Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 4

Well, I hope you guys are ready for a double update 😛 I’m here with this now at 8PM, but I’ll be back in 2 hours at 10PM with ANOTHER update — for Warning Shots. I’m so glad you guys are both so invested in the new stories!

I’m doing my best to stay up and alert for Taylor’s new album, so double updates tonight! No Phillies game to distract me, so you’re stuck with me, lol.

AND double updates tomorrow, though a bit earlier — at 12 PM and 5 PM so I can watch the game. I cannot WAIT for this new album. She writes such Liason-coded lyrics, I just know I’m going to be ridiculously inspired.

Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 1

I’m sure you were expecting/hoping for more of Chain Reaction, but I did warn you that I was going to be posting a second new series and alternating it with Chain Reaction. I’m really excited about Warning Shots, it’s a bit different that anything I’ve tried before.

I’m writing it in kind of two parts — the first one is sort of prologue/prequel to the second which are a series of sort of “episodes” of Elizabeth’s first year of college as she and Lucky stay in Port Charles rather than the New York. (In response to the reader’s challenge: Do Lucky & Liz survive if he doesn’t die in the fire?) And the second part will be a more traditional story with “chapter” like parts that rewrite the Dead Ted situation with this new backstory.

I did a massive update on my Production Schedule & Posting Schedule Google Docs. The Production schedule goes out two years (listen…I was procrastinating on something for work) and the Posting Schedule through the end of May. I wanted to schedule around the Phillies games.

You’re going to be getting daily updates of Flash Fiction for a while mostly because A – I’m really excited about these two new stories and B – I am FORCING myself to leave These Small Hours alone for AT LEAST two weeks, lol. I get antsy when I’m not working on something.

I’ll be updating Warning Shots tonight. Then tomorrow AND Friday, you’re getting double updates — one of each story! Taylor Swift’s new album is coming out, and I’m determined to stay up until midnight to listen as soon as it drops. There’s no Phillies game to distract me or keep me going, so why not Flash Fic my way through it?

Then, Friday, I’m taking a personal day for the album (I DESERVE NICE THINGS) and since I’ll have an amazing soundtrack, just seems right that I use it to update. So double updates for the next two days, then alternate back and forth from Saturday, April through Saturday, April 28. Then I’ll take Sunday off, and go into editing with a clean conscious.

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 3 | Part 1
Digital Shop: These Small Hours – Alpha Draft

Don’t get used to these daily updates 😛 You’re definitely not getting more of the story until, like, at least Thursday or Friday. I have a packed schedule tomorrow and a house to prep before my dad comes over to supervise removal of the solar panels. On Wednesday, I’m going to launch my second new series, Warning Shots.

But Thursday — well, Thursday is a different situation. I’m taking off on Friday because, well, Taylor Swift’s new album comes out and how else am I supposed to stay up at midnight on Thursday to watch it? Oh, and Thursday is also an OFF day for the Phillies, so no evening game. So I have to stay up until midnight and stay busy — maybe a double Flash Fiction update? We’ll see 😛

Next week, we’ll be back to our normal M/W/F situation, and then after that I’ll be working on edits for Fool Me Twice, Book 3 & These Small Hours.

Update Link:  Chain Reaction – Part 2 | Part 1
Digital Shop: These Small Hours – Alpha Draft

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be here again today, but the response was really great last night. I also have some extra time in my schedule since I am forcing myself to take off the next two weeks from working on anything else. So don’t be surprised if I just randomly post updates to this and the other story I’m still not starting until Wednesday. I always post updates on Twitter, but I have a subscription list if you want to be emailed when I updated.

I also decided to write last night’s update at literally the last minute, so I didn’t have as much time as I usually do to prep my update post or really celebrate that I finished a first draft!

These Small Hours clocked in at 520 pages and around 200k words. I started it on November 1 for NaNoWriMo and finished it in 4.5 months — while also editing Fool Me Twice 3 and writing Hits Different. So I’m really happy with how quickly it came together.

