Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 13

Hello and happy Tuesday! I read my Monday schedule incorrectly, and the Phillies were playing at 4! By the time I got home, the game was about to start, and I just knew I wouldn’t have the energy to write at 7:30 or 8:30 after such long Monday so better to put it to Tuesday, and squeeze it in after grocery shopping but before the game. I went through and updated the Posting Schedule with times through the end of the school year.

The kids and I sat down with the calendar and realized there are only 21 full days of school left–and since my grades are due the last full day, it’s not that much content left to plan. Feels wild to be at the end of the school year. I know I’m going to be doing some work this summer (curriculum and summer school). I remember how absolutely dead I felt the three years I worked at the last job (the first year I was in therapy for anxiety and stress!) and barely any writing done in the school year itself — but this year — wow, have I produced. I edited FMT2, wrote Hours, all that flash fiction, the Crimson Swift work, and so much other behind the scenes stuff you guys don’t get to see. It’s just crazy what a difference a good schedule and a supportive admin can make.

I’ll be back tomorrow with an update for Warning Shots.

EDITED: I’m checking in on Monday to let you know that I misread my Phillies schedule, and the game starts at 4:05, so I won’t be able to do Flash Fiction tonight. I’ll be posting tomorrow at 6 PM. Stay up to date with my Posting Schedule Google Doc.

April was a hell of a month, to be honest. Not sure how I managed the first full month of Phillies baseball, a new Taylor Swift album, and teaching and managed to write 150k, but I did it. I thought I’d do a quick recap of everything that’s been posted since the beginning of March when this really productive period got started, quickly list what I’m working on in the background, and then some links to a few older stories if you’re looking for something to read.

FLASH FICTION

• Hits Different — Now Completed
• Chain Reaction – Updated through Part 12
• Warning Shots – Updated through Part 7

CRIMSON SWIFT

• folklore — full collection of 17 short stories
• “The Last Time” — 24k novella from Red
• “no body, no crime” — 20k novella from evermore

NOVELS

• Fool Me Twice, Book 2 – Released in full, 39 chapters

BEHIND THE SCENES

• Drafting: Fool Me Twice, Book 3
• Drafting: TTPD, Collection 3: “The Black Dog”
• Editing: These Small Hours
• Discovery: evermore

CRIMSON GLASS DEEP CUT

• Short Story: The Ghost in the Girl (set in 2001, revised Flash Fiction short story)
• Novel: Bittersweet (full 2002 rewrite)

Update Link: “no body, no crime”

Last group of scenes have been added! Don’t forget to check out the recent updates for Flash Fiction. I’ll see you on Monday for another update!

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 12

I gotta tell you, I miss writing for both these stories, lol. I got really used to updating one of them each day. I’m definitely hopeful to add another day once summer break hits next month.

I took a mental health day (my last sick day, too!). I was just so tired all week. I only stayed up on Monday night for the Phillies games — the other late night on Tuesday, I went to bed at 11 but it was ridiculously warm here in NJ all week and the nights didn’t cool down. I didn’t get my AC in the window yet, so I roasted and didn’t sleep. Between that, and the kids testing and being off the walls in the afternoons — I just couldn’t quite get myself together. I woke up this morning at 6 and just — noped out. I called out, and went back to sleep for 3 hours. I feel a lot better now, lol.

I’m gonna get my AC in the window this weekend or next because otherwise, I will be miserable AF.

Tomorrow, I’ll post the final chunk of “no body, no crime” for you guys. Hoping you’ll like today’s update for Flash. 😉

Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 7
Recent Updates: “no body, no crime”

I am so ready for Friday, I can’t even tell you. I am dragggiiing this week. And it’s probably because like 60 out of 73 kids are testing — I’m not seeing around 20 of them at all, and the other 40 are coming to me dead behind the eyes after being in state testing for three straight periods, so I’m really letting them relax — and I thought, yay, great — I get prep work done, but the days are impossible, lol. Glad to be back to normal next week for the last push through the end of May.

I’m really excited about where Warning Shots is going–I’m so glad I tossed my original outline and went with it something different. Sometimes you just gotta go where the story tells you 😛 I’ll be back tomorrow for Chain Reaction and then the conclusion of “no body, no crime” on Saturday morning. THEN NOTHING ON SUNDAY.

(probably)

See you tomorrow – I’ll be posting around 6 because the Phillies are back at 6:40 and your girl can sleep like a normal person tomorrow night.

Update Link: “no body, no crime” – Scenes 16-30 added!

I know tonight’s a flash fiction night but I am exhausted! As you guys know from the absolutely unhinged updated post Monday night/Tuesday morning, the Phillies are on a west coast trip and last night was another late game. I went to bed before it was over (and typical missed a comeback tying home run from my favorite player) but I didn’t sleep well. It’s been hot in NJ and I don’t have the AC on yet because we’re going to have another chilly spell before it’s time for that. Between that and the awful days at work with worn out and exhausted students who are coming to me after testing, I’m just dragging really hard.

