Like A Twist of a Kaleidoscope

So I have recently restarted on the novel. I hit a huge snag in the spring of last year and put it on a shelf until i could figure out how to best deal with my plot issues. I let the boy read and give notes which helped open up a bunch of doors for me. I picked up where I left off in the story pretty easy after a few days.

And then I hit a wall.

What I came to realize is that I had this HUGE plot device, a high school play, that was becoming more of a burden than a help in the overall story. I just felt it was unfair to have ALL my main characters involved in the play production without being able to have parts of the play in the novel. This wasn't because the high school was doing some established play (Hello copywrite issues) but because the play was a original work for the school and something I felt, as the writer, I would have to explain.

And it was becoming so much of a headache that I was lost and losing ground on the story. But fortunately last night I had a 'lightbulb' moment and figured out how to replace the play with something equally useful as a device without having to scrap the whole story. What is even more interesting is that an old idea, one I threw away, has now been reintroduced in the story as an effective plot element and even led to a couple new stylistic choices.

I feel like with one flick of the wrist I have saved the whole novel and am eagerly rewritting and continuing with my story. It might even be good now!