I posted the alpha draft in the Digital Shop at the same price it’s available for my Crimson Obsessed tier ($10). The link is posted above. It’s really messy — I had lots of ideas and just went all over the place, lol, so editing will be fun. If you do get the alpha draft, please feel free to let me know what you think!

I’m planning to edit May 1 – July 31, and release sometime in August. Could be earlier, but almost positively by the end of the summer.

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 1

I told you there was a slight chance I might start this over the weekend because Monday can be a little hectic, and this first part needed to be just right. Phillies won in a walk off from my boy Nick Castellanos (a more beautiful man does not exist fight your mother) ANNNND I finished the alpha draft of These Small Hours. So big day for us all, and I wanted to celebrate. I’ll have These Small Hours up tomorrow in the digital shop for purchase, but it’s posted for Patreons now.

Let me know what you think of the new flash fiction and I’ll see you when I see you for another update 😛

Update Link: Hits Different – Part 32

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. I left the building with my grading up to date which is nearly impossible, lol.

This has been such a fun flash fiction to share with you guys! It’s definitely going on the list to edit, so don’t hesitate to let me know what you might like to see fleshed out or if there were areas you might have thought was missing. Flash Fics tend to be distilled down to the essential scenes since they’re first drafts, and you don’t always know what you wished you would have done until you get to later parts of the story 😛

You’re reading a “first draft” as I write it, so it’s always helpful to hear your thoughts and opinions about what’s going on and where it might go. You influence story a lot more than you think, especially early on. I try to write my flash fictions by planning the first act, and then letting feedback and the actual work push me through Act 2, and then I plan Act 3 when I have a better sense of the world.

On THAT note, let’s talk schedule for next week!

A brilliant reader left an incredibly insightful review of For the Broken Girl over on Archive Of Our Own, and it got me thinking, and you know that’s a dangerous thing for me, lol. I opened a Google Doc and started brainstorming, and I have something. (If you’re interested, I’m attaching the section of my Google Doc where I set out the premise at the bottom of this post).

Either Saturday or Monday, I’m going to start the new series voted on by my Patreon Readers, Chain Reaction. On Wednesday, I’ll give you the first part of Warning Shots, inspired by LilaB at Archive Of Our Own.  I’ll alternate both stories until mid June, when school ends and I can add a fourth day to write both at once. Because I REALLY want to write this story, lol.

Synopses (Preliminary)

Chain Reaction
Set in Fall 2003. Jason and Elizabeth reconnect the night that Emily marries Zander, and find comfort in each other while waiting for the news that the woman they both love has passed away. Emily lives, and old feelings have been stirred up that aren’t as easily put away again. It should be as simple as Elizabeth completing her divorce from psycho husband Ric, and Jason breaking his troubled engagement to Courtney. But this is Port Charles, and nothing comes easy. Especially when Sonny Corinthos, on the brink of a breakdown, is involved.

Warning Shots
Set Fall 1999-Summer 2000. Lucky and Elizabeth, stuck in Port Charles after Elizabeth’s art school funding apart, have been growing apart since Elizabeth opted for PCU and the campus experience living with Emily in the dorms, and Lucky decided to stick to working for Jason and Sonny as their tech support. Elizabeth is living her best life, thriving in her art program, and even rushing for a sorority. Rediscovering Lizzie, the brash, impulsive girl she’d been before she’d been shattered. But not everyone is happy by Lizzie’s resurgence, and Elizabeth begins to wonder just which parts of her Lucky fell in love with. When Emily is blackmailed after waking up next to a dead cop without any memory, it’s not going to be Lucky that Elizabeth can count on. It’s going to be someone else — someone who’s been on the fringes of her life for months, quietly bolstering and encouraging her fledgling confidence.  When push comes to shove, will Elizabeth stay with the comfort of the old or move on to new adventures and new love?

