On a related note, the outline is not the story.
When I start a new chapter of Too Much Love, I generally write a one or two sentence description of what I want to happen in each section before I start writing. Based on how long I expect each section to be, I usually plan for three or four sections and then add or subtract according to the length of the actual material and whether or not what I've written feels like a chapter yet. Chapters have run to as many as eight sections (cleaning up the odds and ends before Milan in 37 and the Seneschal's Ball in 54) and chapter 22 was a single section focused entirely on the game of strip poker played at the Loft the first time Nick leaves them alone.
Sometimes, I discover that I crammed way too much into the plan for a single chapter once I've started writing. I suspect this happens more often when I get close to parts of the story I've been looking forward to writing for years. That's probably what's been happening lately. Before I started writing the first chapter of Jester's Ransom, I plotted out what still needed to happen in TML before the two stories would line up and determined that it would be in chapter 69, scheduled to be released on September 10.
As of this writing, I've just finished the first draft of chapter 73 and Jesse is still missing. When I started writing this chapter, I expected the resolution of Jesse's kidnapping (which triggers the start of JR) to be in section one of chapter 74. Then I realized that section 73.1 should really be two sections and pushed the planned 73.4 to chapter 75 for thematic reasons. Then section 73.2 ran long - which considering it reintroduces four significant characters should have been obvious. So, it got split into two sections, the second half of which should now be the first section of chapter 74.
Then I wrote the second part of what had originally been 73.1 and was now 73.3 and it was much, much longer than I expected, but also gets some critical details into the story earlier than I'd expected to put them in. I decided to split the section again, the original 73.1 becoming 73.1, 73.3, and probably 74.2. What I expected to take ten pages should now ultimately take around forty. (Lordy, I hope it's only forty.)
That means that, in the current planning, Jesse's kidnapping is now scheduled to be resolved in section 74.4. But thematically, that doesn't really fit with the other three sections. That event sets a lot of other things into motion that should really be grouped together. So, I'll probably push it to section 75.1.
If I do, that means the first chapter of Jester's Ransom is now scheduled for October 8, almost a full month after I originally planned to release it - not because it's not done. It's in the can waiting to be released for proofreading. It's waiting that long because I want people to be able to read both stories as they come out without spoilering major in-story events far in advance.
On the plus side, finishing chapter 73 where I just did has advantages. My backlog is now a few days longer. I can start on chapter 74 of TML and chapter 2 of JR that much sooner. The storyline Simon is following will be better spaced and less rushed. And chapter 73 is now thematically much more solid, but still has room for the least pandemic-appropriate scene I could have written.
Chapter 71 should be out tomorrow and it's a big one. Prudence makes a decision. Max discovers a fresh appreciation for being seneschal. And Ainsley comes to a new understanding with Pilar.