Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 22

Hope everyone had a great weekend 🙂 I worked on Fool Me Twice Saturday, and finished Act 2 (a huge thing — it’s taken me most of the last two months, but we’re finally making progress) so I decided to take Sunday off to sleep in and relax a little. I’ve written about 53k since summer vacation started, just on Fool Me  Twice, not counting the 8k or so for Watch Me Burn. I want to make sure I’m pacing myself.

As we get closer to July, I’m still contemplating whether I want to add a second story for Tues/Thurs. I think I might just focus on editing Fool Me Twice & Signs of Life this summer so that both can be ready asap to post and give me more content next fall. I love writing the Flash Fiction, but if I don’t get Fool Me Twice done this summer, I won’t have a novel out this year, lol. And that would be the first time since 2017, so yeah — Book 2 is the priority.

Act 3 has about 18 chapters, which should be done sometime next week. I’m going to miss that June 30 date unless I get on a roll one of these days and write more than 2 chapters, but I’m not pushing myself. I tend to rush the ending of the books because I’m so tired of looking at them, lol. Then I have to go back in and rewrite.

See you Wednesday!

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 21

Another late update, lol. I went to bed at a normal time, and then my brain was like, nah, we’re not tired. So I overslept again. Irritating, but not surprising. Let’s just state from now own if I don’t update by 11 AM or 2 PM on Mon, Wed, or Fri, then there’s no update for that day.

I finally manged to write the breakdown of Act 3 for Fool Me Twice — my brain was just really scattered, and I couldn’t really figure out chapter breakdowns for some reason. Book 2 is going to be Chapters 39-102 — which I know sounds really long, but Book 2’s chapters are about 20% shorter than Book 1. For example, Book 1 was about 235k words in length and 38 chapters. For book 2, I’ve completed Chapters 39-80, so that’s 42 chapters, and it’s only 131k in length.

Still hoping to finish it off by June 30 and spend the summer editing.

See you guys Monday!

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 20

Apologies for the slight delay in today’s posting! I’m still working on adjusting my sleep schedule, and I find if I don’t wake up until 8 AM, it’s hard to organize my energy to get going in the morning. I’m oversleeping right now, which I can tell because I always feel groggy for most of the day. I want to get myself adjusted to the 6 AM schedule I usually use in the summer because I can actually use that next year. The new school where I’m going to work is literally a three minute drive from my house if the traffic lights are green, so I can leave for work at 7 and still be a half hour early, lol.

Fool Me Twice is coming along nicely — I’ve had a few doctor’s appointments this week (trying to get as much in before my health insurance expires on June 30 — the new one doesn’t kick in until August 28). I’m planning to finish Act 2 this week (I wrote Chapter 78 yesterday, there are four chapters left, so Friday is the final deadline). We’re still on schedule for my June 30 deadline, which makes me happy because I’ve been itchy to dive back in and start making changes which I can’t do without finishing first, lol.

See you on Friday!

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 19

Happy Monday and happy summer vacation!! We made it! I’ve been done work since last Tuesday, and I’m still absolutely exhausted, lol.

The last two years, when I packed up for summer, I only took a few things home because most of it was just stored away for September. This year, I had to pack EVERYTHING. Six huge boxes full of materials — I dragged them to the car, to the living room, and then abandoned them for the rest of the week lol. My living room looks like a nightmare. I’ve been slowly moving through them, trying to sort through what needs to be repacked because I don’t need it, and then pulling out things that don’t have to go back — ugh.

I spent the first two days (Wed & Thurs) sleeping, reading, playing The Sims, and enjoying my beloved Phillies — their best road trip since 2010! This is the first year since my grandmother died in 2018 that I’ve had both time and energy to get into the season. It was something we shared together, and it was hard for a while to watch without her. But the post season run just brought it all back, and when I’m really missing her, I make sure to sit in the armchair I inherited. It was her mother’s chair, and was in her living room all my life. It was the only thing I ever wanted, and now it’s in my office 🙂

Since Friday, I’ve been focusing on Fool Me Twice and catching up to where I wanted to be — In the last three days, I’ve written around 25k and five chapters. I feel fantastic about the material coming out, though it needs a lot of work. It was always going to be a messy draft, so I’m ready for the editing to be insane, ha. Hoping to finish it up around June 30.