PREMISE – Warning Shots

In Broken Girl, in one of the later chapters, I have Elizabeth and Lucky (post Manny reconciliation phase) argue at Luke’s about her “Lizzie” days.

“That’s what you meant that day back in the hospital,” she said. He frowned at her. “When you asked where that girl went—you really did hate Lizzie Webber, and all this time—all this time, you’ve been acting like that girl died the night Tom Baker pulled me into the bushes—”

“Elizabeth—”

“No, that’s not—” Lucky exhaled slowly. “No. That’s not what I meant, Elizabeth. I’m—” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “I’m sorry if that’s how it sounds. But you know I’m not imagining things. You were different after.”

“Lucky,” Emily murmured. “This really isn’t—”

“I was different after that night.” Elizabeth twisted her wedding ring on her hand, wishing she hadn’t picked this fight. Lucky wasn’t wrong, but he also didn’t get it. And maybe she was making a big deal out of nothing. But it felt like it mattered. “I guess I didn’t realize how important that was to you.”

Lucky frowned. “Of course it was. That’s who I fell in love with—”

Emily closed her eyes. “Oh, you idiot—”

“Got it.” Elizabeth got to her feet, tossed back the last of her margarita, and picked up her purse. “I’m going to call a cab home. Good night.”

And then later, Emily and Liz talk about this and Liz comes to the stark realization that she’d thrown Jason away, a man who knew and loved her as she was, to save a boy who wouldn’t love her she was now.  It’s her “dark moment” – her lowest point.

A reader replied just yesterday:

I would love a story set in 1999 in which the garage fire either never happened or it actually was an accident and Lucky didn’t die. No Helena at all. Then you could explore the TRUTH you exposed in this chapter and in “The Ghost in the Girl”: Lucky never loved Elizabeth. He loved who she was when she was traumatized after being raped. I truly think if Lucky hadn’t “died”, then he and Elizabeth would have broken up because her true personality started to emerge more and more as she was healing from what happened to her. And he would have hated it. Because he prefers her quiet; which is the most damning thing I think can be said about a relationship. I always thought that Elizabeth and pre-2009 Jason were a perfect match on every level. What would have happened if Lucky was alive when Elizabeth started getting close to Jason in 1999?

And you know me, of course my brain started wondering – how would LL2.1 (pre-fire JJ) have looked if Elizabeth had continued healing and finding her “Lizzie” self again – would she and Lucky have grown together and stayed in love – could Liason have worked without that “origin story” of Elizabeth mourning Lucky. 

I mean, the answer should be yes for the Liason question. A well-matched couple works together no matter how they “meet”. 

But now – I have to wonder – how does that story look different? So here I am, trying to see if I can figure out how to answer that question.

Update Link: Hits Different – Part 31

I just took a look at the planned scenes, and this will almost certainly be wrapping on Friday. This has been such a fun story to write and share with you guys! Remember that my Flash stories usually get turned into fully edited novels (Signs of Life had almost 30k of extra content in edits, I rewrote The Ghost in the Girl‘s Ending, and well, Not Knowing When was pretty much fine the way it was, though I wish I’d done a better chapter division — maybe some day :P).

The next Flash Fiction is Chain Reaction, which picks in late August 2003 and begins by asking — just where were Jason and Elizabeth all night after the chapel? She’s in the same clothes and he was out “riding”? I might start it over the weekend just because Mondays tend to be insane days, lol. We’ll see.

I’ve got two chapters and an epilogue left for These Small Hours–the first draft should be finished by Friday. I’ll let it sit for two weeks and actually try to relax for a change (or work on the evermore featured story — I have issues).

Got some great news at work this week! I’ve got my unofficial contract renewal, so no worrying for the rest of April or sweating it out. My admin is absolutely the best — he knew that I had to register for a class asap for my French cert, and he didn’t want me worrying if I was spending the money for no reason.

Please let me know what you think and start thinking about what additions or changes you might like to see when I put Hits Different through the editing process sometime in the future 🙂

See you on Friday!

