Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 27

Hope your weeks are going well. Just a programming note that starting next week, I’m pulling back on updating daily, at least until summer school ends. I’ve been struggling with These Small Hours, and I want to give it more time and attention. I’ll be updating M-W-F, or at least three times a week, and those times will always be posted in the sidebar to the left. Again, that starts next week. I know a lot of people go on vacations during the summer, so I also want to make it easier for anyone catching up.

I appreciate your understanding!

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Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 26

Do you know how many times I had to move the cat from laying directly in front of my keyboard just to get today’s update set up?

Anyway — we’re switching back to Chain Reaction so hope you guys are ready for what happens next!

I’m not updating tomorrow due to the schedule, so I’ll see you on Wednesday!

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Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 26

Happy Saturday! I was taking a quick look at next week’s schedule, and it looks like we’re going to do another Saturday update next week. The Phillies play around 6:30 every day but Monday which makes the 3Pm slot easy, but on Tuesday, Sasha has a vet appointment at 2PM, and I really don’t see a good place to put Flash Fiction because I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, and I still have summer school this week. I’ll be posting the finalized schedule in the widget sometime tonight or tomorrow, but for now — expect Mon, Wed-Sat at 3 PM. I’ll be switching back to Chain Reaction.

I hope you guys enjoyed this week with Warning Shots. I know the story didn’t move very much, but I needed to do some work with the relationship. I’m looking forward to the next batch of updates which should be lighter and fluffier. I do think we’re getting close to wrapping this up — probably sometime in early August. I need to sit down and figure out the rest of the story. Ideally, I’d like to wrap up both stories before school returns in September, so I can take a little break to prep the next series, but we’ll see.

I got back into writing These Small Hours yesterday which felt really good. It was a brand-new chapter, so it took a minute to remember what I wanted, but these were scenes that happened off the page in the first draft, and I think the draft is going to be so much stronger having them on page, if that makes sense. I’m still hopeful to get the beta draft done by the end of the month because I plan to be moving a lot faster through the draft with most of my work-related tasks completed.

Have a great rest of your weekend and I’ll see you on Monday!

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Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 25

Well, as I prep this update post I currently have no idea how today’s part is going to end since I’ve only plotted out the first half of the scene. Hope it turns out well 😛

Tomorrow’s update should be around the same time. I’m making up for missing Monday. Chain Reaction comes back on Monday. Have a great day!

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Update: Warning Shots – Part 24

Happy Fourth of July to all that celebrate 🙂 I was hoping to get this out before the barbecue at my brother’s, but I overslept by A LOT, lol. I woke up at 7, and thought I’ll just relax a little bit longer, and then it was, like 9! Yikes! I have that class for my certification that I’m just a little behind in — just a day or two, and I had to prioritize it this morning.  I also got back to work on These Small Hours, cleaning up Chapters 1-10 with some dialogue edits and scene additions before I dive back into Chapter 11 tomorrow.

As I prep this update post, I have no idea how the scenes for  today’s Warning Shots are going to end, and I have nothing planned for tomorrow, lol, so if you  have thoughts on where I go next, please let me know! I have a final scene in mind for this story, but how we get there is a mystery.

Tomorrow will be at the 3PM hour. See you  then!

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Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 23

After a very exhausting six hours of summer school this week, we’re finally off for four straight days. (literally easiest job in the world if i didn’t have to wake up at 6) I can’t wait to not set the alarm for a few days. I’m relieved to say that moving my computer to a new spot on the desk is giving the elbow support I’ve been looking for — and somehow I have twice as much space??? I also decluttered it, lol, so it’s a much more pleasant work space.

I’ll be updating a bit earlier tomorrow, around noon, since I have a barbecue to attend. See you then!

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Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 22
Camp NaNoWriMo Tracker

I’ll be updating again on Saturday to make up for missing yesterday.

Yesterday morning, my sister texted to let me know that the day we’d been dreading for a few months had arrived — my parents’ dog, Max, was at the end of his battle with kidney disease. He’d been diagnosed about two years ago, but treatment had kept him pretty much the same until the last few weeks. I told her I’d come down after summer school was done at 10 to be with my mom  for a little because I knew she’d take it hard. I thought he’d gone to an emergency vet overnight and, well, it was already over. But I learned after work that it wasn’t, and that I’d have time to say goodbye, to be there.

