Update (Not a chapter)

I haven't posted in a little over a month now and the most I've done is update the previous chapter's author notes. I felt it was better to post an update as to my status and the novel itself.

First I have not dropped the novel nor do I have any intentions to do so. Even in the worst-case scenario should my health decline I'll just openly post the entire story idea and hope someone picks it up and runs with it.

Last month my entire household came down with covid, it was a particularly miserable experience for me nearly reaching the point of a hospital visit. Thankfully that didn't happen and I have since recovered. However, the experience did not leave me in the best place mentally so I hadn't been in a place to sit down and write anything.

As I said though I have no intention to drop this novel and even in that state it has never left my mind for a day. Due to the excess time I had between being sick and the after-effects of it, I had a lot of time to plan the story and even read a few others and find better ways to implement my ideas and tell this story.

My original plans for the story included changing the MC entirely in the next arc to a completely different and new character. After reading feedback on stories that have followed a similar path and reading those stories myself. I've found that readers and even I don't entirely like that idea and feel that it is quite jarring. So I've decided against using that method to continue the story. Instead, I'll be exploring other means to continue the story as we move into the upcoming next phase.

So my concrete, my plans for this next week are as follows.

First, I'll be finishing up with my reading & research into how I plan to continue this story in the best possible way.

Second, as my plans for the continuation have now changed I'll be modifying aspects of the story already planned to pursue my newer plans.

Third, by next week at this time I'll hopefully be posting the next chapter it was already partially written by now needs editing.

Lastly, for those still here and even the new readers coming in still. I thank you for reading and hope that you all stick with the story and me.