This is not Monday; This is not a chapter.

I am really blocked. The next chapter should be simple: Drake recovers from their faint. Situation update. Back on the road.

Yet I've been staring at the same hundred odd words for the last three weeks and I've had nothing.

Then there's the siren call of Starfield. Even though my PC is way below spec, it can still run it enough to be largely playable.

If I'm not writing and not playing Starfield then Cutty has this huge snarl of multi-thread yarn that she needs untangled. It's really Gordian in nature; a loop of loops of loops, tied up in even more loops. Unfortunately I can't Alexander The Great my way through it, tempting though it is. Even as I write this I have the damned spread out across my lap, desk and keyboard, like some rather brain bending yarn jellyfish.

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My point being that I'd rather tackle the yarn than write the next scene.

I suspect that the problem originates from the last chapter going completely off plan. I'll admit that I wanted to find a wargame that could handle the fantasy elements and play through the battle on the bridge. But time put an end to that.

I did not want to have Drake be so angry, when they let their anger out, to literally break the System. That feels like a massive arse-pull. I wanted to challenge Drake's pacifism, not just tuck it away when convenient. I'm not sure I want to keep that chapter in that form in the finished story.

Did I mention that this is basically the first draft?

On the other hand it's a really fun scene to read, if you like pop culture references from a few years back.

It's a real "kill your darlings" chapter. I just can't decide which darling to kill.

Anyway. Enough of my ramblings. I'll update when the next chapter is done.

Just in case, I'll best say now that I plan to use November to get whatsits, ahead of myself. So there will be no updates for that month. Then hopefully lots of updates afterwards.