Today, we’re kicking off the summer posting schedule! I’m starting with Watch Me Burn on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This will definitely be the story of the summer, as we’re barely halfway through. In July, when the FMT draft is done, I’m either going to add a new Flash Fiction story or more Watch Me Burn. I’m not sure yet — if it’s a new story, I need to make sure it’s a shorter one that will only take the eight weeks I’ll have of summer (so roughly 16 parts).

I’m still working on Signs of Life, and was planning to do more beta editing this month, but I got so behind FMT (and you’ve all been waiting WAY too long for this book), so I put it on the back burner for now.

Last bit of business! I’m working on my summer plans for the site, the channel, and Patreon, and there are still a handful of stories that haven’t been given the unique theme approach (like Fool Me Twice and Counting Stars). Let me know which story you think deserves to get the makeover next!

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 18

Happy Saturday! We’re in the home stretch of the school year. We finished our last full day on Thursday, and we’re into our half days. My eighth graders graduate Monday night, and then noon on Tuesday, I’m free! It’s bittersweet as I pack up my classroom because I know the French program I worked so hard to build isn’t going to last — they’re taking the foreign language teachers out of the classroom next year and putting them on carts. I can’t tell you how difficult it is to teach from a cart. You’re limited in your supplies and in your process. I know my fellow teachers know how much easier our lives are when we’re in our own rooms. I taught from a cart in 2020-21 during our hybrid year to limit student movement, and it was exhausting.  The program I wrote isn’t designed to be taught from a cart, so my heart breaks for my kiddos who genuinely loved French (there were a few!)

But I’m already switching focus to the new district — completing my new hire paperwork and doing some preliminary planning for next year. It’s so exciting to be able to expand my lessons and do more indepth work.

I’m writing more, of course. Since June 1, I’ve written 7 chapters which is more than I wrote in the entire month of May. I’m still hopeful to finish this draft by the end of June, but I haven’t done a chapter breakdown of Act 3 quite yet. I’ve been focusing on writing Act 2. The plan is to do that this week (I won’t have a choice — I’m scheduled to finish Act 2 on Sunday, lol.)

Please note that there will be no Flash Fiction next Saturday! I’m switching to the summer schedule this week, and Flash Fiction updates will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday starting Monday, June 19.

Oh, and I know the site is still having some weird downtime — I’m going to contact Dreamhost and investigate it again later today. It’s frustrating — I never had these issues before the server changes in April. Please let me know if you’re having issues accessing the site!

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 17

So glad to be dusting off this series and getting back to it. I never meant for it to stay on hiatus for the entire academic year, but well, here we are.

I’m done teaching on June 13, so for this week and next, I’ll be updating on Saturdays around this time. Then, starting June 19, I’ll be updating Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As long as I keep my writing schedule what it is (and I finish the draft of Fool Me Twice), I’ll have a new story on Tues/Thurs starting July 3.

Looking forward to updating more regularly again!

Update Link: Invisible Strings – Part 22

Oof, it was definitely NOT supposed to be three weeks between updates, but you know, life is weird, and your brain doesn’t always obey you. I was determined not to let my contract status affect me, but then, well, it did. I just really struggled to get through the last three weeks of classes. Putting together nine applications (exhausting), getting through my classes (AND starting my last sixth grade rotation), and just generally wrapping my head around spending the summer interviewing with no health insurance for my chronic health conditions. It took a toll on the creative brain, and I started to feel really burnt out.

