Just had several major flashes of inspiration regarding SOTM. First, everything opened up about the scene I was struggling with in Ch. 15, and I blazed through it in just a few minutes, as well as a couple of other scenes. The main scene is very sexy, and one bit of it is a seed important to the greater plot, as well.

The other flashes are two important plot points from later in the story. These are things that have to happen to bring the story to a close, but the characters hadn’t yet told me how they were going to happen. The important people all dropped off memos in my mental mailbox today.

The reason the first is important is that it has 15 moving pretty quickly. As soon as I post this, I’ll be running right back into the chapter. The reason the other two flashes are important is that they were part of what was slowing me down. There are other major points that still need resolution, but these two were sticking points that were keeping me from putting the initial seeds of them in now, when they need to happen. A couple of other things resolved in my head over the last few weeks as well. The actual details of the story are starting to come together, even if I haven’t been writing much.

The way I write, I know where the story starts, and I know where it ends. I depend on the characters to fill in the blanks between. In a long story like SOTM, I usually know about several other important points, too. The breaking of Celes’ curse in Danica, for example. It was that very plot point that slowed me down at the end of Danica. Neither of those two lovely ladies were telling me how they were going to end up in the right place to make it happen. As soon as they did, the whole ending of Danica and the beginning of SOTM congealed with crystal clarity in my head.

It’s not a gurantee that I’ll be back to full speed on the story, but it’s sure as hell a good sign. I’m feeling more comfortable putting pen to paper right now than I have since my Babydoll passed on almost a year ago.

Cross your fingers for me.