October 24 Update

First, we have some fun things!

• Check out the new fanart above, courtesy of genericname12345, commissioned from this artist. There's no context, but we see Ginasta, both versions of Robin, and Mithyn all enjoying some tentacles. The corners of an orgy room, perhaps?
• I posted another collection of new TLS art for $10 backers. Annikath has continued working hard and sometimes shows special previews or WIPs at her Patreon, if you'd like to check that out.

That aside, this was another week of work. =/ Not excessive work, but not a vacation either. While this is all self-inflicted in a sense, I think it's also time to examine my own tendencies seriously.

I like platformers and have a plan for one that I think is reasonably innovative, similar to Ouroboros, but it's not going to happen now. I could, but it would turn into another draw on my time. It also doesn't seem that I'm going to gain enormous motivation on one of the books or experimental projects, as much as I might like that. Inspiration moves in strange ways, and I'm sticking to what I said about not forcing things.

This week I had the idea that writing a few experimental short stories would be a good way to decompress, and hoped I'd write a whole set of them. Instead, I have finished one (1) short story. I wrote two others that are 70% finished or more and I'm just feeling burned out on those. Losing momentum on something so short feels silly, but for a number of reasons I'm not feeling it regardless of whether the original concepts have value.

My position is enormously fortunate, even before you compare it to people in truly difficult situations, but this sort of creative work does come with downsides. One is that there's no one to cover my shift at work, so to speak. I could ignore emails/notifications and vacation for a week, but it would just mean double the work when I got back. All of you will be patient and understanding, but in the long term people only see the release schedule.

If it's any reassurance, I did taking some time off this week. There is a very long list of games people have recommended to me and I was able to play some of them. I'm also probably going to go see Dune, conditions permitting. Hopefully after this weekend a few other things will ease off and leave me less drained overall.

The good news is that the longer I'm away from TLS the more time I spend thinking about the characters. While I think the final war update will be pretty intense for me, it should also be rewarding. Just not yet.