The Outsider: Blog

Chapter 46 is about one-third written, and I think the third I've completed is good, but it will not be posted today. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I tend to be a creature of habit. Up until a couple of weeks ago my routine was nice and regular, repeating with a rhythm I'd become quite accustomed to.

That rhythm was changed when I was asked to help out with some recent openings in the schedule at work. I was the FNG for my first fourteen months but now I'm about to be one of the "more experienced" members there at my two-year anniversary, one who will be looked to as a resource for the newer members when they have questions. As an employee who is halfway up the seniority list in my department the expectation for me to step up and lead by example is increasing. Because of all of this, my schedule has been completely opposite my "norm" half the time.

What does this mean to you? Fear not, gentle reader, for I am still committed to this story and I will finish it. What this means in the near-term though is that I'm finding it hard to keep my brain focused on the story when I have time to write. My schedule will continue its chaotic gyrations for the foreseeable future.

My *plan* is to have Chapter 46 posted this weekend; that will depend on when Graybyrd is able to get to whatever I send him when I send it to him. Following this weekend, however, I will be gone on vacation (or "on holiday" for at least one of my readers) for a week. I hope to have time to write, because I do consider writing a way to relax; it's something "not work." If I am able to post 46, 47 will not post next week (8/12) but hopefully the week after.

I remain grateful to those of you who have been with me since I began posting in January, especially through the first draft of the story. I am no less grateful to those who have found this story somewhere along the way also. Thank you to all.

When I tried to repost Chapter 43 to correct a grammatical error, I inadvertently appended the corrected chapter to the original one, causing the chapter to repeat after the end of it.

I have submitted another repost of Chapter 43 to correct the error.

43 is safely in the hands of Graybyrd for editing; it will post as soon as he is able to return it and I have it ready for prime-time.

I resubmitted Chapter 41 today to correct an error a reader pointed out to me. Unfortunately, when that chapter posted the file was incorrectly processed and began repeating itself about one-third of the way in; it happens.

I checked the file as submitted and reuploaded it. It should repost later tonight.

As was evident with last Friday's posting delay, I no longer have chapters waiting to be posted in the queue while I write others; I have been operating on a just-in-time basis for a couple of weeks now.

Due to a computer error Chapter 41 is not ready to be posted tonight; when it does come back to me from Graybyrd it sounds like it will need more work, based on initial reports. At this point, I feel it would be prudent to go back to a Fridays-only posting schedule, rather than to push out immature and potentially disappointing work.

Again, I apologize to those of you following the story.