So, this realization suddenly hit me: I need to just call it for the month.
The short version of this announcement is: I am taking the rest of June off and Lakeside Cougars is definitely not coming out July 1st. More updates on July 1st. (Dead Freeze should be out soon, though, and I’ll do a proper post about that.)
Longer explanation: We already know the whole song and dance with my anxiety/depression. That being said, I knew at the beginning of the year that burnout was coming. I was just hoping that I was going to be able to get more done before it struck.
Unfortunately, it hit hard in the middle of writing Beneath the Ashes 3, and it had already been hitting before that, but at some point during production of that book, writing became like passing a kidney stone. Finishing a novel under these conditions is…taxing. Heavily. And doing so while also working on other projects can be worse.
I still have a lot to do this year, but my thoughts are like…smoke right now. I can’t hold onto anything for very long, creatively speaking. When I get like this, I usually have to face the fact that I need to just shut down for a while and let the dust settle and get my brain back into place.
I might work on something short, because I am a compulsive writer, but otherwise I’m going to vanish for a bit. (Except for when Dead Freeze comes out.)
Sorry, I imagine this is annoying by now. Actually, I imagine it’s well past annoying. But like Burt Gummer once said: I’m doing what I can with what I got.