The good news is that I've been writing regularly, two to four days a week for the past month, with results varying from one to three or four pages a day. (With at least two different types of backups made for each file daily.)
The other good news is that the next omake chapter is reasonably close to completion. It's not a long chapter, but I only have one or two more scenes to write.
The bad news is that Chapter Seven is becoming too large. It's already over 32,000 words and I still have significant sections left to write. I might have to split it into one or more chapters. Again. (Seven and Eight, as currently laid out, were originally supposed to be a single chapter.) And the more I think about it, the more likely another chapter split becomes. At this rate, I'm never going to get them to Europe.
An anonymous (no reply) email pointed out that I've overlooked a category of characters -- comic strips, like Modesty Blaise or Li'l Abner. Some would fit in perfectly (esp ones like Modesty Blaise), and I am ashamed to have never even considered them. So, thank you anonymous! At this point, they might mainly show in the omake series.