Update Link: Begin With Chapter 9

Please don’t forget to leave a quick comment or thumbs up after reading a chapter. I’d love to know what you guys think of the story so far, especially after this group of chapters.

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Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 15

Happy Sunday! Happy to put November behind me and look forward to a new month and ultimately a new year. Working on some routine changes in my work life that will reduce some stress and exhaustion that drain me of the kind of energy I need to write.

The goal for December is to get back into the regular weekly Flash Fiction updates. It’s been a huge struggle since the school year started, and I know I’ve said this before, but I think we are sort of turning the corner now for real. I’m starting my third rotation of 7th & 8th grade students. I’ll miss my 8th graders, but my 7th graders were really challenging and left me drained by the end of the day. I also finally finished writing the basic program for my 8th graders and some important tweaks that will take some serious weight off my shoulders going forward.

Most of the pressure has come from needing to create two new units from scratch. If you’re interested in what I mean by that, I’ll link to a PDF of some of the units I’ve written. Every single piece of it was designed and written by me — and I also had to create the YT channel and playlist with all the audio/videos, instructional materials including slides and Google Classrooms, Blookets, Quizlets, etc. It’s a huge amount of work that just doesn’t get done during the 40 minutes of prep we get each day.  And these are just the two units I’ve perfected after teaching them a lot of times (Unit 0 I’ve taught 28 times and Unit 1 14). I’m still tweaking the new units, but it’s a lot better now.

Anyway, I’m working on getting into better and healthier routines. Flash Fiction is back and will be updated every week. Hope you enjoy and remember to come back tomorrow for the next update for Counting Stars.

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Update Link: Begin with Chapter 5

Hello! Chapters 5-8 have been posted! Please remember, if you read the alpha draft, this final draft is VASTLY different — the OG draft had around 96k and this one has 134k. I added a lot and rearranged pieces, too. There are also minor edits between the beta draft and this one.

Apologies for skipping out on Flash Fiction this weekend. I’ve been struggling with some migraines from TMJ, and my neck and back were really making it difficult to sit for long periods of time. I’m supposed to be starting the treatment (finally!) for my neck and back this week, which is also supposed to alleviate some of the TMJ issues. Basically, one of my discs in my neck is compressive nerves in the same area which is inflaming my TMJ and causing the tinnitus in my right ear. The doctor doesn’t know if we can fully resolve it, but he’s hopeful that I’ll get some relief.

Anyway, it’s just messing with my creative energy, so I tried to concentrate where I could by finishing the edits on Counting Stars. That’s been completely edited, and I’ll be able to finish scheduling all the chapters.

I’m probably going to miss my NaNoWriMo goal which is a shame because I came really close all month to getting caught up, but the medical issues held me back. No worries. I go a decent chunk of the first Act done, and I can live with that.

See you later this week!

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Update Link: Chapter 1

The first four chapters of Counting Stars is online! EEK! So excited for you to finally read this absolutely insane story I’ve been struggling with since 2018. This was the first project I did deep dive for when I relaunched my Patreon last year, and I really only started playing with it for fun. I never imagined that almost a year later, I’d be publishing it! I’ll be updating every Monday — four chapters at time, so you can read at your own pace and not worry about checking the site every day.

I’ve linked you to Chapter 1 but take a quick look at the Timeline if you’re not familiar with January 2000.

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Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 14

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I actually got a pretty decent amount done, considering how I got started with an asthma attack and then waking up with a migraine. My niece turned 12, which is deeply disturbing. Who told her she was allowed to grow up?

NaNoWriMo & Kismet

I broke 30k for NaNoWriMo — I’m still behind the pacing that NaNo suggests, but if I can manage 2k a day for the next 10 days, we’ll meet the goal of 50k. That would be great, honestly, but I’m just happy I have six chapters of a novel I don’t want to throw out, lol. My history with NaNo outside of July is, uh, troublesome.

• 2018 – Counting Stars. Failed. Trashed entire draft and completely rewrote in 2022
• 2019 – For the Broken Girl: Failed. Trashed entire daft and complete rewrote in 2020.
• 2020 – Fool Me Twice, Book 1: Won! Wrote 50k and finished first draft two weeks later, but I didn’t start it fresh on November 1, so it’s a half win, lol. Still 😛
• 2021 – Smoke & Mirrors: Failed. Trashed draft. Still haven’t rewritten

The six chapters I’ve finished are solid and will definitely be in the draft.  My personal goal for November is to complete Act 1, which is 13 chapters. I’d need to write one chapter a day or so for the next week.

