Update Links: Mad World, Book 4 – Chapter 115 & Epilogue

A long time ago, practically in another life, Ric married Alexis. I sat at home wondering what would happen if Elizabeth had walked in on him marrying another woman with their divorce barely finalized. That was November 2004, and I was still a pantser. I wrote that scene and then continued writing about other characters, and without really thinking about it, I added a scene between Brooke Lynn and Diego. Brooke’s sexual assault is the only real thread that ties the original Mad World from the Fiction Graveyard to this series, but without that scene added randomly when I was 20, I wouldn’t have written these books.

Mad World was only ever supposed to be one book — a story about a serial rapist set in the aftermath of the panic room.  It continued to grow until it was four books, more than a hundred chapters, and over half a million words in length. These were the first books I wrote where I completed the entire story before posting, something I’ve always wanted to do because it allowed me to really edit, add, or cut scenes.

In Book 2, at the end, Dante visits Vinnie in jail — that scene wasn’t in the original draft (I wrote the entire book completely forgetting Vinnie and Dante were cousins because I only used it as a story excuse for Dante being in Port Charles!). But without that scene, Dante’s story in the next two books doesn’t exist.  The majority of Book 3 wasn’t planned — but now I can’t imagine the series without those chapters, without really exploring the aftermath of the serial rapist.

I’m incredibly proud of this insane series, and I want to thank you guys for going on the journey with me and for falling in love with characters who weren’t Jason and Elizabeth. It meant a lot to me. If you get to the end of the book, I hope you’ll give me a quick reply. I’d love to hear what your favorite part was.

It’s time to close the book on this mad, mad, mad world.

Update Link: The Last Time – Scenes 19-20

Got a little bit of a late start on this tonight — had a massive migraine and my TMJ was acting up, so I took some meds and a nap. Only writing for half hour.   If you’re subscribed to the update lists, you’ll get two emails tomorrow. Usually when Mad World updates on the same day as Flash Fiction, I just wait to do the links at the same time. But since it’s the last one and my updates for Flash Fiction are at night, I’ll be doing two posts.

 

Update Links: Scars – Part 17 | Mad World, Book 4 – Chapter 114

Had my last doctor’s appoint of my summer vacation today — and got the results of my MRI. It’s what she thought last month, but she was able to get a more finalized diagnosis. I have arthritis in my neck cased by degenerative disc disease, and there’s a possibility that I’ll have issues with my left arm in the future. Just super fun, really. No real treatment beyond managing the pain at this point. It’s just a condition I’ll be living with for the rest of my life, trying to keep it from getting worse. I have my appointment for the pain management clinic, but they can’t see me until October. Getting old is stupid.

Second to last update of Mad World went live today. We’ll finish up with Chapter 115 and the epilogue on Thursday.

Update Link: Invisible Strings – Part 9

Today is the first day of the new weekday schedule — Flash Fiction updates will be made in the evening. I’ll start writing around 7 PM (some nights I might do 6:30 PM) and post an hour later.  This is only for Flash Fiction — we’re done posting daily on August 31. Updates shift to Friday-Sunday, then Monday will be added in November when I launch Counting Stars. That’ll be posted at 7 AM with an update post going live at the same time. Hopefully that makes sense.

Two weeks from tomorrow, we’re back at school with the kiddos. Can’t decide if I’m excited yet, lol. I’m back to work for teacher prep days on September 1.

I can’t believe Mad World ends this week! Chapter 114 goes live tomorrow morning at 7 AM and the conclusion on Thursday!

Update: Watch Me Burn – Part 8

Does anyone else have, like, six stages of doing laundry? My washer/dryer is in the basement, so I feel like, Day 1  -take laundry to first floor; Day 2- actually do laundry; Day 3 – redry clothes so they’re not wrinkled and bring them to first floor to fold; Day 4 bring clothes to second floor; Day 5 – bring to bedroom; Day 6 – actually put them away. Just in time to start the nightmare again. And it’s exclusively a summer thing — I have no issues during the school year. Maybe it’s because my brain knows I can wear yoga pants, so it’s not like I need the clothes.

Anyway 😛 Tomorrow, I’m going to attempt to do Flash fiction at 7 PM to get my writing energy going in the evening — I want to do more writing at night during the school year.

Update Links: Scars – Part 16 | Mad World, Book 4 – Chapter 113

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. I’m going into my final full week of summer and only two doctor’s appointments the entire week, one of which is remote, so yay for that. No MRIs or CTs or anything else that’s made this a crappy summer vacation. I’m getting the MRI results on Tuesday for my back and neck, which is the next step to finally starting treatment. Nothing like having to wait 16 months, but at least we’re on the right track.

This upcoming week, I may start experimenting with switching Flash Fiction up a bit. Instead of writing at 10 AM and posting at 11, I’ll start writing at 7 PM and posting at 8. I’ll be updating on Fridays this fall for the first time in a few years, so I want to start reworking my schedule to adjust to being back to work. Saturday & Sunday will remain at 10 AM because I do like getting it out of the way on weekends.

Only two more days of updates for Mad World! Chapter 114 goes live at 7 AM on Tuesday, Aug 23 and Chapter 115 & Epilogue, Thursday, Aug 25. Still insane to me that we’re almost done. Sorry about the cliffhanger, lol. It’s the biggest one in the entire series, and it’s on a Saturday, with two days until the next chapter. Whoops.

