Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 86 (wut)

Note: I pop into my free Patreon chats at least once a week to talk about scheduling and writing and I’m working on doing it more, so if you’re interested in more up to date news, sign up as a free member!

Hello 🙂 Very sorry I wasn’t able to get more than one weekday update last week. That’s not an indication that things weren’t going well — they were and I consistently got everything on lists done but it’s actually just how behind I was in everything, lol. BUT I am nearly caught up and if things keep going well this weekend, I’m on my way to being ahead of the game.

I should be able to start daily updates this week (I KNOW I’VE SAID THAT BEFORE TAKE A DRINK IF YOU’RE PLAYING AT HOME) but I mean it this time. I might miss Monday if I don’t get a chance to finish everything for French III tomorrow because I have to write an entire (short) chapter of content, but definitely starting Tuesday.

Teaching three subjects this year has REALLY kicked my ass, but after three years I’ve really learned a lot about what I need to get started in the school year and I’ve been doing a lot of reflective writing after lessons and units so I can do a better job of prepping and remembering the schedule (like my juniors spend half the spring in testing because this is a stupid world) AND it will be my third year writing curriculum, so I have a super firm idea of what I need to do BEFORE I start actually writing the curriculum. Every year is a learning opportunity to make me a better and more informed teacher, and as long as I look at it that way, it doesn’t become a torture chamber, lol.

Anyway, see you tomorrow — same time same place!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 85

I came so close to being able to update on Monday, but I really could only squeeze out about 30 minutes, so I figured it was safer to stay on my to-do schedule since Monday was always a wishlist 😛

I had a super productive weekend, and I was prepared to lose a little bit of that stamina going into the week, but then…for the last three school days, I’ve been able to do nearly every thing on my list, even the “if I have time” items which is lovely. Nothing even went wrong until about 1PM this afternoon when my curriculum supervisor was like HEY so can you redo your entire curriculum order ASAP which means TODAY so I didn’t get to the last item on the list today, but I’m taking it as a win.

I even cooked dinner at home every night since Saturday, and am heating up leftovers tonight, so seriously — so far things are good.

I’m going to finish this update, and work for  another hour or so before dinner. If I can get slides done for my classes before 6:30 tonight, there’s a small chance I can update again tomorrow night 😛 Cross your fingers for me!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 84

Yesterday was one of those rare days where everything, even the annoying tasks, got done. I fully prepped French I for almost the entire week (save slides on Thur/Fri) short of two minor items I can finish up tomorrow, and I even changed both litter pans, cooked dinner, AND did dishes. And this morning, I already washed my hair and did a load of laundry. Hoping the productivity keeps going, but I’m going to enjoy it while I got it 😛

See you (hopefully) tomorrow but if I miss a Mon update, look for me on Wed!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 83

I was really hoping to be updating way more often than this by now, but my school schedule just hasn’t happened. Up until last night, I wasn’t getting nearly enough done during the school day because the students were driving me insane, and then at night, my brain was just completely fried. I was behind literally the entire week, just barely managing to finish things and rushing others. Ugh. I hate March. I still feel off from the time change and the false spring. Just boo to all of it.

But I get a little break this week — my juniors are starting their worst part of the year — testing. They have their exams to qualify for graduation (they take them this year and if they don’t pass, have time in senior year to retake), and then state testing at the end of April and May. I have one class that’s just juniors for three days this week, I get an extra prep period. That’s going to make it so much easier to keep up with grading and prepping the rest of the day. And it also gives me extra time to finish some materials for my French III class which is the hardest to prep since it doesn’t exist yet.

I think I should be able to start daily-ish updates this week. I’m shooting for M/W/F this week in addition to Sat/Sun.

I’ll see you tomorrow around this same time (noon EST)

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 82

So I caught another cold last weekend and used one of my precious few remaining sick days on Monday. I haven’t had a full week of school since January 5 thanks to snow days, illnesses, and half days. I can’t believe how close we are to the fourth marking period.

I’m just completely overwhelmed with everything at work, and I don’t really know what happened other than not being able to be super productive at work or on the weekends this week. The kids were absolutely driving me insane this week and I was just completely dead by the time I got home, it was awful. Honestly just incredibly burnt out.

And of course, this was the week of NJ History Day at Rutgers– which I agreed to judge back in December before I got pneumonia, thinking March is so far away — I’m sure I’ll have it all figured out by then — and now, here we are. Just insane.

So we’re limping towards the end of the year, what else is new?

Hoping to update tomorrow around 4 or 5 depending on what time I get back from the competition. Luckily, the campus is just ten minutes or so away 😛

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 81

Apologies for not getting to the second weekday update I’d hoped to add this week. Wednesday was probably the best day energy wise for it, but the snow day through off my entire instructional flow. I was supposed to grade quizzes that day, and with the half day on Tuesday, I never got to it — so I had to drag them home on Wednesday. But they got done, and they got done right. Sometimes I rush just to finish, and that’s not good for me or the kids.

But I did manage an extra update, so that’s good. My goal is to get to 2-3 weekday updates by the end of the month, but it’s just so hard. I’m physically tired when I get home, but mentally, I’m still moving — but if I sit down or I stop “thinking” my energy just crashes, so if I’m not home right after school and can get to my office by 4 or 4:30, it’s just that much harder to talk myself into writing at 5. But maybe that will shift  as we get into warmer months.

