. Fortunately, the book was already close to completion by then, and I kept telling myself I would be done soon.
After that blow, I could no longer be bothered to deal with anything, but the road to finishing was even longer than I had imagined. The coughing last November nearly did me in, and my health remained poor throughout December. I actually wanted to stop and rest then, but I did not know whether I would be able to keep going once I stopped.
After all, the book was nearly finished. Nothing could have been worse than stopping just before the finish line. At the time, I