Note: This is a re-publishing of this video. I accidentally forgot to change the title last time. Sorry.
I know I said I wouldn’t touch the draft, but well, I wanted to reread! So I read the first fifteen chapters. How bad is it? What work do we need? Uh, it’s actually good news? In 2020? I know, I was shocked, too.
coming soon
Note: I have posts going out every day this week. Today is the Patreon tier release, then three vlogs over the next few days, then on January 1, my 2020 In Review/2021 Year Ahead. Just an FYI 🙂
In September 2019, I relaunched my Patreon tiers with new benefits and tiers. Over the last sixteen months, that community has grown INSANELY and allowed me to really expand the time and energy I put into both my writing and the site itself (as well as making room for launching the channel). That being said, my writing process has really changed during 2020 so it was necessary to revisit those tiers and benefits for the next year.
If you are a current subscriber, you are losing no perks — I’m just making the ones you already receive BETTER. If you haven’t joined, that’s totally okay! All of my writing is completely free, and the only thing that Patreons get that you don’t is access to work products like drafts. The final published products are, and will always be, free.
For the lower tiers, it’s a lot of behind the scenes and early access to any flash fiction, videos, or short stories. Beginning with the $3 tier, you get varying levels of access to my work in progress projects. Let me briefly explain what those drafts are.
Alpha Draft — This is my first pass at the story and the messiest. I do not edit as I write, so there are typos, inconsistencies, dropped stories and characters, and also things that come out of nowhere. If I get an idea halfway through, I just start writing it like it already exists, then fix later. It’s the version that looks least like the published version and probably the hardest to read, lol.
Beta Draft – My first pass at cleaning up the first draft. I clean up typos and inconsistencies. Scenes and chapters are added or cut. It makes a lot more sense and is closer to the final draft.
Posting Draft – My final pass. This is the version that gets released to the public.
EARLY ACCESS (One Day Before General Public)
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS
All benefits of Fan Tier included.
EARLY ACCESS (One Week Before General Public)
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS
All benefits of Fan & Love Tier included.
EARLY ACCESSÂ
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS
All benefits of Fan, Love & Devoted Tier included.
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS
All benefits of Fan, Love, Devoted & Adored Tier included.
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS
The tiers kick off with the Beta Draft of Fool Me Twice, starting January 1!
Why does Broken Girl, Book 1, need a sequel? I talk about how Book 1 narratively works on its own if you’re following just the LL2 marriage or the Liason relationship, but as an Elizabeth story, we needed more. I also included a clip that inspired the entire story when I was rewatching back in 2015. We get into my original vision for the story, how it’s changed, and what I know I’m struggling with going into the sequel. I know why I want to tell this story, but how do I do it?
coming soon
In this video, I check in after a few months of radio silence. How did writing this draft go since I got a full-time job, ended up on quarantine, and then switched into remote teaching while the election was going on in a pandemic?
Uh, as well as can be expected.
We also get into the roadmap and what’s next for the process.
coming soon
I am checking in with the best of all possible news. I finished Fool Me Twice’s first draft tonight around 8 PM. Like — done. Last chapter. It’s a really great feeling because, of course, the hardest part of any draft, is just getting all the words out. The final draft clocks in around 495 pages and 184k in Word, it’s about 180k in Scriv. If you’re a Adored or Obsessed tier supporter at Patreon, I uploaded the last four chapters tonight for you guys. All Patreons at $3 get the Alpha Draft on Monday.
I did a livestream that I meant to be for the Patreons, but I was so tired that I forgot to make it unlisted so I go into the details a bit and you get to see me all loopy and weird lol. Other than that — here’s the road map for publication –
January 1 – Construct beta draft.
January 7 – January 31 – Write beta draft.
Feb 1 – 15 – Posting Draft.
Aiming for Publication Feb 16. It might also be Feb 23. It will depend on the beta draft work.
Over the next two weeks, I am not planning to do any creative writing. I will not be bring Flash Fiction back before January. I’m sorry about that, but I’m exhausted. I wrote 50k just in the last week, and 180 k in the last 78 days. I’m really looking forward to not spending a lot of time in my office.
What I am planning to do is to look over the flash fiction, reset the schedule going into January, and then also do some planning for Mad World Book 4 and Broken Girl Book 2. But, at the moment, I’m not even planning to do my usual holiday updates. I really just need the break, you guys. I wrote four novels this year because Mad World Book 4 has a draft that exists — most of you just haven’t read it yet, lol.
