Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 23

After a very exhausting six hours of summer school this week, we’re finally off for four straight days. (literally easiest job in the world if i didn’t have to wake up at 6) I can’t wait to not set the alarm for a few days. I’m relieved to say that moving my computer to a new spot on the desk is giving the elbow support I’ve been looking for — and somehow I have twice as much space??? I also decluttered it, lol, so it’s a much more pleasant work space.

I’ll be updating a bit earlier tomorrow, around noon, since I have a barbecue to attend. See you then!

Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 22
Camp NaNoWriMo Tracker

I’ll be updating again on Saturday to make up for missing yesterday.

Yesterday morning, my sister texted to let me know that the day we’d been dreading for a few months had arrived — my parents’ dog, Max, was at the end of his battle with kidney disease. He’d been diagnosed about two years ago, but treatment had kept him pretty much the same until the last few weeks. I told her I’d come down after summer school was done at 10 to be with my mom  for a little because I knew she’d take it hard. I thought he’d gone to an emergency vet overnight and, well, it was already over. But I learned after work that it wasn’t, and that I’d have time to say goodbye, to be there.

Max was 15, an ancient age for Shih-Tzus who live to be about 10-16. He was the sweetest dog and shared a birthday month with my cat, Sasha (April 2009) though they were always suspicious of each other. He was my sister’s dog first (and my niece used to cry whenever I’d pick him up for grooming or to look after while they were on vacation because she was two), but then in his later years, the steps were too much, and he moved to live out his golden years being pampered by my parents. Dad cooked him his own food, and tried to tempt him with pretty much everything the last days — even steak filet.  He lived with us when he was a puppy, and my sister and her husband were saving for the house down payment, and was besties with our Husky/Border Collie, Zoe, whom we lost in 2012 to from complications of epilepsy. I like to think they’re puppies again together, chasing each other somewhere. Maybe the squirrels Max hated or the kids on bike Zoe considered her mortal enemy.

Anyway, I went down, we went to the appointment, and not surprisingly, I couldn’t really get myself together the rest of the day. I kept thinking I’d try writing at 4, 5, or even 6, but eventually I gave up and just decided to move on and skip today entirely.

In more writing news, Camp NaNoWriMo got started yesterday, though I’m a day behind. I’ll include the link above if you want to follow me on the tracker.

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 25

It was so nice these last two days not to spend literally my entire morning on curriculum, lol. I’m going to be able to rest my elbow a lot more, and later today during the Phillies game, I’m going to clean out and reorganize my desk to get more elbow support. I have an L-shaped desk, and up until now I’ve just either used the long side or short side of the L for my computer, but, I’m going to put it diagonally where the two sides mean because I think (hope) it’ll give me more space to rest my elbows on the desk. I don’t know, it works in my head, lol. Plus I’m basically a level 5 hoarder in my office. It really needs a serious decluttering, and the desk is the first step.

After today, we switch back to Warning Shots for next week! I’m leaning towards 3 PM updates for M-W and Friday. I get GH live in my market at 3PM so it makes it easier to stay a little spoiler free. I’m actually enjoying pieces of the show, and the Jason story really works for me right now, so it’s nice not to have everyone else’s, uh, more critical take in my head. I think they’re doing some interesting things with the Jason story, and so far most of the beats they’ve set up have been followed through. I have to look at Thursday because GH is a repeat of a terrible episode from 2023, and I have a family event.

Don’t forget — today’s update is a makeup from missing Tuesday — I typically don’t plan to be doing flash on weekends this summer!

See you on Monday!

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 24

Happy Friday to some people, I guess, lol. Uh, politics are stupid mostly because people are mad both guys running are too old, but you know only one of them is a fascist rapist convicted of multiple felonies, so why anyone’s acting like there’s a choice isn’t that fun. Soap Twitter is mildly better though — the JJ discourse has calmed down. Michael Easton finally left so the unholy duo of OLTL pets have finally exited the building. We get rid of Frank, it’s a clean sweep but well, nothing on that yet. There’s a Jason/Carly fight in the previews, and there’s spoilers that it’s vicious, friend-ending so I’m praying that comes through because that will feed the timeline for DAYS. And, well, if you’re a Phillies fan reading this before the game tonight, you know we don’t know how Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are yet. Both might be down with injuries, so Phillies twitter has lost their everloving minds.

ANYWAY.

Curriculum is finally done! I finished my last hours this morning, and I’m in an amazing place for next year. Lesson plans are complete for French II, and I’ve written the first 60ish days for French I. All that’s left is creating the content, and I can do that at a normal pace the rest of the summer. I can’t wait to see how this level of preparation helps with managing my time better. I also have my content prepped for the rest of summer school, so that’s pretty awesome. I did my summer budget and I won’t have to survive on cereal in September like last year 😛

This weekend, I’m diving back into These Small Hours with a hope to have an update before the end of the month for my Patreons. I was spending 5-7 hours a day on curriculum, so even taking 3 of those for writing is going to be awesome. I appreciate everyone’s patience on that.

I hope you guys are enjoying the alternating weeks of Flash Fiction. I think it lets me build momentum in writing and plan really evil cliffhangers each Friday, so I hope you’re feeling the benefit in reading one story at a time and switching back and forth.

See you tomorrow! I *think* it’ll be around the same time. It should be up by 4 when the Phillies play.

