• Update Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 31
• Patreon Digital Shop: Fool Me Twice, Book 2: Ashes to Ashes (Beta Draft)

Finally made it to the first big break of the school year — the four day weekend. I’m actually feeling strangely good about the next few weeks. My lessons plans and content are done, it’s a new marking period so I’m on track with grades — just feels like work has finally calmed down.

I posted last night’s update on Twitter, and was so happy to see how many people were excited for FMT to finally be finished. You’ve all been so patient — it’s been three years this fall since I finished the alpha draft of Book 1. I’m just glad that Book 3 won’t take nearly as long since it already has a first draft. I had honestly wanted to write the next two books back to back, but didn’t actually plan on doing it.

I posted the beta draft in the digital shop for anyone interested in picking up a copy of the beta draft (remember it’s still in edits and will have lots of changes before final!). It’s available for the same price as the Devoted tier, $5.  The final version will still be posted for free late this winter/spring, but anyone who doesn’t want for me to finish polishing it or wants to see early drafts is welcome to enjoy.

Just a reminder that on my break I will be writing double Flash Fiction updates on Friday & Saturday morning.  See you tomorrow for another Signs of Life update!

• Update Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 30
• Patreon: Fool Me Twice, Book 2 – Beta Draft – Available today for $5 Patreons, and will be in digital shop tomorrow to purchase for same price.

Uh, surprise???

First, let’s start with the basics. Signs of Life is updated — we have a few more weeks of this — it’s scheduled to conclude sometime this month.

Second, so glad so many of you are excited about the new Flash Fiction story. It’s always fun to step out of the usual “let’s rewrite the dumbass ways the show ruined Liason stories” and do something different.

And third — Fool Me Twice, Book 2 has a beta draft??? What? How.

It’s a hybrid of an alpha/beta draft. After I finished the full alpha draft this summer, I knew it needed a lot of work and massive rewrites. I think around 85% of this draft is completely brand-new material. I reused pieces of scenes, but it’s pretty much a new version. But — it’s still a second draft of Book 2, so it qualifies as a beta draft. But I’m actually doing a third draft where I expect a lot of changes before we get to the posting draft. I could have just made it a new alpha draft, but it still feels like a beta to me.

And the reason you’re getting it today is that it’s not the entire vision I had for Book 2. As you know — Book 2 has been a pain in the ass for 3 years, and I’ve reworked it a thousand times. As I worked on this draft, I just had this feeling that it was too long. I took a look at the structure and realized my midpoint actually makes a really great stopping point. So Book 2 has been split in half — how many books are now in this series? Let’s not talk about that just yet, lol.

This actually works great for a few reasons — I’ve already written the first draft of what will now be Book 3 and I feel really good about what I have and what I need to add. That means once Book 2 is published, Book 3 will NOT take four years.

And it also means Book 2 will be here sooner than I thought, which is lovely for all of us. Here’s a brief plan of where I (think) 2023/2024 is going to take us

WRITING

• I’m drafting These Small Hours this month with a goal to finish it by December 31, and then I’m taking a little bit of a break again from drafting because I’ll have THREE projects to edit outside flash fiction.
• I’ll come back to drafting for Camp NaNoWriMo in April and focus on finishing what is now Fool Me Twice, Book 3.
• If I survive that, lol, next summer I’ll probably work on either Malice or For the Broken Girl, Book 2.

EDITING

• Fool Me Twice, Book 2 is obviously the focus. I’ll reread this month (November), then edit in December & January. I’ll edit the posting draft in February.
• Watch Me Burn will be the next focus. I’ll start editing it in March with an eye to finishing a full beta/posting edit by the end of May/end of school year in June.
• These Small Hours will then be the next target and will be edited next summer.
• Fool Me Twice, Book 3 will be edited next fall.

POSTING

• Fool Me Twice, Book 2 has a target release date of March 2024. It could be sooner, but it won’t be later than April 2024 unless disaster happens.
• Watch Me Burn will be posted in the summer or whenever I finish posting FMT Book 2.
• These Small Hours will be posted next fall.
• Fool Me Twice, Book 3 next winter.

