Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 46

Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far! I’m making up the updates for Tues/Thurs that I ended up skipping so I can stay on schedule — though I did sneak a peek at the times for the upcoming Phillies games on Mon/Wed and let me tell you — they’re in San Francisco and starting at 9. So I might end up doing some bonus updates just to stay away. Not committing to that, of course, but don’t be surprised if I pop up at 9:30 PM with updates, lol.

Glad you guys seem to enjoy the teens! I tend to write them a bit more realistically than the show does mostly because this is the age group I teach, and there’s no subject too serious that they can’t start messing with each other. Teenage boys tend to put on a mask and go with the flow most of the time, and don’t really let it all hang out for people to see if that makes sense.

I’m looking forward to expanding Dear Reader and really fleshing it out when it goes into edits — this was my first time writing a ton of these characters and this time period, so I was doing a lot of experimenting. When will that happen? Excellent question.

See you guys tomorrow — probably around a similar time, but maybe writing at 7, posting at 8.

Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 45

Apologies for missing yesterday. I’ve been decluttering my office and yesterday’s project stirred up dust which triggered my allergies which triggers my asthma–anyway. I’m actually decluttering this time, and not just moving things to new homes where they sit for a year until I declutter that space. I’m actually finding permanent homes for objects and discarding things I haven’t used in forever. I have a huge problem of just shoving loose books and papers and related objects into empty spaces on my shelves and desk.

And also sorry it’s so late today! I meant to do it this morning, then earlier this evening, but my sister is out of town with her family (scheduled forever ago before my aunt) and my dad’s with her, so Mom ended up not feeling up to my brother’s. I felt bad and wanted to take her ribs fresh from the grill and check up on her, so we’re late tonight 🙂

I’ll be back tomorrow and Sunday to make Flash updates so I can still finish this story on schedule 🙂 Happy Fourth!

Update: Dear Reader – Part 44

Recent Updates | Tortured Poets Collection: The Black Dog (Crimson Swift Summer Patreon Special)

Finally managed a day where I’m mostly on schedule, even if the Phils are working against me. Game was rained out last night, there’s a double header today, and we already lost the first game, so that’s how the day is going so far.

I have, unsurprisingly, not found a lot of time to work on These Small Hours which is wildly off schedule. I’d hoped to start digging into it this week, but I’ve had, unsurprisingly, things that are distracting me, and I’ve prioritized Flash Fiction & the work on Patreon to finish The Black Dog. I’m hoping to change that up this week and next, so cross your fingers that nothing else in my life goes catastrophically awry.

Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 43

Recent Updates | Tortured Poets Collection: The Black Dog (Crimson Swift Summer Patreon Special)

Apologies for the lack of updates yesterday. The last four days have been…well, they happened.

My aunt passed away on Saturday. Mom and I went to see her last week, and left Wednesday morning. Called her on the way home, told her I loved her, and she texted me back that she loved me, too. Told her I’d send her more kitten photos and stories about Lizzie the Menace. Her blood pressure crashed on Thursday, and she slipped into a coma. They put her on life support early Saturday morning, but told my uncle she’d never wake up. He made the difficult, but right, decision to let her go. She died at 11:48 A.M.

She’d been sick for a few months, in the hospital since March, and we knew it was bad — it was part of the reason Mom went down as soon as school ended for her, but she’s always been so tough, it just seemed like she’d find a way to bounce back. It’s hard for Mom, especially this time of year. We lost my grandmother in June 2006, my grandfather in July 1998, and my uncle (her brother) in September 1996, so she’s the last one left. We kept her busy on Saturday, thanks to my nieces, and I showed her how to find Gordon Ramsay related reruns on YouTube, so mindless TV is always good.

I usually distract myself with work and writing, so I don’t expect much interruption to my schedule. I’ll be heading back to Maryland at some point for services, so I’ll update the schedule as needed.

Yesterday it was unrelated to my aunt — Dad had the chimney guy coming out, and he was supposed to be here at 8:30, then didn’t show up until almost 1PM which just messed up the whole day, and by the time they all left, I was just exhausted, so I decided to skip. I plan to make it up on Thursday or Saturday.

I’ll see you guys tomorrow, though Flash will be later in the evening because the Phillies play early 🙂

 

Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 42
Tortured Poets Collection: The Black Dog (Crimson Swift Summer Patreon Special)

Running a bit late this morning! I forgot that I had scheduled my gas company to change the meter today (I did it months ago and forgot to write it down!) He showed up at 11:30, and then after doing a leak check to make sure it was done correctly, he told me my water heater isn’t ventilating correctly and needed to be shut off. He thinks there’s been a chimney collapse. So I had to deal with that, and wash my hair before the hot water was gone, so I was off schedule. I didn’t want to miss another start date for my Crimson Swift project, so I did a 25 min writing session and posted that a few hours ago.

Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 41

It has been a crazy busy week, but hopefully things are slowing down and I can get into a bit of a routine where I actually get work done! I’ll be back tomorrow, writing at 2PM and posting at 3PM.

