As I have said before, I
would dearly love to pretend that I do not have a life outside of my
writing; but even my most eager attempts at self-delusion fail in the face of bitter and annoying reality.
And reality is currently exceptionally bitter and annoying: globally speaking, every month seems to bring a fresh wave of wickedness and disaster. It is hard to write when the world is on fire and the apocalypse looks disturbingly near. Personally speaking, for the past three years, and this year especially, I have been dealing with some foes that had lain hidden, dormant, or quietly grumbling, for many years, and which finally woke and required open confrontation and vanquishment; in addition, some massive changes and losses, including a few heartbreaks; and the effort of fighting all of these battles and coping with all of these tectonic shifts has left me emotionally exhausted.
Combined, all these things have pummelled my ability to write. — Or, at least, to write anything publishable. I am in a 'Winter of my creativity'.
It is not pleasant. Writers do not like to not be writing.
I had been hoping to publish two books this year. Instead, I have ended up doing a post-publication edit (yes, really!) of The Enemy Soulmate. Nonetheless, I will soon be preparing Raymond's Secret, the third book in the Raymond series, for publication in December; so I should manage to publish one book, and one is better than none. Writing The Enemy Soulmate proved that I cannot write to a deadline (and the fact that I am editing that book again, after publishing it, is simply further proof); so pushing myself to finish another book this year as planned would simply result in stress and a total lack of productivity. I must accept the Winter. I will not beat myself up for not publishing two books; I will not worry about it. I will simply focus on doing what I need to do in the other aspects of my life, so that when my creativity resurfaces I will have everything else under control and thus can make full use of it.
The world goes through phases, as do individuals. If this is a bad phase in world history, it will pass and we will all do our best to survive it. If the end of the world really is nigh, we will not survive it anyway, so panicking is pointless.
In the so-very-apt words of others: keep breathing. Keep calm, and carry on. Don't panic.
