Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 14

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I actually got a pretty decent amount done, considering how I got started with an asthma attack and then waking up with a migraine. My niece turned 12, which is deeply disturbing. Who told her she was allowed to grow up?

NaNoWriMo & Kismet

I broke 30k for NaNoWriMo — I’m still behind the pacing that NaNo suggests, but if I can manage 2k a day for the next 10 days, we’ll meet the goal of 50k. That would be great, honestly, but I’m just happy I have six chapters of a novel I don’t want to throw out, lol. My history with NaNo outside of July is, uh, troublesome.

• 2018 – Counting Stars. Failed. Trashed entire draft and completely rewrote in 2022
• 2019 – For the Broken Girl: Failed. Trashed entire daft and complete rewrote in 2020.
• 2020 – Fool Me Twice, Book 1: Won! Wrote 50k and finished first draft two weeks later, but I didn’t start it fresh on November 1, so it’s a half win, lol. Still 😛
• 2021 – Smoke & Mirrors: Failed. Trashed draft. Still haven’t rewritten

The six chapters I’ve finished are solid and will definitely be in the draft.  My personal goal for November is to complete Act 1, which is 13 chapters. I’d need to write one chapter a day or so for the next week.

I don’t know yet how long Kismet will be. I have Act 1 completely broken down, but I wanted to explore the story universe before I broke down Acts 2 and 3. I know the big events and some of the small moments, but I hope to throw some time at the plot sketch on Thanksgiving Break.

Counting Stars

We’re actually here! The first four chapters are being posted tomorrow at 7 AM. I’ll be posting four chapters every single Monday until sometime in January. I’m experimenting with this release schedule so that you don’t have to check the site every other day, and you can read that week’s updates at your own pace.

I worked really hard on this story, and it’s definitely outside my usual timeline — I’ve mostly played in the 2002-06 timeline since I came back to writing in 2014. I really hope you guys leave some reviews or thumbs up if you enjoy the chapters.

Flash Fiction

I’m really hoping to add in the Friday update this coming week so we can finish up Invisible Strings, but I’m not promising anything just yet. I have to update my posting schedule. I spent some time today working on the plot sketch for Watch Me Burn, so I’m happy to be back in the flow of updating.

See you guys tomorrow! (I’m so glad I’m starting to post Counting Stars tomorrow!)

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 13

Hope everyone had a good weekend! I know I said I’d planned to relaunch a Friday night update for Flash Fiction this weekend, but I ended up writing around 6k for Kismet that day, and was a bit burnt out. I had fallen behind in the NaNoWriMo count because the Counting Stars Beta Draft took longer than expected to complete (five weeks longer, whoops). I’m just about caught up now — four chapters and 20k completed.

Counting Stars is scheduled for release starting next Monday, November 21 *crosses fingers* I’ll be starting the promotional stuff this week — adding the banners and finishing the subsite. It’s up — I just need to fill out the rest of the pages. Really excited for you guys to start reading this novel. The edits I ended up making were worth the extra time:)

I forgot to post the Spotlight update last week, so including it below. Hope you guys are enjoying rereading Bittersweet for those that are reading along.

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Novel: Bittersweet (Set 2002; Written 2016-18)

I chose Bittersweet for November for a few reasons. One, I honestly love it, and I’m really proud of how it turned out. I discovered a lot about my writing process while working on it. Bittersweet was also the final project that Cora and I worked on together. Cora was my beta reader for this novel as well as The Best Thing, and a lot of the story beats and themes were improved upon due to her guidance. I also have a sequel in the works for Bittersweet that I nearly chose this time around, and I thought it might be fun to reacquaint you all with the first story.

• November 3: Chapter 1 – Chapter 7: I wrote several different openings for Bittersweet, really struggling with the tone I wanted to set for the Jason/Elizabeth relationship. I’ve posted all the novel’s deleted and unused material on the Workshop. I very much wanted to establish the universe and the characters in this first section of the story, particularly the friendship between Elizabeth, Gia, and Courtney. I also spent a lot of time filling out the mob storyline, figuring out how to make that storyline pop. I love the early Zander material with Nico and Lenny. Some of my favorite mob stuff. I’m most proud of my Jason/AJ scenes and forcing them both to look at each other in a new light.
• November 9: Chapter 8 – Chapter 14: Chapter 8’s bar fight had a Liason moment that was in my head almost from the moment I began thinking about this story back in 2014. It’s one of my favorite scenes I’ve written for them. And the final scene in Chapter 8 used to open the story, but I moved it to trick readers into thinking they were reading one kind of story, and then delivering a second one.  This chunk of chapters is the important character stuff with Jason and AJ, and developing the Liason relationship before the story takes the twist. Gia’s dialogue in Chapter 14 at the end has one of my favorite lines, I’m only sorry I got to write it once.

