The past two weeks, and the entire summer if I’m being completely honest, have been difficult. I’ve been ill with mysterious stomach issues, which have made being productive and happy difficult. While I’m confident this will get sorted out, my health isn’t the focus of this week’s update, the impact on my work, however, is pertinent.
The prequel to Fey Hearted, tentatively titled Human Fey, is in the works. If you’d asked me in July how long it would take to write, I would’ve told you two weeks for the first draft (20,000 words in two weeks means average 2,000 words for 10 work days which is well within my abilities when I’m healthy). Add another week to tidy it up before it went out to beta readers, then two weeks for the beta readers to get back to me. From there, anything from a day to a week of additional work to get it looking good before it could get scheduled for edits (the editing process has its own timeline). Basically, three to four weeks of heavy hands on work. Two of those weeks I’d be working on the beginnings of another project (Witch’s Path Book 6 in this case).
That hasn’t how things have gone. I first got sick back in June and it was all I could do to get A Witch’s Rite to the editor in anything remotely resembling a timely fashion. When A Witch’s Rite finally went to an editor, two weeks later than I’d initially intended (basically the time I was going to use to write Human Fey), I figured a week off to rejuvenate, rest, and read would do wonders. Then I would jump into Human Fey and knock it out in two weeks.
I was wrong.
When I’m sick I don’t feel creative. In fact, I often can’t create. I can’t picture worlds. I can’t see characters. I can’t do what writers do. All I can do is be sick.
All of this has been to get to one very simply point.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry because it feels like it’s taking forever to write a relatively short project. I’m sorry because I know you want books to read and I want to write them. I want to be more productive than I’m capable of right now. In June and early July, I could be tough. I could push through. These days I’m not feeling so tough. I’m tired, I’m worn out, and I’m sick.
It pains me to say I’m still working on Human Fey, but I’m proud of the work I’ve done. Right now I’m more than a quarter of the way through the first draft. For the 6th book of the Witch’s Path Series I’ve got the skeleton of a rough outline and an idea for the title.
If these updates sound repetitive, be patient with me. This isn’t the summer I wanted or the level of productivity I expect from myself. There are big plans for cool and awesome things. As soon as I’m back in fighting shape I’m going to attack all of them. Until then, slow is the expected pace and I’m sorry for that.
~N
