I usually have been working on something for so long and have known the ending for so long that there is less a sense of sadness than you would think. Granted, I am sometimes sad to no longer be able to play with certain characters. Finishing the Wheel of Time and being able to write no more Mat, Perrin, or Rand–whom I’d been with for twenty years–was actually kind of a sad experience for me. But finishing Mistborn–where I’d put some of the characters through so much–when I got to the end I was like, “You can rest now. You’re done.” That was really nice and refreshing to be able to move on to something new. So, there’s always a little bit of regret, but there’s sometimes a greater measure of relief and excitement and freshness to be able to move on to something different.