Update Link: Hits Different – Part 30

Back to work! We’re in the final rush of the school year — 46 days of classes left! Hard to believe it went so fast.

I’ve made HUGE progress on These Small Hours since I last checked in — I’m halfway through Chapter 48 right now (hoping to finish during the Phillies game) and there are three chapters and an epilogue left! I should finish this draft by the end of the week, if not earlier. Very excited to nearing the end!

This flash fiction is wrapping up this Friday! (I can’t count, lol), and we’ll be diving into the next one right away, so hope you’re excited for a trip back to 2003 and that time Jason and Elizabeth chilled in the chapel and she was still in the same clothes the next day. And when Sonny shot Carly in the head. It’s an era of GH I haven’t touched since 2003 and I Shall Believe. I always wanted to rewrite that — but instead of taking that story and revisualizing — let’s just write another one, lol.

See you on Wednesday for another Flash Fiction update!

Update: Hits Different – Part 29
Novel Release: Fool Me Twice, Book 2

Special Saturday update to make up for missing last night. I was working on a chapter of These Small Hours all day and it was just being super cranky (mostly because I was cranky for unrelated reasons) and then the Phillies were on and the game lasted a little longer than I thought it would. So I’m here tonight to make up for it 😛

Hours is making great progress! I wrote 3 chapters on Thursday, and 2 more today. I just finished Chapter 43, which leaves me with 7 chapters and an epilogue left in this first draft. I really feel like with Act 3, I’ve worked out some kinks in the plot. I was always a little vague on the Russians and relationship with the drug ring at GH (which, to be fair, the show really sucked at making clear) and I think I’ve really nailed it down in these last few chapters. I’m looking forward to going back and edits and making it stronger. Plus, I think I’ve been influenced by recent events on GH and where we’re hoping Jason’s return story goes.

I’m back to work on Monday, but my content is already prepped. All that’s left are some small pieces for my Seminar class and posting my lesson plans. But baseball back and so are my family Sundays — I go to my parents for the games which start at 1:3o my time and hang out down there.

Seems crazy that we’re already in April! See you Monday night, and I’m going to leave you with a short exchange from a recent chapter of These Small Hours that was absolutely not in the outline, but well —

Carly sniffed, then got to her feet, stalked out of the kitchen. Jason followed her to the door, but before she left, she spun and glared at Elizabeth. “I’m not still in love with him, you know. But I still really hate you.”

Elizabeth shot her the finger. “The feeling’s mutual, sweetheart.”

Carly scowled, started towards her. Jason grabbed her arm, pulled the door open, and shoved her towards it. “Go home, Carly. You come back before I say you can, and that’s the last time I’ll ever talk to you.”

“But—”

He slammed the door on her face and looked back at Elizabeth. “You had to get the last word, didn’t you?”

“Absolutely did.” Elizabeth came over to him, slapped the ice pack against his chest. “Problem with that?”

Update Link: Hits Different – Part 28

We were originally scheduled to have this update at its regular time because the Phillies were supposed to be on at 1:05 and done already, but the region has been flooded so the game got pushed back all the way to 7:30, ish. It’s going to be interesting scheduling around baseball this year, but I’m determined, lol.

I’m making some really great progress on These Small Hours. I can’t wait for you guys to read it! I really feel like I’ve found the groove over the last few updates, and it’s given me a lot of insight into what I want to work on for edits. I’m hopeful this book will be out in mid-July or so, but it’ll depend on how edits go — and you know I’ve stopped pretending I can predict that, lol.

I made some more design tweaks — new header inspired by Monday’s scenes! I also got rid of the menu at the top of the page. I don’t think there were any links anyone was regularly using, and it was really just taking up space. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to make navigating CG easier!

We’re still looking good to wrap up this story up on April 15, and we’ll be going right into Chain Reaction, the next series after that. I’m really looking forward to it. Going to be fun and angsty 😛