Sometimes My Head Wants to Explode

Some stories are visceral. You live them, you write them. Others are like math problems. You might have part of them as something you know from  having lived it, but to get that out, to make that important--as important as it ought to be--you have to back up and go through the physical events you were not part of to briefly explain how you got to the visceral, heart, part.
   One of those will show up in my local alternative as a cover a week from tomorrow. I lived part of the story: I got wet, walked in woods wondering if traps were set, crossed a creek or two after I took my shoes off. My camera froze. I didn't get a lot of time with the principals. But I lived a little of the time. But to explain why that little time was important, I was forced to go back several years in physical history to talk about how things came to be how they are. And that was liking eating a bucketful of ice: My brain froze at the idea of needing to look up quotes from more than 100 sources to cross check everything. My brain nearly exploded trying to figure out what was the best way to present the info--the way that would most likely keep readers reading rather than turning my story into fish wrap before they were done.
   I think I've done it. I've been on the case for a month, and history of the subject goes back a couple of years. But trying to piece it together in a new way, with new information, to go over the whole story with people who vaguely remember reading something about it 2-3 years ago, well that was the brain squeeze.
   So now I'm exhausted. The final six hours of today, after days of trying different approaches, seemed to make sense to me. Why didn't I see it before? I don't know. Just had too many facts going on in my head and had not weeded out those that were not the most pertinent--which led me down several wrong paths, which subsequently froze my brain.
   So now I think my story is good. I think next week you will all be in for a freaking treat. I think I've made the very difficult very easy to understand. All it took was about three years off the functioning of my brain.
   I love my job. Even when I hate it.