On Monday with daily updates until Friday. I’m writing at 2PM and posting at 3PM on Mon, Tues & Thurs, then writing at 5PM and posting at 6PM on Tues & Fri.  We’re still scheduled to wrap up Dear Reader on July 10, and we’ll go straight into the next story, You’re Not Sorry, on Jul 10. I am very excited for that one — I’ve been working really hard behind the scenes to plot it out so it feels more developed and will be easier to write and edit. A description is included below 🙂

See you tomorrow!

---

YOU’RE NOT SORRY 
Single from Taylor Swift

Set September 2024. Federal agent John Cates is found shot and murdered on the Quartermaine estate as their Labor Day barbecue winds down. Though the party was well-attended, the shooting occurs down near the lake and there’s only a handful of people who hear the shot: Quartermaine scion, Michael Corinthos; the notorious prodigal criminal son, Jason Morgan; longtime friend and former girlfriend, Elizabeth Webber; and Jason’s two teenage sons, Jake and Danny.

Unfortunately for Jason, the case is immediately taken over by the local FBI office who know the history between Jason and the victim is contentious — and every single witness is connected to him with a reason to lie. He’s used to being a target of investigations, after all, his record is littered with arrests and the only conviction ever registered was a guilty plea he orchestrated himself.

But the killer has a plan to cover their tracks and to force Jason into taking the blame — by targeting Elizabeth and framing her for the crime. Can Jason and Elizabeth find them before anyone else gets hurt?

Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 40 | Patreon

Hello 🙂 I’m home from my short trip to see my aunt. She went into the hospital in March, and she’s been in a rehab center since May, recovering her ability to walk. With the school year and my mom’s knee, it’s the first time she’s been able to go see her so we stayed a few days to get plenty of visits in. We’re hoping she can come home at the end of July, so send good thoughts 🙂

I have a couple of adjustments to tomorrow’s schedule. I had the chance to pick up a few hours tomorrow at the school working hall duty, so I obviously jumped at it. I’m hoping to pick up 1 or 2 more of those shifts as we move through the summer to help pad out that summer budget. Here’s the schedule for the rest of June (after tonight):

• Thurs, Jun 26: Dear Reader, Part 41 @ 7 PM | Crimson Swift @ 1:30 PM (on Patreon) $1 Summer Special
• Fri, Jun 27: Dear Reader, Part 42 @ 3PM | Crimson Swift @ 12PM (on Patreon) $1 Summer Special
• Sat, Jun 28 & Sun, Jun 29: Malice @ 11 AM (on Patreon)
• Mon, Jun 30: Dear Reader, Part 43 @ 3PM | Crimson Swift @ 12PM (on Patreon) $1 Summer Special

Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 39

Summer Schedule on Google Docs | Patreon

Happy Friday! It has been a long week, but it’s finally over, and I feel ready to actually start my summer vacation. I’d been dreading getting my wisdom teeth out for ages, but it wasn’t terrible. Thanks to TMJ and the other weird chronic pain issues I’ve accumulated over the last few years, I live with a general level of pain anyway so adding onto it with some soreness in the jaw ended up being no problem. The worst problem is that my motrin would wear off in the middle of the night and sleeping got a little tricky. And I really missed eating real food! But I feel pretty good today which is why you’re getting that update 🙂

I’ve put together the preliminary schedule for this summer in a Google Doc along with times. I went through the Phillies schedule and already incorporated any changes to that 3PM posting on M-F, and added in any days I know I’ll be out of town. I found out I don’t have summer school which is great for writing and prepping for next year, but might be a bit tough on the budget, so I put together a perk for the $1 tier over at Patreon, hoping to encourage a few people to sign up at least for a few months 🙂

Here’s the schedule for the rest of June. For more info on each project, look below the schedule.

• Friday, June 20: Dear Reader, Part 39 @ 3PM
• Mon, Jun 23 & Tues, Jun 24: No posting. Going to Baltimore with my mother to see my aunt. She’s been in the hospital since March.
• Wed, Jun 25: Dear Reader, Part 40 @ 6PM
• Thurs, Jun 26:Dear Reader, Part 41 @ 2PM | Crimson Swift @ 12PM (on Patreon) $1 Summer Special
• Fri, Jun 27: Dear Reader, Part 42 @ 3PM | Crimson Swift @ 12PM (on Patreon) $1 Summer Special
• Sat, Jun 28 & Sun, Jun 29: Malice @ 11 AM (on Patreon)
• Mon, Jun 30: Dear Reader, Part 43 @ 3PM | Crimson Swift @ 12PM (on Patreon) $1 Summer Special

Dear Reader should conclude on or about July 9. I finally sat down to figure out the rest story on Wednesday, and it has (after today) 11 parts left. That might change if I don’t manage to write all the planned scenes in each update, but I’m usually a pretty decent predictor of what I can do in an hour. Once it’s complete, it’ll be collected into a PDF for the Patreon Flash Fiction collections. It’ll also go into edits to get ready since it’s our first “single” from the Midnights collection. I’m making a concentrated effort to plot out stories to fit into the Crimson Swift collection so we can finally see some movement!

