UPDATE 9/28: And that last little bit of vaguery has been solved! I have, at most, three more chapters and the epilogue, and then this draft is done! There’s a twitter hashtag I’ve come across #FinishUrBookFall which, I think, I might actually accomplish. I’ll be a month past my self-imposed deadline, but hey. It’s better than the six months of my last book.

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According to the book’s outline, I’m at the final…well, I wouldn’t call it a hurdle, per say. More like, the final point of vaguery. See, past me had left it as a problem for future me, entirely certain that interim me would figure it out, but interim me forgot to even think about it and was far more interested in the stuff that was happening right now. And when none of the versions of me were looking, the problem’s answers…grew, and now I have slightly too many options, but none of them feel quite right. I know what I need, I know the end result, but so far, every version either feels pointlessly complicated or far too simple, and both ways lack satisfaction. I need that elegant “OH” moment, and I haven’t quite worked it out.

So, instead, I’m editing a novella while things are left to marinate.

However, once that final point of vagueness is finally laid to rest, the rest of this book should move smoothly along to end, since I’ve had the end mapped out and outlined and pre-written for months and months and months.

Note to self: next book, do not write in the outline “and then the characters figure things out [make it epic]” and leave it at that. It’s almost as bad as “and then the characters escape from certain death [tbd later].