Max was 15, an ancient age for Shih-Tzus who live to be about 10-16. He was the sweetest dog and shared a birthday month with my cat, Sasha (April 2009) though they were always suspicious of each other. He was my sister’s dog first (and my niece used to cry whenever I’d pick him up for grooming or to look after while they were on vacation because she was two), but then in his later years, the steps were too much, and he moved to live out his golden years being pampered by my parents. Dad cooked him his own food, and tried to tempt him with pretty much everything the last days — even steak filet.  He lived with us when he was a puppy, and my sister and her husband were saving for the house down payment, and was besties with our Husky/Border Collie, Zoe, whom we lost in 2012 to from complications of epilepsy. I like to think they’re puppies again together, chasing each other somewhere. Maybe the squirrels Max hated or the kids on bike Zoe considered her mortal enemy.

Anyway, I went down, we went to the appointment, and not surprisingly, I couldn’t really get myself together the rest of the day. I kept thinking I’d try writing at 4, 5, or even 6, but eventually I gave up and just decided to move on and skip today entirely.

In more writing news, Camp NaNoWriMo got started yesterday, though I’m a day behind. I’ll include the link above if you want to follow me on the tracker.

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Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 25

It was so nice these last two days not to spend literally my entire morning on curriculum, lol. I’m going to be able to rest my elbow a lot more, and later today during the Phillies game, I’m going to clean out and reorganize my desk to get more elbow support. I have an L-shaped desk, and up until now I’ve just either used the long side or short side of the L for my computer, but, I’m going to put it diagonally where the two sides mean because I think (hope) it’ll give me more space to rest my elbows on the desk. I don’t know, it works in my head, lol. Plus I’m basically a level 5 hoarder in my office. It really needs a serious decluttering, and the desk is the first step.

After today, we switch back to Warning Shots for next week! I’m leaning towards 3 PM updates for M-W and Friday. I get GH live in my market at 3PM so it makes it easier to stay a little spoiler free. I’m actually enjoying pieces of the show, and the Jason story really works for me right now, so it’s nice not to have everyone else’s, uh, more critical take in my head. I think they’re doing some interesting things with the Jason story, and so far most of the beats they’ve set up have been followed through. I have to look at Thursday because GH is a repeat of a terrible episode from 2023, and I have a family event.

Don’t forget — today’s update is a makeup from missing Tuesday — I typically don’t plan to be doing flash on weekends this summer!

See you on Monday!

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Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 24

Happy Friday to some people, I guess, lol. Uh, politics are stupid mostly because people are mad both guys running are too old, but you know only one of them is a fascist rapist convicted of multiple felonies, so why anyone’s acting like there’s a choice isn’t that fun. Soap Twitter is mildly better though — the JJ discourse has calmed down. Michael Easton finally left so the unholy duo of OLTL pets have finally exited the building. We get rid of Frank, it’s a clean sweep but well, nothing on that yet. There’s a Jason/Carly fight in the previews, and there’s spoilers that it’s vicious, friend-ending so I’m praying that comes through because that will feed the timeline for DAYS. And, well, if you’re a Phillies fan reading this before the game tonight, you know we don’t know how Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are yet. Both might be down with injuries, so Phillies twitter has lost their everloving minds.

ANYWAY.

Curriculum is finally done! I finished my last hours this morning, and I’m in an amazing place for next year. Lesson plans are complete for French II, and I’ve written the first 60ish days for French I. All that’s left is creating the content, and I can do that at a normal pace the rest of the summer. I can’t wait to see how this level of preparation helps with managing my time better. I also have my content prepped for the rest of summer school, so that’s pretty awesome. I did my summer budget and I won’t have to survive on cereal in September like last year 😛

This weekend, I’m diving back into These Small Hours with a hope to have an update before the end of the month for my Patreons. I was spending 5-7 hours a day on curriculum, so even taking 3 of those for writing is going to be awesome. I appreciate everyone’s patience on that.

I hope you guys are enjoying the alternating weeks of Flash Fiction. I think it lets me build momentum in writing and plan really evil cliffhangers each Friday, so I hope you’re feeling the benefit in reading one story at a time and switching back and forth.

See you tomorrow! I *think* it’ll be around the same time. It should be up by 4 when the Phillies play.

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Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 23

Updating earlier than planned because my schedule actually opened up! With curriculum done this week, I’ll be able to think about where I want Flash Fiction, and I’m leaning more into the 12-2PM so I can take a break, maybe watch GH live, make dinner, watch the Phillies, etc. I’m not sure, yet, lol, but don’t be surprised to see it change. With curriculum done, I also want to get back into These Small Hours which I just couldn’t make time for. I didn’t expect that, honestly, and I’m irritated, lol. But it is what it is, and I’m just going to be grateful for the opportunity to make next year so much easier (and get paid for it!)

I’ll see you guys tomorrow, probably earlier than I scheduled because I’m off on Fridays 🙂

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