Sorry this post is messy, but I don’t want to do any of this tomorrow. After I’m done teaching tomorrow at 2:50, I’m leaving the office and not coming back until like…Sunday. LOL. I AM TIRED.
Hello 🙂 So, I’m going to miss my FMT deadline by a day or two. I was hoping to finish up between December 14-16, but I had a minor issue this weekend and I lost two days of writing. On Sunday, all the pipes in my house got massively backed up, and I had to deal with the plumber, the city, and my dad to get it fixed, and they always seem to show up around the time that I usually write. So I couldn’t write on Sunday or Monday. It’s Tuesday, the problem is sort of fixed, or least that I can try to get back on track on the writing. If I get back to a chapter a day, I’ll finish on December 17. I’m hoping to manage an extra two chapters over the next few days — I usually can do this by just writing an extra two scenes or so every day. We’ll see.
I’m starting my next exploratory cycle with my students tomorrow, but I’m actually feeling super great about it. I’m completely prepared — I’ve even posted three days worth of materials so that all I have to do is show up for my classes until Friday which gives me all of my prep time to get ready for NEXT week. If that works out, I can use more of my weekends to relax and write. This is great, and what I’ve been aiming towards for weeks.
To thank you guys for your patience and support, I’m posting the opening scenes of the alpha draft — they haven’t been edited for typos or content and might still change. I’m giving you the very first scene as well as three scenes from the end of Chapter Two.
Thanks so much for reading and following! I’ll be back at the end of the year with my 2020 Year in Review & 2021 Year Ahead (instead of January Update). I love all of you so much!
Hey — no surprises here I’m sure! Flash Fiction is officially on hiatus while I finish Fool Me Twice’s first draft. I made great progress last week, and then did my usual mid-draft reset where I took a look at what was left and reworked based on what I’ve rewritten and what I want to see happen. I ended up adding two extra chapters, LOL, so we’re at 34 and not 32. I’ve written eighteen chapters, so I still need to write 16. That puts me at roughly around December 11 to finish up, which isn’t terrible considering I got a new job, I was put on quarantine and just the general anxiety, LOL.
I’ll be back with Flash Fiction towards the end of 2020!
Your Update Link: A Shot in the Dark – Part 12
It has been a crazy week, honestly, and I don’t know that it’s going to get any better. Let’s catch up 🙂 So – one, I tested negative. Super good news there. I kind of thought I would, but I was still a bit nervous. I’m still on quarantine to be safe, but that’ll be over on Tuesday.
You guys know it’s been getting crazy here in NJ — today, my school district opted to go to 100% remote through learning through January 8. This is, honestly, a huge relief for all of us. We had another positive case late Tuesday night, and last minute remote learning for two days for just my school was crazy for parents and students, as well as teachers. I’m glad that my district is just making a sweeping decision — we are out and not even going to reassess until the new year. It gives all of us some certainty in a crazy time. ALSO! Teachers, right now, have the option of working from home which means I can continue isolating like I did last year which really does improve my own stress levels.
The other thing is that I got handed a class to cover for a few weeks and there was, uh, no lesson plans set up. I had to scramble to put together some science lessons. With parent/teacher conferences, I couldn’t write last night. But I’ve got the new science stuff mostly under control, so hopefully I’ll be back on track. I did write another chapter of Fool Me Twice this week, and I’m going to try to write two more this weekend.
This weird writing Flash Fiction whenever I want is gonna continue probably until FMT’s first draft is done, and then I’ll pause them to reassess. It’s 2020, y’all, we’re just trying to get to January.
Your Update Link: A King’s Command – Part 11
Hey — not much to say in this update. I’m starting to get a routine back, but I have conferences tomorrow, so I’m not even thinking about it too much to be honest. This has been a weird month — my district just put out the “closing down is imminent so make a plan” and I’m just thinking about my cursed headphones.
Last year, in early March, before the world shut down, I ordered a new set of headphones for my classes for independent work. Delivery was delayed and my kids were very impatient. And then they finally arrived — on March 16, 2020. The day the district shut down. We never went back and headphones sat in my house, brand new and unopened.
This year, I didn’t bring them in right away. I waited — and brought them in on Thursday. Kids loved them, they worked great, and I went home on Thursday to work remotely on Friday, planning to return on Monday because that’s how this works. Then on Sunday — I got the call that put my into quarantine.
So anyway, my headphones are cursed. See you guys on Friday for more flash fiction!