I don’t know yet how long Kismet will be. I have Act 1 completely broken down, but I wanted to explore the story universe before I broke down Acts 2 and 3. I know the big events and some of the small moments, but I hope to throw some time at the plot sketch on Thanksgiving Break.

Counting Stars

We’re actually here! The first four chapters are being posted tomorrow at 7 AM. I’ll be posting four chapters every single Monday until sometime in January. I’m experimenting with this release schedule so that you don’t have to check the site every other day, and you can read that week’s updates at your own pace.

I worked really hard on this story, and it’s definitely outside my usual timeline — I’ve mostly played in the 2002-06 timeline since I came back to writing in 2014. I really hope you guys leave some reviews or thumbs up if you enjoy the chapters.

Flash Fiction

I’m really hoping to add in the Friday update this coming week so we can finish up Invisible Strings, but I’m not promising anything just yet. I have to update my posting schedule. I spent some time today working on the plot sketch for Watch Me Burn, so I’m happy to be back in the flow of updating.

See you guys tomorrow! (I’m so glad I’m starting to post Counting Stars tomorrow!)

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Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 13

Hope everyone had a good weekend! I know I said I’d planned to relaunch a Friday night update for Flash Fiction this weekend, but I ended up writing around 6k for Kismet that day, and was a bit burnt out. I had fallen behind in the NaNoWriMo count because the Counting Stars Beta Draft took longer than expected to complete (five weeks longer, whoops). I’m just about caught up now — four chapters and 20k completed.

Counting Stars is scheduled for release starting next Monday, November 21 *crosses fingers* I’ll be starting the promotional stuff this week — adding the banners and finishing the subsite. It’s up — I just need to fill out the rest of the pages. Really excited for you guys to start reading this novel. The edits I ended up making were worth the extra time:)

I forgot to post the Spotlight update last week, so including it below. Hope you guys are enjoying rereading Bittersweet for those that are reading along.

Novel: Bittersweet (Set 2002; Written 2016-18)

I chose Bittersweet for November for a few reasons. One, I honestly love it, and I’m really proud of how it turned out. I discovered a lot about my writing process while working on it. Bittersweet was also the final project that Cora and I worked on together. Cora was my beta reader for this novel as well as The Best Thing, and a lot of the story beats and themes were improved upon due to her guidance. I also have a sequel in the works for Bittersweet that I nearly chose this time around, and I thought it might be fun to reacquaint you all with the first story.

• November 3: Chapter 1 – Chapter 7: I wrote several different openings for Bittersweet, really struggling with the tone I wanted to set for the Jason/Elizabeth relationship. I’ve posted all the novel’s deleted and unused material on the Workshop. I very much wanted to establish the universe and the characters in this first section of the story, particularly the friendship between Elizabeth, Gia, and Courtney. I also spent a lot of time filling out the mob storyline, figuring out how to make that storyline pop. I love the early Zander material with Nico and Lenny. Some of my favorite mob stuff. I’m most proud of my Jason/AJ scenes and forcing them both to look at each other in a new light.
• November 9: Chapter 8 – Chapter 14: Chapter 8’s bar fight had a Liason moment that was in my head almost from the moment I began thinking about this story back in 2014. It’s one of my favorite scenes I’ve written for them. And the final scene in Chapter 8 used to open the story, but I moved it to trick readers into thinking they were reading one kind of story, and then delivering a second one.  This chunk of chapters is the important character stuff with Jason and AJ, and developing the Liason relationship before the story takes the twist. Gia’s dialogue in Chapter 14 at the end has one of my favorite lines, I’m only sorry I got to write it once.

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Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 12

Hope everyone had a good weekend 🙂 My beloved Phillies fell to the Astros in Game 6 last night which was a heartbreak but an absolutely wild ride. I’m looking forward to next season (and to less anxiety during the week, lol). Of course, the Union also lost, but the World Cup is coming.

