Yesterday I was thinking about the swordfighting ms, about the beginning parts I'm okay with, and the beginning bits where I'm not interested. I started thinking about blipping over the bits I'm not interested in, and then I realized I was interested in most of them, except this one scene and getting to that one scene and then leaving that one scene. And I thought, wait a minute, does that scene even need to be there? And suddenly I couldn't think why it was there.

Today I still can't figure out why it's there. I haven't pulled up the ms, but I know I worked that scene in to show/establish a certain thing--but surely that thing could be shown/established elsewhere, because it's sort of everywhere in the world of the story. I probably even touched on it in other places already.

It's hard to believe I could have spent so much time writing something that wasn't necessary, after several go-rounds of trying to cut out all unnecessary stuff. After deliberately focusing on not writing the unnecessary! I keep thinking that I'll suddenly remember another reason why I had it in there. But at the moment, it looks like another misguided case of toiling away at something I think the reader needs to know for the plot to be set up, rather than letting the story guide itself. At the moment, I can already feel the relief at knowing it's gone, even though I haven't cut it yet. I'm thinking it's no coincidence that I lost some of my direction immediately after that scene, and felt a little lost.

This book is going to take forever. For. Ev. Er.