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 23

Updating earlier than planned because my schedule actually opened up! With curriculum done this week, I’ll be able to think about where I want Flash Fiction, and I’m leaning more into the 12-2PM so I can take a break, maybe watch GH live, make dinner, watch the Phillies, etc. I’m not sure, yet, lol, but don’t be surprised to see it change. With curriculum done, I also want to get back into These Small Hours which I just couldn’t make time for. I didn’t expect that, honestly, and I’m irritated, lol. But it is what it is, and I’m just going to be grateful for the opportunity to make next year so much easier (and get paid for it!)

I’ll see you guys tomorrow, probably earlier than I scheduled because I’m off on Fridays 🙂

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 22

Sorry about skipping yesterday! It was a ridiculous day from start to finish — normally, I’d say the Liason scenes made it all okay, but as good as they were (short but very sweet and promising) but the news that Jonathan Jackson is coming back later this summer. I couldn’t even enjoy tweeting about Liason like we usually do on their days because everyone started doomsdaying the whole thing. It’s like as soon as Steve came back, we weren’t allowed to be excited because oh, well, he’ll just go back to Carly or Sam. Like, damn, let me live, lol. I’m mostly neutral about the Lucky return. I’m enjoying the show right now, and I’m seeing some really good setup for Jason and Elizabeth (and some hopes that the spoiled Jason/Carly fight is as vicious as spoilers suggest).

I don’t see a lot of story for Lucky, but maybe he’ll be the one to figure out Spencer is alive and be part of bringing him home. He’s got a lot of history with the Cassadines and back from the dead, so it’d be a great way to dive back into their lore. Since working on FMT with the Lucky story there, I’m mostly ambivalent about him. I don’t see him as a failed character the way a lot of people do, but I think he’s really flawed, and he’s never had to face his shortcomings. Someone’s always made excuses for him. I think there’s something there, and JJ’s talented enough to do it. But will the writing be there? I don’t know.

BUT, lol, I’m feeling better. Last few weeks were crazy trying to get my summer school curriculum off the ground, fit in 50 hours of curriculum AND get caught up with my online class. Practically the only writing I did was flash fiction. But I’m looking forward to that paycheck 😛

To make up for missing yesterday (did I mention the credit card fraud I had to spend hours on the phone fixing? Someone charged 1800 worth of furniture to my Wayfair account) I’m adding a Saturday update.

See you tomorrow!

 

Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 21

Switching gears this week back to Chain Reaction and I’m really glad it worked out this week because today’s part is the big turning point. If you didn’t catch the previews for GH, tomorrow is a Liason day! They’re going to be talking about Jake. Very excited! Make sure to catch it live or on Hulu if you can and talk about it on social media!

I had major back pain yesterday (first time in months!) and only slept three hours last night, so I am exhausted, lol. I still have about 13.5 hours left of curriculum, and it has to be done by Thursday at 2:30. I’m so glad I’ll be getting my afternoons back after Wednesday!

I still have to update the sidebar, but it’s mostly 6PM updates this week, though I think Wednesday might 8PM because the Phillies play earlier but I have to double check.

See you tomorrow!

Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 21

Popping in before I have to leave for Sasha’s vet appointment. I’ve been leaving the new cat carrier out all week hoping the comfy bottom would attract her to take naps, and it has. So cross your fingers when I leave at 2:30, all I have to do is zip her up and go, lol.

After today, we’re switching to Chain Reaction next week. I should be able to keep going on the daily updates, but I don’t know what times yet. I have to sit down and look at my schedule, so I usually try to update the widget to the left. I hope I’m leaving you in a good place on Warning Shots. We made a lot of progress this week and now both stories have the same amount of updates, which is good.

Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 20

A bit late today — I watched GH live today after finishing curriculum, and rage tweeted for like an hour because Sam continues to be a garbage pail of a person. I’m thinking of stories where I can kill her off just to get the rage out. Then I had to break down tonight’s update (because it’s an important one so I wanted to think about what I wanted to write) and you know, eat dinner, lol.

I’m not sure exactly when tomorrow’s update will be. I have a vet appoint at 3 for my cat, and I’d need to be home by 5 to start writing at 5:30 and post before the game at 6:40. My morning has to be curriculum, so I could start early, and write around 1 and post at 2.

So stay tuned — I’m either updating at 2PM, 6:30PM or  like 11PM. I always post on Twitter before I start writing, so that’s one way to check.

Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 19

I hope you guys liked that unhinged double update, lol, last night, but don’t expect it tonight. I’m exhausted from curriculum writing all day. The only good thing is that I’ve literally written lesson plans for the first month of classes, and I have the bare bones of the LPs for the rest of the year. I’m killing myself the last two weeks of June so that September feels like a breeze. And I’m getting paid for it, so you know, go me 😛

I’m so happy you guys are enjoying this story so far! It’s been a really fun one to write, even though Jason and Elizabeth keep having conversations I didn’t ask them to and looking at each other when they’re not supposed to (and Emily going off the rails was a pleasant surprise that turned out to be a really good thing). I keep going off script with this one a bit more than I usually do, but it’s fun (even if it’s exhausting to keep resetting, lol). Thanks again to Lila for the plot bunny that inspired this 🙂

We’ll be updated this story two more times, then taking the weekend off (I have to get back to These Small Hours!) and returning next week with Chain Reaction.

See you tomorrow around 5!