sorry I haven't been around, I got a temporary life
I kind of feel like that, too, on the regular, and I'm 99% sure Devon does as well.
I do also think the slowness is like a cumulative thing, a big part of the problem being definitely like you said, which then makes everything else slower, which then makes everything feel awful (including feeling terrible about yourself and the characters you have, like why do I bother if I can't get this done???). Which I'm pretty sure just needs to just be pushed through, or agreed to be put down so that everything can move on and flourish without the dead weight. Anyway so yes basically I think that's normal, and I think it would help if we were better at recognizing and expressing it? Because I'm sure everyone would be very supportive. But also, I think this sort of acceptance that like, if you get a tag or someone puts a thread up for you, you can just be like 'I'll tag that tomorrow' is getting kind of out of hand. I realize we have a 'if this hasn't been tagged in two weeks, it should be closed' rule, but three days should really be the maximum wait time on anything, and if that's consistent then everyone's approach to this thread/plot/their character/the relationship as it is/anything that could be contributing and changed, that should be reevaluated.
That might be something to just keep in mind, though, and not fix everyone that's been obviously feeling apathetic, because like you said if everyone is feeling quite miserable about their characters, then maybe it's time for a whole change of the status quo. I'm not sure if that's a 'shut down and restart a different game' or just hash out acceptable venues to reboot characters, or change one fundamental game dynamic... I mean this is all mod stuff so I don't want to make a sweeping statement, but if there's a lot of agreement on this front maybe we should talk with Ash.