Signs of Life Updated & FMT News!

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!

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