January was a nightmare.
After my unhappy update I was doing sort of okay and then I went to like…a REALLY dark place and I have to say, if I had to live in that place all the time, or shit even like half the time, death really might not be that bad of an option.
It was pretty fucking awful.
But it passed, and it was sort of like riding out the absolute worst, last part of a storm before the storm passes and things calm down. After getting Lust & Adventure - Epilogue out, I took a bit of a break. During the break, I examined WTF was wrong with me.
My primary problem was burnout. I was just way, way, WAY too burned out. And it was causing another problem: I was essentially ‘soft-locked’ in my writing. I’ll try to explain what the hell that means.
In short, I really needed to get Raw II written and out, because Raw got so popular. But any time I went to work on Raw II, I felt guilty, because I had already promised to get A Warm Place 9 out, so I’d decide to go work on AWP9 for a bit to alleviate that. But then I would feel guilty because working on Raw II makes way more sense, and at the same time, I’ve taken WAY too long to produce the next Our Own Way. So I’d go to work on that, but then feel stupid and guilty because it’s like ‘What are you doing? Our Own Way makes like 1/10 of Raw or AWP why are you working on it right now?! Strike while the iron is hot dumbfuck.’ And so I’d go back to Raw II, but then feel guilty about not working on A Warm Place 9………
So can you see what I mean by soft-locked? I couldn’t make meaningful progress on fucking anything because everything made me guilty that I wasn’t working on everything else.
And all through December, and part of January, I basically kept trying to start back up writing at my usual pace with not only that going on, but also the burnout. Basically, I was trying to run on a broken leg.
So I just tried to relax for a bit. Which was not easy. I don’t really know how to turn off. I just sit around my house thinking ‘I should be writing I’m so fucking lazy’.
But I finally managed to break through, and started writing again regularly. Unfortunately, a large part of that is due to the fact that I severely reduced my wordcount for now.
I imagine the big question is: where are you at with the projects?
Well, here’s the facts.
Raw II is about 2/3 finished and I’m hoping to have it published within the next 1-2 weeks. Obviously I’m gunning for sooner, so possibly within the next week. We shall see. I don’t want to try and start ‘running’ again and then fall and rebreak my leg.
Our Own Way 6 is getting close. It should be out within the next week.
I’ve made very little progress on A Warm Place 9. I tried and I did get some done, but it’s perhaps 1/10 written as of right now. Another part of my sanity check was admitting to myself that SOMETHING had to give, and that something was A Warm Place 9.
So, here is the plan going forward.
Publish Our Own Way 6 ASAP.
Then publish Raw II ASAP after that.
I will then shift my primary focus to writing and publishing A Warm Place 9, thus completing the A Warm Place series, as quickly as I can. If we are very, very lucky, I might get this out before the end of February, but it will almost certainly be hitting early March.
While working on A Warm Place 9, I will also be making progress on Our Own Way 7.
After A Warm Place 9 and Our Own Way 7 are written and out, I will begin work on Raw III and Our Own Way 8.
Once Our Own Way 8 is out, that will mean that the series is complete, and I will release a complete collection, thus clearing my table of everything but Raw.
I will then just be working on Raw titles for a little while. I need some time where I just focus on one thing. I’m sure that will drive me slowly insane like when I was just focusing on A Warm Place but I guess that’s my life: oscillating back and forth between working on one project, getting bored and burned out, then working on too many projects and getting overwhelmed and burned out.
As for what I’ll be working on after all this mess? Almost certainly my idea that’s basically A Warm Place but in a sci-fi setting and more extreme. I still want to write about winter survival and a bleak sci-fi setting will give me more opportunities for crazier shit happening, I think. I’ve got a solid idea of the setting and the characters, and a very rough sketch of the overall plot so far.
Also, another thing. I redesigned my website, and am going to redesign my backmatter. Basically, it occurred to me that I really need to fully commit to the harem author thing. Part of that is choosing what to ‘push’, as it were, to people who come seeking me out. Consequently, I have adjusted the landing page to something more minimalistic and to the point, and (hopefully) a bit more visually appealing, and I’ve condensed my shared universes quite a bit. So if you noticed things looking different, that’s why.
Finally, one more thing. Here’s a quick list of the six shorts that I finally have gotten out. All 99 cents, all in the KU.
That’s all I got. Hopefully February is a month of stability.