Ironically, with splitting FMT after I finished the first round of edits, I put myself into a position to be where I’ve always wanted to be — writing a year out from a planned release with content rolling out regularly. Plus, we’ll still be doing regular Flash Fiction.

I hope you guys are excited for this! See you tomorrow for another Signs of Life update!

Update: Hits Different – Part 1

Feels like absolute ages since I started a new Flash Fiction story. I don’t know how long this one will be yet, so we’ll just see where the story takes us.  I’ll see you on Tuesday for more Signs of Life!

Update Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 29

Finally made it to Friday! Here’s the update I promised since I missed Tuesday and Wednesday. Only the first scene is from the flash fiction. The rest is new 🙂

I’m up to 3500 words for NaNoWriMo, adding on to the 8200 I had already written. Chapters 1-3 are now done, so making good progress. I posted a Tracker/Vlog for anyone who wants to follow along. At Patreon, the Stalker tier is getting regular updates – when I finish a chapter, I post, so feel free to check that out. ‘

See you tomorrow with the first part of the new flash fiction series!

Update: Signs of Life – Chapter 28

Meep! I didn’t mean to miss updates again this week. I got distracted on Halloween, and then yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment and then it was NaNoWriMo, so I was really focused on getting started there. I’ll update again tomorrow to make up for it 🙂

I hope everyone is having a good week. Things are cautiously good here. I left my brace off today because it didn’t fit well on my sweater and my arm isn’t really that sore which is a great sign. I’m going to wear it tomorrow and a little more next week though just to be on the safe side.

We had some tragic news in the soap world — another devastating loss. Tyler Christopher, who originated Nikolas in 1996 and played him the longest (and the best IMO) passed away. He was only 50. Coming only six weeks after losing Billy Miller, I can’t imagine what the cast is going through when you think that Sonya Eddy and Jacklyn Zeman have also passed within the last calendar year. Just tragic. I knew Tyler was dealing with addiction, but I wasn’t aware he was also suffering from bipolar disorder. And having that news only a few days after Matthew Perry on Saturday night — just a really rough week for fans of a certain age.

On a somewhat brighter note, I’m actually going to see Becky on Sunday! She’s coming to the East Coast for the first time in AGES, and it’s the first time since 2006 that she’s come to NJ at the same time I could afford to go. I bought my tickets ages ago, so I’m really excited. You guys know what the character of Elizabeth means to me and it’s so amazing to think I get to see my favorite actress in person. Plus, a lot of Twitter mutuals are going, so I always love to hang out with people who love the character as much as I do.

I’ll see you guys tomorrow for another update!

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Epilogue

As promised — A short epilogue that I timed myself with today. Wrote it in about 27 minutes, though I set the timer for 25. I wasn’t really sure how long it should be, and I kept writing and cutting back, but I feel really good about what I included and where I left it, considering where this story started over a year ago.

Thanks so much for taking this ride with me. I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 55

Well, the final part except for the small epilogue I’m posting tomorrow. 😛  Stay tuned around the usual noon time. 

Saying Goodbye to This Story

Thanks so much for joining me on this journey! This is probably the first Flash Fiction series I’ve written where I knew from the outset that I was writing the first draft of what would be a novel. When I began the other story that ended up nearly as long (Signs of Life), I anticipated that it would run maybe sixteen parts. But I always knew Watch Me Burn would take us a while, lol. Though once I got going this summer, we made a lot of progress.

I’m looking forward to taking this first draft and reworking it. Adding more Robin/Patrick in the first Act, spending a bit more time with our minor characters as they grieve the deaths of those lost. We brushed on Maxie, Dillon, Lulu, Nikolas, Sonny, and Alexis, but I think they could all play more of a role in making the story a bit deeper considering how they’re all connected to our major characters.

Thank you so much for embracing Lucky on this journey. I rewatched the kidnapping story last summer, and I was struck by how much empathy I had for Lucky. How he had actually tried to be the husband Elizabeth wanted — and where I thought his story should take him. He wasn’t perfect, but it was really lovely to see how many of the readers were rooting for him towards the end.

