Virus Alert: Data Process Error (Not a story segment)

[WilloWisp]

There's good news and bad news.

The bad news is, I've been stymied by a combination of factors limiting my opportunities for writing, as well as a particularly annoying bout of writer's block - Annoying because the next segment ("Pickup Line" for those who have been following the episode guide) isn't even a very important episode in the larger scale of things. In fact, that's part of the problem: "Pickup Line" has only a few key plot elements, making it difficult for me to put in enough of a self-contained set of events to make it a story. As it stands right now, it's little more than a grocery list of arc checkpoints.

Even more annoying is the fact that "Pickup Line" was one of the first story sketches which triggered the writing avalanche leading to the larger Virus Alert. The original concept behind the episode used plot elements which are now obsolete, redundant, or incompatible with established events. Nevertheless, "Pickup Line" does have some important jobs to do, and I can't just skip over it.

The good news is, "Pickup Line" was also the last conceptual segment which predated the larger story arc: All other segments from this point forward are built off the arc-storyline foundation, and are meticulously planned to reinforce an internally consistent story world. On top of that, rather than do nothing while I wait for inspiration to strike or the logjam in my brain to clear, I've been working ahead, making sure that no future episodes will suffer from similar blockages. I may not have had many opportunities, but I am at least able to occasionally double-check my work and flesh out my story outlines.

So, to summarize: My creativity is temporarily constipated. I've been thinking less about cheese and more about fiber, to make sure it doesn't happen again. Virus Alert will continue soon.

There are some other members of this board with whom I had been privately communicating regarding the ongoing progress of the series. I want to take a moment to reassure those individuals that our correspondence has not in any way triggered this temporary delay. I promise all of you, the story hasn't stalled due to me waiting for feedback from someone else. The story stalled due to poor planning on my part. Don't worry, the show will go on.