Greetings acolytes!

 

Sorry, sorry. I was rereading a Mercedes Lackey book and saw the add for her fan club. And yeah, excuse the brief moment of imagining I have one of those and needed something to call my fans. I blanked on how to start this post after I wrote the title. Mid-afternoon caffeine on an empty stomach. 

 

Ahem.

 

Since March, I've been striving to post chapters monthly for my story Predators: 2-14-9X

 

March saw chapter 1 (Imagine Magazine March 2018) GA thereafter) April 2 , May 3, June 4, and then, well...

 

Life.

 

We've all got one, and I don't think I need go on.

 

If that sounds like an excuse, (it does), let it slide, please. Things will go better for everybody. Hehe.

 

Believe me, I know the feeling upon reachING the end of a chapter or book. That craving for more. The  almost frustration that there's not more, NOW. Sure, nobody is posting comments on my work about it, nobody is emailing me about it. Doesn't matter. I am more bothered than anyone that I'm behind schedule. Nobody wants the rest of the story posted more than I do.

 

Which is exactly why the aberration.

 

Back in one of the original binge writing sessions I was blazing a trail through the jungle of creativity through chapter 4 with chapter 5 in sight. Everything was going so well a problem was inevitable. And the final scene of chapter 4 proved it be it.

 

I knew exactly what would happen. I had the vivid anime in my head. But it's one thing to watch an anime of TV. You're on the outside looking in. Suddenly zooming in on a character and hearing an f internal monologue isn't jarring. But suddenly trying that after 3 4/5 chapters of filtering everything from Aiden's point of view? *Buzzer* No. Fail. You shall not pass. *Stadium crowd boo*

And yet, without the author's benefit of seeing Peter's train of thought as the game goes on how was it to make sense? How do I smoothly relate something to the reader that the actual narrator in doesn't notice? How does Peter's behavior look specifically through the lens of Aiden? How does the carnival game? The lessons? The practice?

 

If you have read through Chapter 4.5, you know that I figured something out.

 

But back in the beginning, I was totally lost. Rather than kill all my momentum and become bogged down in the puzzle I simply roughed out a bullet list of what would happen with no point of view or context to it. I moved on. Chapter after chapter the story moved forward. I remembered the problem, came back to it. But I stayed stuck.

 

Life happened and writing slowed down. Time marched on and suddenly it was coming up on the deadline for chapter 4. I looked hard at pacing and word count. I missed my deadline, but I was making progress. I decided that Chapter 4 could end on a good place without the final scene. Polished it  Posted it. Escaped the pressure (of my own making) and got back to work.

Hard work, no small inspiration, and even one writing session at work on a slow day, and I finished the missing piece.

 

Yay! Awesome! *stadium crowd cheer*

 

When the typeface settled, it was long enough, good enough, to be a chapter by itself. But I wasn't willing to give up on the chapter number road map in my head or gloss over what happened.

And so, Chapter 4.5.

 

And now you know the .5 of it all.

 

(Incidentally, any editors like the story and willing to help out?  My listed editor is on hiatus. And the more I try to balance moving forward and cleaning up behind me with life, the further I'm falling behind.)

 

Thank you for reading.