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 12

Hope everyone had a good weekend 🙂 My beloved Phillies fell to the Astros in Game 6 last night which was a heartbreak but an absolutely wild ride. I’m looking forward to next season (and to less anxiety during the week, lol). Of course, the Union also lost, but the World Cup is coming.

Counting Stars

• I completed the beta draft of Counting Stars today, which was a huge surprise to me after Act 2 took like six weeks, lol.
• I got some great editing time in during lunch breaks this week, so Act 3 just flowed.
• It’s posted at Patreon for the $7 and above tier, and you can grab it here on CG for a single purchase if you’re not a Patreon.
• I have one more round of edits to complete — looking for typos and last minute edits. I’ll be downloading the PDF and marking that up this week.
• Dates
  • November 7-9: Mark up beta draft.
  • November 10-13: Make edits for the posting draft.
  • November 14-20: Finish website and schedule chapters
  • November 21: Release Date. 4 Chapters every Monday for nine weeks, taking us through January.
• I may push release back another week if the posting draft takes longer to finish. We’ll see.

Kismet

• I started strong on this, but took a break to get Counting Stars done.
• I had a small cold this weekend so I didn’t get back to it.
• Tomorrow we start strong and get our word count back on track.

Flash Fiction

• I’ll be back on track starting this November.
• Friday Flash will be back with Invisible Strings at 8 PM, and Watch Me Burn will be more regular on Sundays.

See you later this week!

Update: Spotlight

I’m a bit late on the spotlight update, sorry! But updating with the World Series on in the background (my Phillies are giving me anxiety and I need some distractions). I’ve got some spotlight updates and some general writing updates for you.

Continue reading →

I honestly feel cursed.

On the three day weekend, I got nailed with a nasty head cold that lingered for over a week, and then I lost my voice. I thought it was due to cheering during the postseason games while being sick, but of course not, nope. Over the last week, I started to feel worse, and it was harder to get out of bed.  I have strep throat. Naturally.

Ever since that weekend when I first got sick, it’s been a struggle to get back on track. My brain just can’t quite concentrate on the writing for long periods of time. I’ve written a bit, but not much and most of what I write, I have to delete and restart. Feels like most of October has been a loss.

I don’t know if it’s because I never really get a lot of recovery time when I’m sick during the school year. I remember working in my office job with a cold and managing just fine, but teaching — man.  I’d go home each day feeling worse than at the start of the day. It felt like running in place and never getting anywhere.

Not to mention, my TMJ doctor took me off the meds that were working, put me on new ones that do not work, and I’ve been playing phone tag with the office for the follow-up appointment, so the headaches are back.

I quit.

Anyway, it’s obvious that Counting Stars won’t be out next week. I’m taking some time to give myself a break today. I slept until 9:00 AM, and I’m gonna do the mountain of laundry that’s stacked up. I’m going to write. I’m just not going to promise anything for a week or two until I’m feeling better.

Link: Spotlight

In case you missed it, last week I launched a new feature where I’ll pick a short story and a longer story each month to revisit. I’ll do a few chapters at a time (sort of like a repost). I meant to update last night on Friday, but Taylor Swift launched her newest album (and I AM OBSESSED) and the Phillies were winning NLCS Game 3 (TWO MORE WINS TO THE WORLD SERIES!)

October’s story is The Witness.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a Flash Fiction update (I may or may not write it early, since the Phillies are playing at 2 and there’s no guarantee I’m not sobbing or freaking out because we either clinch or we don’t).

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I chose The Witness as my first spotlight story for a few reasons. One, it’s shorter than a lot of my other stories so it fits nicely to begin mid-month; two, it’s just a fun story. It was my first foray into playing with the Cassadine/Spencer feud and it has a lot of ensemble characters. If I were writing this story today, it’d probably be twice as long with a more definitive ending, but I just had so much fun writing and returning to this story.

• October 14: Prologue – Chapter 5: The premise for this story was a challenge at The Canvas where writers received a title and had to write a story around that. I didn’t plan any piece of The Witness, so the fact that I ended up actually making this worked is an accident. I honestly couldn’t tell you why I decided to go with this idea. Honestly, the final line in the prologue might be one of my favorite cliff hangers.
• October 21: Chapter 6 – Chapter 10: These are the chapters where I definitely leaned into plot twist after plot twist. Paternity secrets, shootings, back from the dead, blood feuds. I was having so much fun with this story, which I hope it shows off. I would never ever write this story like this today, but it still holds up pretty well. My favorite line is definitely the last one of Chapter 10 — it’s a one-liner I shamelessly stole from a 1998 episode.
• October 28: Chapter 11 – Epilogue

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 11

Beginning to think I’d never get this one back! Hope everyone’s weekend is as good as mine. My Phillies clinched an NLDS series win over the Braves in an absolutely gorgeously played game with great at bats, stellar pitching, and all the excitement you want in the postseason. There’s no baseball quite like October baseball. They’re four wins away from the World Series! I don’t talk a lot my baseball obsession because, well, there hasn’t been much to write home about for a long time. It’s also been bittersweet since my grandmother passed in 2018. We watched the games together — this is my first post season without her.