Tomorrow’s an off day, so I’ll be posting at my normal time — writing at 7, posting at 8. I had a real inspiration strike today while at work and I sketched out the next 10 parts of Warning Shots. I hope you like where it goes 🙂

I’m really glad you guys like “no body, no crime” so far, and thanks for the compliments for the AU version of them. I’m planning to make evermore an Alternate Universe collection because originally Taylor Swift said this album and folklore were inspired by more by stories about other people, so I thought it’d be fun to try that out. Let me know if there’s any songs you have ideas for! This story was a prompt from Tania, so I take requests!

There’s one more part — scenes 31-45 — to be posted on Saturday morning. See you tomorrow for Flash Fic!

Update Link: “no body, no crime” scenes 1-15
Recent Updates page is up to date which is nice!

It’s after midnight and I just watched my elite Phillies bullpen shit the bed (as I type this it’s 6-4 and Phillies are down to their last two outs — but Harper is up with a runner on–I’ll let you know). Technically it’s Tuesday. So let’s just post this and move on with our lives, lol.

Wednesday’s update will be later than normal, around 9 PM. The Phillies are playing at 4, so who knows when the game will be over, lol.

What follows is me living through the top of the ninth, feel free to skip

Okay — so Harper hit a ground rule double. Tying runs are in scoring position and Alec Bohm is the hottest hitter in MLB right now — sooooo…..you know what, lemme chill and let you know how this all works out.

Bohm has a full count, 3-2. YOU GUYS I AM SO TIRED. Okay, sac fly. one run game.

MARSHY IS UP MY MAN GOT TRADED FROM THE ANGELS REVENGE TIME GET ‘EM’

welp. we lost. but so did the braves so fuck it.

enjoy the story. love you guys. see you in like 48 hours for more flash.

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 11

Well, the votes are in! With 52% of the vote, you guys chose “The Black Dog” collection  for the first release from The Tortured Poets Department! The first eight songs from the surprise album dropped at 2AM. I knew it was going to win most of the weekend, lol, so I already started doing the more in depth plot sketching. It looks like “The Black Dog” is the featured story, and will be the longer novella 20-50k, and then “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus” will probably be somewhere in the 10k length, and the other six will be shorter. I’m going to spend the rest of this week sketching them all out and working them into the schedule.

I’ll be posting “no body, no crime” in three increments. It was going to be two, but I was editing today for typos and consistency and whatnot, and I found three natural places to split it that work really well, so I’ll post Tuesday, Thursday, and Sat, and then you WILL NOT HEAR FROM ME UNTIL MONDAY. I am taking Sunday off, damn it. I also have no choice — my nephew is making his communion.

See you on Wednesday!

Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 6
Poll: Which Tortured Poets Collection To Write First – POLL ENDS TONIGHT

Last weekend update! We go into the May schedule tomorrow 🙂 I will be back with some Flash Fiction tomorrow at 8PM. The Phillies are on the West Coast until Tuesday, so the games are on late.

For Warning Shots, I basically tossed my entire outline so after this part? I have no idea where to go. (Well, I have *ideas*) but feel free to weigh in and let me know what you want to see next!

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 10
Poll: Which Tortured Poets Collection To Write First – POLL ENDS TOMORROW NIGHT

The plan was to alternate the stories, but I skipped a night and then forgot to update my posting schedule doc, and then I figured — well given that I left you on TWO Liason cliffhanger conversations, I know which one you want to read more. I’ll do Warning Shots tomorrow. I was planning to take off tomorrow, but a few things in my schedule cleared up.

The posting schedule for Flash Fiction M/W/F is going to pretty fluid for the next six weeks as I schedule around the Phillies 😛 Once I know my summer schedule I should be able to more fixed. If you ever want to know what story is getting updated when, I have a Google Doc set up.

I finished my evermore featured story last night! “no body, no crime” runs about 20k and 60 pages. I wanted to let it sit today, then read it over for typos. I have to put together the evermore subsite theme (it should be pretty easy since I’m going to use the same layout for all the albums) but I have to set the colors and create the graphics. I’m hoping to do that tonight while I watch the Phillies.

It should be up one day this week. I’m aiming for Tuesday or Thursday — I might actually just split it into two pieces and then you still get daily M-F updates to ease you guys back into my normal workload. April was absolutely INSANE for how much content I wrote (and it’s still not over!)

Between finishing up These Small Hours (62k), writing “no body, no crime” (20k), finishing Hits Different (17k), and starting Chain Reaction (24k) and Warning Shots (16K), I wrote 141,485 words — and there are still three days of updates planned (I haven’t written tonight yet).

I–I don’t know what happened lol. But it’s been nice and I hope you’ve enjoyed this ridiculous burst of energy. I always kind of figured that the regular writing of Flash Fiction would absolutely train my brain to start writing when I told it to. I’ve been mostly regular since September, and I feel like it’s finally paying off.

See you tomorrow!