Tomorrow’s update will come at the more normal 12 pm posting time — I just had someone coming to the house at noon, so a morning writing session didn’t work out.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 80

I didn’t manage my snow day update as promised because I had to shovel and, honestly, it’s like childbirth — you repress just how awful it is; otherwise, everyone would go live in Florida or something. I was really tired, and the timing never seemed to work out. We had a two hour delay, and if the universe is benevolent, that will be the end of the winter season. But who knows anymore.  We got around 15ish inches (NWS didn’t get any snow totals from us but some of our immediate neighboring towns got that much).

I did make good use of my time working on the plot sketch for You’re Not Sorry and I sort of have an ending in sight. In my original outline, I had a timeline in my head where an event that’s coming up around Part 91 would have been at Part 20 (lol) and would have been the midpoint. But we lost sight of that outline sometime in August (I think Part 11 is where it started to go off the plan) and that’s mostly because I was doing more legal research for Elizabeth as a federal case, so I got some ideas.

One of my favorite things to do is watch trials — in another life, I wanted to be a prosecutor like Jack McCoy, and something I was watching made me think about jurisdiction, and the next thing I knew, Molly was marching around trying to do interesting things, and well — and THEN Danny and Rocco were talking about a party and YOU GUYS wanted to know what would happen, so honestly — it’s sort of your fault because once I dug into the custody stuff I was like this would be a great way to work back around to Kristina, which it is, but it also changed my mind for how Sam would work in this story  — anyway — I let the story go where it wanted to go and now here we are.

The good news is that structurally, I sort of backed myself into a really well organized story. Act 1 is 13 parts and around 40k. Act 2, Part 1 is 81k across 30 parts and Act 2, Part 2 is around 81k and 32 parts which is perfect actually.  Act 2 neatly splits into pieces — each piece is 2x as long as Act 1 which makes sense. Act 1 — you set up your world and it ends when Kristina puts the frame in motion and Liz is arrested. Act 2, Part 1 complicates things — Liz’s arrest brings everything into chaos which ends up affecting the custody battle; Act 2, Part 2 has the protagonist (Kristina) looking at the situation with new eyes — she now sees Liz as an enemy to Sam, not just a pawn to get Jason to confess; and then Act 3 sees — well ha. That’s the part left to write. I started Act 3 with the Monday, Sep 30 updates.

I’ve outlined updates through Part 91 which, if I keep the Wed/Thur/Sat/Sun,we’ll be in mid March by then and I’m hoping I’ll able to ready to go into daily updates until the story is done. I’ll definitely know by then how many parts I’m going to need.

See you tomorrow 🙂

 

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 79

So for the first time in history, all 21 counties in New Jersey are under a blizzard warning.

I AM VERY TIRED OF LIVING THROUGH HISTORICAL MOMENTS I WOULD LIKE BORING BACK

Also, I find it hysterical my district hasn’t closed yet for tomorrow, but then again Philly closed and is like “we’ll have virtual learning” MA’AM — they’re talking about a BLIZZARD and POWER OUTAGES NO ONE IS SIGNING ON TO ZOOM SCHOOL–

anyway.

If we’re out tomorrow (lol) AND I have power, I’ll update every day we’re out. Because sometimes has to get done this week.

Update: You’re Not Sorry – Part 78

Welp, we’re under a winter storm advisory for a storm that’s from Sunday into Monday morning with anywhere from 6-18 inches of heart attack snow, depending on who you talk to. We had two snow days built into the schedule, and we used that for last month’s storm (btw that snow only started to melt last week and there is STILL snow piles around town from where it was frozen solid). They told us this week that any more days would be taken from spring break. We’re in the minority of districts where we still get a full week off — we have a half day Thursday, off Friday, and then we don’t come back until the following Monday. It’s glorious and I love it. But we’re too Catholic in this town to come in on Good Friday, so that full week is on the chopping block.

I am still praying for rain.

Anyway 😛 Kicking off our new schedule with updates today and tomorrow. If work is closed on Monday, probably an update then. But then I’ll be back Wed/Thur for our weekly updates 🙂

Recent Updates & Flash Fiction

Just a quick pop-in to let you know the new temporary schedule — at least for a little while. Also — I removed Foolish Games from the Flash Fiction page — it’s going to be the next series, but it needs work.

And I also updated the Recent Updates page — which hadn’t been touched since November and Part 46. Very sorry, lol. I got behind and then pneumonia hit and I went into survival mode. We’re good now 😛

I’m going to be focusing on You’re Not Sorry, which is coming at a good time because I made a tweak to the pacing, and it’s coming together really well. I’ve already plotted out like the next five parts in detail and big chunks of what comes after, so obviously my brain just wanted the go-ahead to make it a focus.

But we need to ramp up to daily updates, so I’m starting with updates on Wed/Thur/Sat/Sun updates, and then once baseball season starts, we’ll rework the schedule. I want to be up to 5-6 updates a week unil Not Sorry is done.

So I will see you on Satuday 🙂