Whether we get to the World Series or not, the dopamine rush of the last few weeks has been absolutely required to get myself back together. I definitely feel like I’ve been in a fog since August, not really on my game. Sometimes you just need the adrenaline rush and memories of better times to get through it.

I’ll see you guys later this week!

October Spotlight: Everytime & The Witness, Prologue – Chapter 5

Happy Friday! I write to you from my sofa as I watch my beloved Phillies in Game 3 of the NLDS. This week definitely got away from me — on Sunday, I woke up with a vicious head cold that lingered well into the middle of the week, putting me behind in literally everything (after I just got caught up, boo!).  AND RHYS HOSKINS JUST HIT A 3 RUN HOME RUN! LET’S GOOOOO!!!!

*coughs* anyway.

HOLY SHIT BRYCE HARPER JUST HIT A 2 RUN HOME RUNNNN

….i’m gonna come back and do this during a commercial.

Okay, I’m back. We’re in awesome shape. 6-0 and Aaron Nola is pitching like a champ. Let me get through this 😛

Flash Fiction Change

We’re cutting Friday night out of the schedule for a few weeks because I’m struggling to maintain it. I’m also cutting The Last Time out of Flash Fiction. The last few parts have felt really stilted, and I think it’s not a story that’s doing well as a Flash Fiction series anymore. I’m going to finish it in my off time, edit the first few parts and then post it.

Watch Me Burn WILL return this Sunday if I have to set myself on fire.

When Fridays return in November, I’ll be bringing back Invisible Strings.  I have two four day weekends in November which starts that run into December. I’ll be finishing up the second 7th & 8th grade rotation of 30 days and the 4th rotation of 6th graders which means (with any luck) I’ll be in a good swing of things.

Spotlight

I had a reader make a suggestion that I “repost” my older stories, mostly because they (and I) were surprised when neither of the sequels (Burn in Heaven and Malice) didn’t have much of an audience because the OG stories are pretty old at this point. Since it’s Crimson Glass’s 20th anniversary, I thought it might be a good idea to find a way to both revisit older stories and talk about writing them and give you guys something to read for the first time or revisit on days when I don’t post.

Right now, they’ll be on Fridays, but once Flash Fiction comes back, I’ll put it on Wednesdays, I think. Or maybe Saturdays. We’ll consider it. First up are too older stories from my early 20s — check them out on the new Spotlight page.

Update Link: The Last Time, Scenes 34-36

Ugh, this week. My doctor changed my medicine, and wanted me to take two days off to clear the old script out of my system, so now everything hurts like hell. But I get to start the new meds tonight, so should be feeling better this weekend — and I have Monday off, so definitely yay for that.

I made some decent headway last week into being ready for this week, and I’m glad you guys enjoyed the chapters from Counting Stars’ beta draft. I’m digging into that this weekend, and with any luck, I’ll be finishing up sometime on Monday. A little off schedule, but that’s no worry. I’d love to have the whole thing completely done before I start posting, but as long as the beta changes are made, I’m pretty happy. I might still have it completely proof read and scheduled before November 7 — there’s a four day weekend the first weekend of November that should make a difference.

I really wanted to have started drafting Kismet by now, but my energy just hasn’t been there. That’s another project I’m planning to spend some time with this weekend.

I should be good to go to bring back Watch Me Burn on Sunday. I’m looking forward to getting back into that. See you then!

Update Link: Counting Stars – Chapter 2

I’m glad you guys liked the first chapter! I’m really happy with how this book worked out (and even more excited about the edits I’m still making). I really pushed myself in some areas, and it’s definitely a new territory for me in GH canon. I’ve only written Signs of Life, which didn’t really touch on a lot of characters. This is your second preview chapter to replace a Flash Fiction update!

While it definitely sucked to spend so much of this weekend doing work, I’m glad I did it. I learned how to write units in my school’s lesson planners, which means I just have to click one button to update lesson plans every rotation instead of rewriting them every single week. It’s going to save me so much time and energy. Plus, I finished writing my second unit yesterday, and I’m going to be doing a lot of prep today to get ready for this week (I have to create teaching slides and Google Classroom posts). I also got all my papers graded yesterday.

Next weekend is a three day weekend, and the prep work I’ve put it this weekend will mean I can spend most of the next weekend writing — and finish the beta draft of Counting Stars. I’m hopefully carving out some time this afternoon/evening to finish a chapter of Stars, and then begin working on Kismet, which is the new project for this fall.

As always, I appreciate all the support and patience! I Flash Fiction will be back as scheduled next week and we’ll be in good shape to maintain the schedule going forward. September is always a wild month, and I guess I should be happy that I kept as much of my schedule as I did.

See you on Friday night!