I will go on a short writing break until August 13th.

Lately, I have some slight problems with sticking to my daily schedule, writing and otherwise. I still managed to release the updates for "The Sky is Gone: Acceptance" here and on Patreon on time, but for a couple days now, I notice that I have worsening time management problems. I sleep longer for no good reason, I start writing later and later and a task I had planned, cleaning my Cutie Mark Crusaders plushies for a "Ponies Around the World" trip that will happen soon, as well as cleaning my Derpy beanie plushie and my Peach Fuzz plushie, kept failing for a few days beyond the day I had initially planned it for, before I finally managed to get it done yesterday.

At first, I thought I am just getting undisciplined for an unknown reason and that I need to push harder to combat that. But it doesn't quite have the success it is supposed to have, it actually keeps getting worse, so the problem has to lie somewhere else. By now, I am convinced that I'm just suffering from mental fatigue and stress. This gets emphasized by short-term memory losses (don't ask me what I did Saturday, because I genuinely couldn't answer, I completely forgot what happened that day), problems to finish a thought in my head, thoughts that randomly trail off into other directions, randomly forgetting words while typing a sentence (this blog entry takes much longer to write than it should, because I have to pause and think several times) and the general feeling that I don't know where to start doing things. I don't really feel in control of my day anymore and I know when that happens, it's time for a break.

Yesterday, while I cleaned my pony plushies and just watched pony videos the entire time, I noticed how good that felt and it was like exactly what I needed. Already two weeks ago, I took a semi-break where I mixed writing, updating and then watching pony videos in the evening. But it wasn't enough. Yesterday, I wasn't writing, though, and I felt a positive effect by that. Just not enough yet, but it was going somewhere and improved my state of mind. So I will double down on that now.

I have two trips planned for tomorrow and Saturday. Just now, I was going to write and prepare updates for tomorrow, with the resolve to do the same on Friday and prepare updates for Saturday. But with my increasingly worsening condition, that makes it obvious I will need a proper break soon, and with the fact that I will not write on the days of these trips anyway, I have decided to take a break right now, with immediate effect. I could still push on for a few days, but then I would have to take a break next week, so I figured, since no writing will happen on Thursday and Saturday anyway, why not combining those trips with the break I need? That way, I will only need to skip one additional writing day, on Friday, not three or four next week.

So, long story short (this blog entry really seems way too long and I get the feeling I should be able to write it shorter, so I guess this also serves as a demonstration of my mental state right now), I will be recharging batteries starting effectively now and until throughout all of Saturday. Writing and updates for "The Sky is Gone: Acceptance" will resume on Sunday, hopefully with a clearer head and a calmer mind and without the current chaos in my head.
Until then.....

Stay easy as a filly!

~ Fluttercheer