As I wrote last week, for a time I got stuck on Chapter 24 of my sci-fi novel. I stared at it for a while, and it stared back at me, and eventually I just muscled through and wrote the rest of it.

But I didn’t like it.

This is one of the rare situations where I had to actually completely delete something I’d written. (I didn’t actually delete it; I put it in a separate folder. But it’s basically the same thing.) Then I went and re-outlined Chapter 24, trying to find a new way to bridge it to Chapter 25. When I finally rewrote Chapter 24, it became three full chapters, and I have another one (maybe one-and-a-half) to write before I can get back to my original outline and pick up with the actual Chapter 25.

At least I got the problem solved, even if I did so by making myself write almost four times as much as what I deleted.

Right now I have 26 total chapters written, which is about 83,000 words. I predict the book will come in right around 150,000, which is a chunk, and it may necessitate splitting it in two. I hate doing that, because it’s really just one story, but needs must. That said, when the original publisher of Shell Game split that book into two parts, it really pissed me off, and I ended up re-releasing it as one book, the way I originally intended the story to be. I’d rather not go through that with any other books. And, anyway, if other writers can put out doorstops, so can I. Just because it’s not romantasy doesn’t make it any less valid.

Boioioioioioioioioinggggggg…