What’s Next?

I’m ready with our next story, Hits Different, which was voted on back in August. That will be posted next Saturday, and then you’ll get a few double updates on my holiday weekends to get us moving. I’m excited to play with this one! Here’s the synopsis:

Set 1996. Jason Quartermaine woke up from a coma without a single memory of his first twenty-three years. All he knows is that the family claiming to love him are so controlling and arrogant that escaping them is his top priority. But the Quartermaines won’t let him go without a fight. First, they cut off his access to a trust fund that’s supposed to be his. Then they get him fired from any job he can find. Just when he’s ready to sleep under the docks, he learns that there’s an apartment lease in his name that they’re trying to cancel.

When he investigates, he finds Elizabeth – a bartender from Luke’s – and apparently, Jason Quartermaine’s wife. And that’s not the only secret the Quartermaines have been keeping. What is he going to do with the wife he didn’t pick and the family he can’t get rid of?

As for Fool Me Twice, I was able to start writing again this week. I finished Chapter 83 which has been in limo ALL month, and I wrote half of Chapter 84 last night. Going to keep writing through Tuesday, then work on These Small Hours for NaNoWriMo, starting November 1. Stay tuned for a much more productive November! Thanks for your patience and support!

I’ll see you tomorrow with the epilogue for Watch Me Burn.

Updated: Signs of Life – Chapter 27

Look at me updating on time, or mostly, lol. We had PSAT/SAT testing today, and my school made it a half day for the kids. They got to leave between 11-12 and the admin gave us the rest of the day as a teacher work day which was really nice. In my last district, they made the poor kids go to classes and kept them. Just exhausting for everyone. I had hall duty and had to wander for three hours, but from 11-3, I was able to just work in my room which was great. I got a lot done and feel pretty good about the next few weeks.

Now that things are back on track with work, I’m looking to get back into writing which I know I say a lot, but it’s hard to force yourself to add something to your routine when energy is low. But you have to force it a bit to make it part of the routine. I’m still exploring what time is right  — at the last job, I used to do around 7 but I’ve been more tired. I still need a break when I get home, so I’m thinking more like 5-6? I’ll figure it out and play with a few times.

I wanted to use November as a break from FMT — because at the time, I thought I’d be writing more of FMT but then my shoulder got so much worse and I just couldn’t write at all. I’m contemplating doing both (hear me out — ) Doing a 25 min sprint on FMT and then doing the 1700ish goal on These Small Hours for NaNo. At least for a few days to see how it works out. I’ll keep you posted.

Anyway, let me finish this post so I can go write tonight and maybe finish a chapter.

Update: Signs of Life – Chapter 26

Hope everyone is having a better week than me, lol. My Phillies lost last night and our season is done. It’s always interesting to look at the social media reactions and see how unhinged people can be. I think it’s more sad that more people can’t just take a deep breath, acknowledge that it sucks, but that it was, in many ways, a great season that gave us a lot of entertaining games and fun with the players. No, it’s more fun to get on Twitter and call the players a bunch of names, sometimes even tagging them as if Nick Castellanos doesn’t know how he played or what his out in the 4th inning might have cost us in momentum or Bryce doesn’t know he had a moment for another swing of his life and fell short. People need to touch grass.

Anyway. Social media is usually a mistake, and I’m going back to spending less time there. People are great when things are good, but the toxicity is depressing.

See you tomorrow for another update!

Updated Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 25

Hope everyone is having a better Tuesday than I am. Tonight’s Game 7 of the NLCS, and if the Phillies lose tonight, our season ends. First Game 7 in our entire 141-year history, so who knows what’s going to happen.

Thanks for all the kind words after I posted on Saturday. I’m feeling better — sometimes things feel worse than you think they are. I sat down on Sunday, made out a list of what needed to be done at work, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Still a lot, but I’ve made progress, and I was even able to write a little bit on Sunday. I’m hoping to write more today, but I’ll definitely be able to write the rest of the week as I’ll be caught up with the big things today.

See you tomorrow for another update!