Amanita,
I had similar story organization and structural issues, but a post on a site by "The Snowflake Guy" (Google it) really hit home,and using his approach -- which is basically growing an outline and writing down to deeper and deeper detail -- really worked for me. Give it a read -- the...
Mark Twain said, "Quittin's easy; I've done it a thousand times." Swap out 'quitting' for 'starting',and you have the Cliff Notes for my writing career.
I majored in English lit back in the 20th century fully intending to have an armful of novels published by this point, spent a decade in the...