Of Facing the Facts and Forced Vacations

Okay. So. I'm going to preface this by saying that this is a post that I had really hoped to avoid writing.

Like, ever.

But I feel it's something that I finally need to explain, if only because I need to take some of the pressure off of myself where this third book in the Variant Series is concerned. (And also, to an extent, because I feel like I owe you an explanation as to why my projected timelines keep getting stretched further and further into the future.)

Not to worry, book three will still be released in early 2015, come hell or high water (or hospital visits, but we'll get to that part in a moment). It's far enough along that—baring some pretty serious extenuating circumstances that I should be able to avoid—it will be ready for publication relatively soon.

I just need y'all to understand what's happening with me, and I need to finally explain why it takes me so dang long to get my books out to you.

The self-publishing world is pretty fast-paced. At times, the process of traditional publishing seems to move at a snail's pace in comparison.

That's part of the beauty of it. Self-published authors are able to speed things up exponentially, just by virtue of being the sole authority on their writing and publishing process. They can provide their readers with new material almost as fast as they can write and polish it. There are indie authors out there who manage to publish multiple books (sometimes an unbelievable number of them) in a single year.

You guys have probably noticed by now—I am not that kind of indie author.

I just can't write my novels that quickly. And in a market that often expects two or more new titles a year from self-pubs.... Well, it can put a lot of pressure on a writer to live up to that standard.

For the past three years, I have tried and failed to live up to that particular expectation. And it's probably time I explained why.

Like I said at the outset, this is not something I originally wanted to tell you about.

I'm a relatively private person, and this is a topic that I usually avoid talking about whenever possible. It's an issue I deal with daily, but that I try very hard not to let others know about. Mostly because there's very little to be gained by talking about it. It is what it is, and everyday I do my best to deal with it and live my life like it isn't much of an issue.

Most days, I succeed. Some days... not so much.

At times in the past, I've mentioned that my health really isn't the best. If you follow me on Twitter, you've likely noticed a tweet or two referencing this fact.

For the last two years, I've been receiving an IV treatment once every eight weeks to help control an autoimmune disease. (I actually need to receive this treatment at least once every four-to-six weeks, but the insurance company refuses to pay for it to be administered any more often than every eight—and at roughly $2,500 per dose, I'm kind of at their mercy, here. {Really. You gotta love the American health care system.})

For the most part, this treatment program has been successful at keeping me feeling pretty good (if not particularly great) and has kept me out of the hospital for nearly two years.

Unfortunately, the last two treatments I received haven't worked as well as they usually do and it's resulted in a pretty major relapse and the return of some of my worst symptoms. When you add in a run of bad luck and a few personal losses that have caused my anxiety issues to soar to new heights (lows?), and the fact that this particular disease (like most chronic illnesses) is made exponentially worse by heightened stress-levels....

Um... Well... Yeah. I'm kind of in a not-so-good way, at the moment.

I'm currently eight days away from my next treatment and in an attempt to ensure that I make it to that next dose without being admitted to the hospital, I'm going to be taking a short vacation.

A vacation from basically everything, except for sleep, books, and a nonstop marathon of the best movies and TV shows Netflix has to offer.**

I need to take it easy for a bit. And I hope you can understand and forgive me, but that means that all things book-three related are going to be placed on the back burner until I can get my health back in working order.

I could have waited to admit to all this until early next year... And, heck, if everything goes the way I'm hoping it will—and I bounce back from this quickly enough to remain on schedule—I might not have needed to say anything at all.

But the truth is, I needed to finally come to terms with the fact that my health will always be a factor in the speed at which I'm able to publish my novels. And with all the love and support you guys have shown me over the past few years, I felt like I owed you some sort of explanation as to why I keep making you wait such a long time in between books. (Especially after that rather cruel cliffhanger I left you dangling from at the end of Resistance... Seriously, y'all. It's killing me not to just break down and spill my guts here on the blog about what happens next, just so I can put an end to the suspense!)

Thanks again for all the love you've shown me lately. You guys totally rock. ♥

I'll see you all again in the new year!

**And if you have any recommendations of your own Netflix faves, or of books that I absolutely have to read, send them my way! I'll adore you for them. Okay, I'll probably adore you, anyway, but if you help me find some fun distractions during the next few weeks, you're likely to be upgraded to Hero status. :)