It's time to face facts and 'fess up:  I'm not going to meet the goals I set back here.  While disappointed, I don't feel I've let myself down or relaxed on my commitment to write.  I've made some good progress, but life interfered in a lot of ways.  The new job has been excellent, but very physically intense, and the commute is a bear.  My older dog, Lexi, got very sick very suddenly.  She's on the mend now and with a long-term plan, but it swallowed a lot of my emotional energy.  My venerable Frankenlaptop decided to do a swan dive, which interfered with my writing because I'll to write in the evenings while chilling in front of the television.

Some of the delays have been directly writing related.  I got my proof for Scylla and Charybdis (!), which took priority.  I also decided to incorporate an element into the worldbuilding for my next project that requires some research, so now I'm down the blissful rabbit hole of learning new things.  I'm also feeling like I need to stretch my flash and poetry muscles a little, so I may take a pacing break for that.

I've always been the kind of person for whom deadlines are liberating, but I'm also the kind of person who stresses over them and beats herself up for falling short ... so I know when I need to let go of the deadline and let things happen in their own time.  I hope both novels (all three novels!) will be better for it.

It's time to face facts and 'fess up:  I'm addicted to alliteration.