Counting Stars

• I completed the beta draft of Counting Stars today, which was a huge surprise to me after Act 2 took like six weeks, lol.
• I got some great editing time in during lunch breaks this week, so Act 3 just flowed.
• It’s posted at Patreon for the $7 and above tier, and you can grab it here on CG for a single purchase if you’re not a Patreon.
• I have one more round of edits to complete — looking for typos and last minute edits. I’ll be downloading the PDF and marking that up this week.
• Dates
  • November 7-9: Mark up beta draft.
  • November 10-13: Make edits for the posting draft.
  • November 14-20: Finish website and schedule chapters
  • November 21: Release Date. 4 Chapters every Monday for nine weeks, taking us through January.
• I may push release back another week if the posting draft takes longer to finish. We’ll see.

Kismet

• I started strong on this, but took a break to get Counting Stars done.
• I had a small cold this weekend so I didn’t get back to it.
• Tomorrow we start strong and get our word count back on track.

Flash Fiction

• I’ll be back on track starting this November.
• Friday Flash will be back with Invisible Strings at 8 PM, and Watch Me Burn will be more regular on Sundays.

See you later this week!

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Update: Spotlight

I’m a bit late on the spotlight update, sorry! But updating with the World Series on in the background (my Phillies are giving me anxiety and I need some distractions). I’ve got some spotlight updates and some general writing updates for you.

Continue reading →

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I honestly feel cursed.

On the three day weekend, I got nailed with a nasty head cold that lingered for over a week, and then I lost my voice. I thought it was due to cheering during the postseason games while being sick, but of course not, nope. Over the last week, I started to feel worse, and it was harder to get out of bed.  I have strep throat. Naturally.

Ever since that weekend when I first got sick, it’s been a struggle to get back on track. My brain just can’t quite concentrate on the writing for long periods of time. I’ve written a bit, but not much and most of what I write, I have to delete and restart. Feels like most of October has been a loss.

I don’t know if it’s because I never really get a lot of recovery time when I’m sick during the school year. I remember working in my office job with a cold and managing just fine, but teaching — man.  I’d go home each day feeling worse than at the start of the day. It felt like running in place and never getting anywhere.

Not to mention, my TMJ doctor took me off the meds that were working, put me on new ones that do not work, and I’ve been playing phone tag with the office for the follow-up appointment, so the headaches are back.

I quit.

Anyway, it’s obvious that Counting Stars won’t be out next week. I’m taking some time to give myself a break today. I slept until 9:00 AM, and I’m gonna do the mountain of laundry that’s stacked up. I’m going to write. I’m just not going to promise anything for a week or two until I’m feeling better.

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Link: Spotlight

In case you missed it, last week I launched a new feature where I’ll pick a short story and a longer story each month to revisit. I’ll do a few chapters at a time (sort of like a repost). I meant to update last night on Friday, but Taylor Swift launched her newest album (and I AM OBSESSED) and the Phillies were winning NLCS Game 3 (TWO MORE WINS TO THE WORLD SERIES!)

October’s story is The Witness.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a Flash Fiction update (I may or may not write it early, since the Phillies are playing at 2 and there’s no guarantee I’m not sobbing or freaking out because we either clinch or we don’t).

I chose The Witness as my first spotlight story for a few reasons. One, it’s shorter than a lot of my other stories so it fits nicely to begin mid-month; two, it’s just a fun story. It was my first foray into playing with the Cassadine/Spencer feud and it has a lot of ensemble characters. If I were writing this story today, it’d probably be twice as long with a more definitive ending, but I just had so much fun writing and returning to this story.

• October 14: Prologue – Chapter 5: The premise for this story was a challenge at The Canvas where writers received a title and had to write a story around that. I didn’t plan any piece of The Witness, so the fact that I ended up actually making this worked is an accident. I honestly couldn’t tell you why I decided to go with this idea. Honestly, the final line in the prologue might be one of my favorite cliff hangers.
• October 21: Chapter 6 – Chapter 10: These are the chapters where I definitely leaned into plot twist after plot twist. Paternity secrets, shootings, back from the dead, blood feuds. I was having so much fun with this story, which I hope it shows off. I would never ever write this story like this today, but it still holds up pretty well. My favorite line is definitely the last one of Chapter 10 — it’s a one-liner I shamelessly stole from a 1998 episode.
• October 28: Chapter 11 – Epilogue

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