Avoidance??

This historical YA fiction is a challenge. Historical events must happen at specific times. They are wrapped in fictional events, those imagined in order to give my character the life I can't find in the history books. So i need to be sure I haven't included a character in an event when s/he has already been killed off. I have 28 chapters and I keep rearranging them.

I waste so much time flipping thru chapters looking to see if Sweeney is still alive in the current writing. Has Johnny been born, yet? When did Bridie marry Tim and how old was she?

I have notes of course. And notes about my notes. there are lots of scratching out old dates, ages and writing in new, which gets revised. What a mess! I date the notes and scratchings, but I cross out the dates when I change something and redate it. But still, it gets messy, and unreliable.

So, I've been learning Excel 2007. I am putting each chapter on the rows. The columns hold important info like chapter title & date. which characters are in that chapter, which have been killed off or had something significant happen to them. I include POV, # of words, # of pages, if I used an epitaph, the ages of important characters and a brief summary. When I'm finished, I will no linger have to flip thru unsightly notes or chapter pages.

My question: Is this writing or avoidance?