On July 10, the first single in the Taylor Swift Debut collection, I’m Not Sorry, will be the next flash fiction series. I am very hyped about this one. Initially, it was just a vague idea to rewrite the Cates murder so that, you know, it had a resolution, and then I had a dream where it just clicked into place. Yesterday, I started plotting it out, and wrote 3500 words for just part of Act 1. I absolutely loooove this idea and am eager to write it.

Malice is the sequel to Bittersweet, my summer 2002 rewrite. It’s been lingering in the “next” list for ages, and I decided in February to launch a perk for the $10 tier where I’d write first drafts of long overdue novels (Feels Like Home, Broken Girl Book 2, Burns in Heaven, etc.). It proved to be a bit a struggle to maintain as we moved into the home stretch, but I’m excited to get back into it. There’s stuff already posted, and I’ll be working on it this summer pretty steadily, every Sat & Sun at 11 AM. I post whatever I write, whether it’s a chapter or just scenes. The first draft is then edited and released for free

Crimson Swift Summer Special is the new special $1 perk that I hope encourages a few more Patreons so I can make up some of the gap I’m losing in not teaching summer school. I’m writing curriculum this summer which will help, and I have a tuition reimbursement coming hopefully in the next paycheck, plus the conference in July will have a paycheck so I’m probably only down maybe 25-30% which isn’t terrible. So if I can make up even 5-10% that would be awesome. The plan is to write in 25-minute sessions on M-W-F at 12 PM and post whatever I write. They’ll be edited and released for free when they’re done. Up first is the majorly overdue TTPD: Black Dog collection! If you sign up for that $1 perk now you can read the first 15 pages. New updates start next Wednesday.

These Small Hours, Book 3 is not on that list mostly because I’m not officially scheduling posting. I’ll be dedicating at least 2 hours a day to it, M-F starting Monday (I can write hopefully when my mother goes to sleep, my girl passes out early, lol). It’s a shorter book and I’m planning to reuse a lot of material from the first draft, so hopefully there will be a turn around. Patreons at $15 tier get regular updates when chapters are completed, and $10 tiers get monthly updates.

 

Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 38

I mentioned last week that this week’s updates would be a bit off kilter because I’m supposed to get my wisdom teeth out tomorrow morning (Tues) and I know it’s incredibly unlikely I’ll be up to writing tomorrow. One of my students had it done earlier this year, and I checked in with her a lot — if my recovery schedule is anything like hers (let’s pray), I’ll probably be completely useless Tues/Wed, starting to feel better Thurs, almost sort of normal on Friday, and good to go by Monday.

Right now the plan is to update on Friday. I’m reserving the right to cancel that update if I don’t feel up to it. I’m starting daily updates next week, so you guys will just have to wait, lol. I find out on Wednesday if I have summer school, so the timing of next week’s updates will shift a bit. I do like the idea of 2PM writing, 3 PM posting just because 3PM is when GH airs for me, and I’d love to watch live more often this summer. It’s soooo good right now, and the recast Michael is just perfect. JJ left last week, and Liz is in spoilers again.

I know some of you guys are nervous about Kelly T coming back, but I’m choosing optimism. We don’t know if she’ll play Britt (Frank has a habit of just bringing people back as someone else), and we don’t know if they’d pair her with Jason. It’s just as likely that they’d pair her with Cody, who was brought on the show for her in the first place. Josh Kelly’s Cody is still hanging around, basically useless, lol. Everyone was super worried Jason would end up with Carly, and that never happened, so I’ve decided not to let myself get annoyed before I have to. There’s too much to celebrate. We have a sexy Michael who can actually act and command scenes, SAM IS DEADDDDDDD, Lucky is gone and they nailed the LL2 firmly shut this time, all the OLTL pets are gone, people hate each other and are slapping, just really good, lol.

Anyway, enough about the show 😛 I like the idea of writing while GH airs in other markets at 2PM EST, so I can stay spoiler free and watch on my own at 3PM (it still airs here in Philly at that time), so if I don’t have summer school, expect it to stay around that time period unless I have other things going on.

See you on Friday or next Monday!

Update Link: Dear Reader – Part 37

No Phillies game tonight, so I updated a little later 🙂 We have one more day until summer break! And I get to leave the building with the kids tomorrow, yay for me! So summer starts around 1PM for me. I have to head back for graduation, but this year they remembered to get a black graduation robe for me to wear as part of the faculty (it was a whole thing last year lol) which means I get to sit and relax during the ceremony instead of doing gate duty.

Only had 2 failures out of 104 kids, which is pretty awesome 😛 One of the kids indicated she’s signing up for summer school, but I don’t know if they’ll have the class for just one kid. I’ll find out Wednesday for sure, so I’ll let you know. It’ll definitely just be one session, so we’ll build our schedule around that.

I’m going to sit down and figure out how many updates are left for Dear Reader. If I start updating daily on June 23 (which is the plan right now), I would imagine I’d be done sometime in mid-July. I’m working out what’s next, and I have some interesting plans, so stay tuned 😛