Where I'm At, and Where I'm Gonna Be

Thank you all for the comforting messages. They do mean a lot.

I guess, if you're reading this, I owe you an explanation for what's happening. Basically, I have been stalled on SM4200 for quite a while now. Stalled for technical reasons.

The situation is this: chapter 13 is a turning point in the story, as you might guess. Quite a few plot-lines are intersecting; it's not unfair to say that chapter 13 is really where the whole story shifts direction. (As, indeed, I noted in the Author's Note way back in chapter 7.)

Trouble is getting those damn plotlines to intersect smoothly. ^_^ I have a particular scene I'm working on where six separate threads have to fit together—and I'm having a hell of a time tying them all in while keeping it natural. The sequencing just doesn't want to work. I've written and rewritten this thing five or six times now, but when I look at it objectively it's still all "wait a minute, this makes no sense… they wouldn't do that while this hasn't been taken care of yet, and why hasn't anyone brought this up yet&hellip?" In short, it doesn't hang together.

Sooner or later I'll solve the problem and then I expect progress to be quite fast, since the scene that follows is one that's been playing in my head for several years. But for now, I'm butting my head against a brick wall.

There won't be any progress for the next few weeks, either, because I'm going overseas. My brother is getting married in Munich, and I'm going to the wedding. I'll be away for three weeks, visiting Singapore, Germany, Austria and Italy…and finally meeting one or two people I've only swapped emails with up to now (hi, Helmut). The travel preparations have also not helped my writing speed, as you might guess.

Meanwhile, I'd give you a current word-count, but it'd be meaningless because the chapter file is filled with half-written bits of scene and failed notes to myself.

And that's where I'm at.