Hello Wall, Hello Wall, Hello Wall

I've been hitting a wall for about a week. I know I could move left and head straight down a hallway but I'm drawn to this wall. 

Hello wall, my old friend. (Anyone else singing Simon and Garfunkle? You can thank me later.)

The hallway is the "edit later" path. An excellent choice that leads to the next phase -- a vantage point showing me the big picture. Yet I'm stuck in my new novel banging my head on a solid obstruction because behind me ought to be a straight path. It's not. The deeper I go the more I can feel the path contort and deform because scenes need to be rearranged. 

But that's editing. 

Time to compromise and break out the ol' graph paper. 

1. charted the timeline of the novel and got stuck in the same spot (interesting)
2. outlined the same section and started drawing arrows. Nothing is moving easily. (odd)
3. designed a graph in my head this morning that I can't wait to do on paper. I'll focus purely on one thread in the novel and worry about the rest later. 

EUREKA. I think I figured out how to make notes of the crooked road behind me so I can shift left and carry on. 

Next step is to put my theory to the test. Oh - and write my editor and cry, "I'm stuck!" Without the exclamation point though. She hates exclamation points.