See you tomorrow!

Update: Counting Stars – Chapter 4 Excerpt

As I said yesterday, I really wasn’t sure what kind of headspace I’d be in today. Lauren’s service was beautiful, and her dad gave a really beautiful eulogy. He shared some really fun memories, including the night we watched the debate in his basement back in 2012 and how we stayed up until 2 AM at his house for the election. He and Lauren’s mom were always so generous with their homes and their energy, like a second set of parents.

The whole London family came, and that was really special. We’re scattered across a few states now, so unfortunately we only get together for weddings and, now, funerals. The last time we were all together was Ammar’s wedding in September 2020, and Lauren’s in 2016. We went out afterwards and told stories and shared memories most of us hadn’t thought of in years. I’m really blessed to have so many amazing friends and that we can still get together like no time has passed. As good as last night was, we keenly felt Lauren’s absence, and I know we will for years to come.

No flash fiction, but I wanted to post something today. We only have a few chapters left of Mad World, and tomorrow’s chapter has a cliffhanger that I didn’t want to stretch another day, so I’m pulling one of my favorite scenes from Counting Stars. I haven’t edited it yet (and it used to be in Chapter 3), but it’s one of my favorites in this first act. I shared a piece of this a few days ago on Twitter, so it was a good one for today.  Counting Stars will be published starting November 7, with four chapters posted on Mondays until its completion.

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 7 | Mad World, Book 4 – Chapter 112

It feels so strange, knowing that we’re a week away from the end of Mad World. I’ve lived with this project so long, it just doesn’t compute. A reminder that I am doing a read through for typos and continuity errors, so I can create a final set of ebooks (I will also update the chapters on the site), so if you notice any, don’t hesitate to let me know.

Lauren’s service is tonight, and I’ve been asked to speak. I’m not really sure where my head is going to be after this or when I’ll be home tonight, so I’ll just note in advance that Scars might not happen tomorrow. If that happens, I still have one more free Saturday before we go into the fall schedule, so it won’t throw us off that final completion date. I won’t post about it or anything. If it doesn’t go up, I’m not writing.

In more positive news, I’ve been working really hard on my Discovery project, and this week has been a big breakthrough on Fool Me Twice, Book 2. I’ve finished plotting 75% of the book, and just have to finish up Act 3. Then I’ll move into Chapter breakdown. If I don’t write it this fall, I will definitely be tackling it as the next project, so it should be out next summer.

Update Link: The Last Time – Scenes 15-18

Yesterday: Mad World, Book 4 – Chapter 111

Hope everyone is having a good week. I know I warned you guys Flash Fic would be a bit wonky this week, but I really didn’t plan on skipping two days. Monday morning, I woke up early to get it done before lunch with my mother, but I ended up writing the eulogy for Lauren’s services on Thursday. I thought it would be more difficult, but the beginning was just in my head when I woke up, so I sat down to write it. But then it kind of messed me up a bit all day, and it was hard to clear my head again.

Yesterday, I had a work event. My VP asked for some of our NJHS kiddos to volunteer at sixth-grade orientation, so I decided it was a good idea to go supervise them, even though it was unpaid and voluntary. It was actually a lot of fun and helped get my mind off things. I really love all my kids, but I won’t lie and say that there’s a few of the incoming eighth graders that are my favorites, and they showed up yesterday.  Teaching is such a demanding job with so little monetary worth, but you can ignore that a lot if you genuinely love the kids. When this group graduates this year, I’m going to be weeping like a crazy person.

Then I had an MRI, which I didn’t think would be so bad  because I’d already had two MRAs which is similar, but the MRI was on my spine, and it was more restraining. It just put me in a weird headspace, so I just figured, better to skip and relax and come back today.

Anyway, we should be good to stay on schedule the rest of the week.

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 6

ETA: As you guys know, I prep these posts in advance. Halfway through writing, Lauren’s husband called me. He wants me to speak at her service. We spent about a half hour talking about what’s happened, how we’re doing. And I had to press pause, obviously, on the writing. So it’s a bit late and I don’t know how long it’s going to take. I have a set amount of scenes to do today, so I’m just going to write until they’re done.

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Moving into the final two full weeks of summer vacation, which is a bit sad, honestly. Thanks to the doctor appointments and tests, I don’t really feel like I’ve had a lot of time to relax. Every single week, I had something scheduled. And then, of course, last week felt like a fog. Once again, thanks for the kind words. Writing really helped me process and tune out when I needed to.

I’m planning to update Scars three times this coming week to get back on track. I’d wanted to update yesterday, but I didn’t sleep well, and woke up late with a migraine. I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to write anything.

This upcoming week might be a bit wonky, I’m probably going to update early in the morning for Flash Fiction Mon-Wed, and there’s a chance I’ll miss Thursday. Having an early lunch with my mom (we haven’t seen each other all summer because it’s too damn hot to leave the house), I have orientation with my school on Tuesday, and then my wisdom teeth on Wednesday. I’m only getting one tooth pulled, so it shouldn’t be the insane recovery that you’d get with all four, so we’ll see.

Mad World is scheduled and goes live at 7 AM on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sat until August 25 so if I miss posting an update to the main blog (which triggers the emails), you can come to the site and check the sidebar for the most recent chapters.

See you tomorrow.