But — as you might have seen if you follow me on Twitter — I got some good news recently. Some really great news, actually. I applied for an ELA position in my home district (where I live and worked as a substitute during the pandemic). My sister encouraged me to reach out to the superintendent — he’s a connection through my mother (she was on the Board of Education that hired him, and he went to school with my brother-in-law). Why not capitalize on that? So I did that, and he told me the ELA job would be filled internally, BUT he wanted to meet with me to talk about some current interests because he’s also the high school principal.

Last Friday, I met with him, and he indicated that he wanted to bring French back to the district — there hasn’t been one since my old French teacher retired. My French class was one of the last (and I graduated in 2002). But he had to run it by the board. I found out later that this position doesn’t exist — the board would have to okay creating one. I spent all the last week, trying not to get my hopes up and just focusing on my current students.

On Friday, he officially offered me the job. I found a position in my top choice district without having to do an actual interview, lol. This is mostly because I’ve interviewed in this district before, getting all the way to the final two, and I’ve taught there. So beyond the personal connections, my professional abilities were well-known. Plus, it’s not like French teachers are found under every rock, you know.

Anyway, this is all great news, and I’ve made some really big rebounds in my energy and emotional health. (Unsurprisingly). I started to write again yesterday and here I am, finally finishing this flash fiction.

I need to do a soft reset on most of my thoughts and plans for the summer — just because I’d counted on writing for most of May and then that didn’t happen. However, flash fiction is back, and I’ll be here next weekend with the return of Watch Me Burn.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. I’m really excited about starting this next chapter! Eleven school days left until summer vacation!

Update Link: Invisible Strings – Part 21

Apologies for the delay in updating. I wish I had a better excuse other than the usual — work is difficult, and my energy has felt completely drained. Not entirely sure if I’m all the way back, but I have to start concentrating on something other than work, or I’ll go insane.

I found out yesterday morning that my contract isn’t being renewed for next year. I knew that was a possibility because while I have a bachelor’s degree in French, I haven’t been able to obtain certification because the testing is impossible and expensive. I thought I’d be reassigned to ELA or Social Studies where I am certified, but instead, my VP dropped off a letter while I was teaching my Block 1. Of course, my eighth graders know my face, and I wasn’t able to keep it in. It was a rough day — by dismissal, most of the older kids knew and kept stopping by to hug me or plan a protest. One of my girls organized a bunch of kids to sign a poster for me, which was really sweet and unexpected from this particular student. I knew that she liked my class, and I always enjoyed having her, but I had no idea how much she and some of her friends cared.  Anyway. I’ve got some leads on other positions, and a few applications in already, so we’ll see what happens.

I’ve been working on other things in the background, particularly Signs of Life and Fool Me Twice. I should have a lot more details on both in about a week or two. Hope you enjoy today’s update — we’re just about wrapped up with this story.

We haven’t had any downtime since 11:06 PM on April 18, so I’m cautiously optimistic that the site issues are resolved. They moved me to a new host machine, and apparently there were a lot of issues that weren’t immediately detectable. I spent most of Monday on a chat queue trying to get it sorted out.

I’m very sorry that it took so long to get things sorted out — I didn’t even realize there was an issue until late Saturday. For some reason, the alerts I’m supposed to get from WordPress about the site being unresponsive got sent to spam, and the problem got pretty bad on Sunday when it was literally down every hour.

I made two updates on the weekend in case you missed either:

SATURDAY: I didn’t write flash fiction, so I posted some bonus material from Fool Me Twice. Chapters 50 & 54 from Book 2 which are both Liason centered, and Book 1’s flashbacks organized in chronological order.

SUNDAY: Flash Fiction, Invisible Strings – Part 20

I’ll see you this weekend for more flash fiction!

Update Link: Invisible Strings – Part 20

Back Up Form: https://crimsonglass.boardhost.com/index.php

Took a little longer to write this entry because my online support agent finally responded to my support ticket regarding the downtime issues. They swear it’s related to a backend issue that should be resolved now. But just in case, until I’m satisfied, I’ll be posting on the backup board for Flash Fiction.

This was supposed to be the last part, lol, but I didn’t quite get where I wanted to, so we’ll have another weekend of this story. See you then!