REst and the writer

So, the announcement that Kin Rights is completed and only waiting for its laggard author to complete the "Cast of Characters" so it can get on the bus to the Baen Publishing Empire in North Carolina, has produced a . . . very strange surge of mail, which I shall answer here.

I happened to mention that, after Kin Right is sent on, I will be completing art, chores, and both necessary and pleasurable tasks that had been set aside to accommodate the finishing of this book, after which, I would be prepping for the next.

Now, without exception my correspondents are delighted to hear that there will be a next book, but I'm also urged to "take care of myself," which ideal seems to include not writing, as long as the bills are paid.

While I appreciate the out-pouring of concern for my well-being, there are some things here that need to be unpacked.  I'm pretty sure I've addressed all of these at one time or another, but I haven't, perhaps, put them all in one place, so!  Here we go.

First, and as clearly as I can:  There are two more books under contract after Kin Right.  In lay terms:  I have work, and the employment contract runs for a couple years yet.

Secondly, also as clearly as I can:  Writing pays the bills.  That includes the donations through Patreon and other places, which happen because I'm a writer, and people want to support the production of more stories, and not because I'm a widowed cat-lady.

Thirdly, this "rest" that my well-wishers want me to take, is not, in my world, a benign state.   I'm one of those people who have an adversarial relationship with their brain.  If I don't keep it busy, it turns on me, and that way lies depression and existential pain and a whole buncha very dark roads that I don't ever want to walk down.  This means that, even were I not under contract, I would still be writing, and not "resting," simply in order to ensure my own survival. 

Thank you all for your support and your concern.  I do appreciate your care.  Even Rookie appreciates your care.  Here, see:

And now I believe I will go make some oatmeal cookies.

Everybody stay well.