I’m leaning towards trying to do these status updates once every two months 🙂 So here we are.

First, an overall update for my writing in general. When I returned to writing in February of 2014, I had about three straight months of prolific output. I wrote all of A Few Words, a few short stories, a few novellas and delved into The Best Thing and Damaged. Due to my dissertation, moving back home from London, and then being ill for several months this last year, I started to lose my mojo.

But not only has my health straightened itself out, so has my general disposition. I was feeling a bit low last winter–a job I had hoped for after my masters degree didn’t pan out, so I was unemployed for several months. I started working finally in February and then really started to pick up hours in April, so it’s no surprise that as my spirits picked up, so did my writing.

I took a mental health break for about two months, but since I started writing again in May, I’m writing better than I have in years. I found a way to focus myself and stay on task and I’m really looking forward to continuing my updates. You guys were so wonderfully supportive last summer and then this winter when I struggled. I’m ridiculously appreciative.

In Progress

Damaged – Season One has wrapped up. Season Two has been largely storyboarded, though I’m still working out a few various details. I’ve written the first episode and plan to do two or three more episodes over the next week now that I’ve gotten myself back into the groove with my writing.  I have vague concepts for Seasons Three and Four so I can start planting small hints and laying foundation now. The website was relaunched.

The Best Thing – I was struggling a bit with this story, mostly because as you guys know, I’ve tried really hard to do all the characters justice, including Sonny who’s struggling with a mental illness I’ve only seen on television. So I wanted to do more research into actual people who suffer from it, and how it might affect someone with Sonny’s specific personality. I also was feeling weary of writing it because I knew I had so much story left to go. Not that I don’t still love it, but sometimes when you’re writing a long story, you can start to get fatigued and it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So I looked again at my plot and moved some things around and cut some things in order to keep the tension and the pace in the story moving along. I feel a lot better and cranked out four chapters in four days last weekend. I hope to do it again next week once I’ve put away more of Damaged, Season Two.

All We Are – A few weeks ago, I wrote Chapters 9-13 over a weekend, then I took a break, and in about three days, I finished the story. So, it’s seventeen chapters long with an epilogue. It still needs Cora to sign off on it and some cleaning up, but I’m going to start fixing up an ebook. I plan to post one chapter a week until about August 10, so hopefully the ebook will be ready by the end of the month so I can do a giveaway.

What’s Next?

Now that All We Are is finished and The Best Thing will be wrapping up soon, it is time to turn my attention to a story to work on next and to have ready to post when TBT is finished (I’m leaning towards posting it during the hiatus between Season Two and Three of Damaged).

I haven’t really settled on it, but I’m leaning towards Bittersweet, my summer of 2002 rewrite. There are a few reasons for this — while it’s not as developed as some of the other stories on my coming soon list, it’s set in 2002. For the last year, I’ve been pretty solidly set in 2003-2006, dealing with Ric, Sam, Courtney and all the stories that unfolded after Elizabeth walked out on Jason in October 2002. I’m a bit burnt out on this era, so I wanted a break.

So, I’m playing with Bittersweet today which has a ton of work done with it, but I haven’t pulled any of it together into a cohesive concept and outline. I may change my mind, but I think I’m pretty sold on this.

And once I have my breather from 2004 and 2006, I’ll be turning my attention to Mad World and Burn in Heaven, both of which are outlined and storyboarded, I just haven’t wanted to write them quite yet. So since I usually work on two stories at once, Bittersweet is taking All We Are‘s place and I think Mad World will likely settle into The Best Thing’s slot once I wrap it up.

All the other stories on the coming soon page are still in active development. I pick them up, play with outlines and scene ideas, but I haven’t found the sweet spot for any of them yet. Their time will come, I promise 🙂