October skies...

I will be off work for nine days from the 16th of October. This falls in nicely with writing the beginning as a whole. Having written some good things, and fallen over a bit with others, I will be using this period to draw everything into a more recognisable passage. It looks like I've written about 8 chapters that link up well with each other.
Looking at my notes, I've surprised myself at the depth to which my early research went. And also surprised myself as to how far I still have to go with it all.
I feel I've taken too long to get this far. That's not to say I could have gone any quicker. Somehow, this story seems to need piecing together, as opposed to writing it out from one point to the next. It's been frustrating, not least that some of the scenes have been rather short on words and, therefore, size. I'm working on that. Maybe I need to be aware of my approach at any given point and to just keep reminding myself of the purpose of the current narrative in the context I'm writing it.
The flashbacks have gone well; there are still a couple more to do - but I know each can wait until a more essential moment. The flashback that is the key moment in the story has been written. It can be improved. But I don't need to do that just yet. Rather, I can use it to draw my thoughts together with regard to this story and decide whether I'm doing justice to the whole project - however many books this might entail (and I've no true idea whether it's 1 or 10, though I do have another book title which makes me think a bit harder that there may be at least 3!) Aah, trilogies! But lets not go there, for now...
I'm aware that I might fail. That I will probably fail. Statistically, the odds are not with me. But I'm writing the kind of story I know I would want to read. That one thought is what keeps me going.