I just finished sending the last round of interview questions to those authors who will be featured in the author interview series this year! That’s right! All I have to do is wait for the answers, put the interviews into WordPress, make social media posts about the interviews, and let them go.

Guess what—after that, I’m done.

Yes, done. Finished. Fini.

The series will soon be complete. Over.

It’s time to say, The End.

The series has been alive and well since early 2018, when I featured my first author (and friend), Traci Ison Schafer. Since then, my interview style has changed, the number of questions has expanded, author photos have been added—as have social media handles—and more. And I’ve enjoyed interacting with almost every author who has shown interest in being featured.

But I’ve dedicated a LOT of time to this literary citizenship endeavor, and with less time on my plate and more changes in my life (all will be revealed eventually), I’m choosing to close out the series at the end of the year.

Will I miss the research aspect of things? I sure will. Will I miss learning about new perspectives, cultures, and ways of thinking? Indeed. Will I miss being an active cheerleader folks? Again, yes. But back in 2021, I did the math, and it turns out that I spend around 105 minutes for every author interview. Depending on how many I have scheduled for the year, that’s a lot of time. And in this current political climate, I think my time and talents are needed elsewhere.

You’ll still be able to read my interviews over at Shelf Unbound, and so many other folks have fabulous interview series going. I encourage you to do a search and find them. One of the best, free things we can do for authors and other creatives is to read their work and share their names. Read an interview, and if you like it, tell a friend or two about it.

Image of The End by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.com.