Let me tell you RIGHT NOW that 2026 is going to be the year we fix my immune system because what the absolute fuck.

TL;DR: I’ve been sick since Friday. I don’t really know with what, but my guess is some sort of sinus thing that has resolved and is lingering with chest congestion that makes my life annoying. Should be back to updating tomorrow or Tuesday at the absolute latest.

— more if you want

I didn’t mention it on Wednesday but I ended up calling out of work because I was feeling extra tired and achy — the kind of thing I was hoping some extra sleep and rest would fix because I had December so perfectly plotted out and one day out wasn’t going to derail it all that much. But I didn’t actually feel all that much better, and pushed myself to finish work for the week. I thought maybe a nap on Friday would help but I just started to feel worse and worse and now here I am on Sunday night and the only thing I’ve accomplished this weekend is rewatching Season 1 of Stranger Things. I haven’t properly slept since Thursday night, getting maybe 2-3 hours at a time scattered. And of course I left my wallet in my desk drawer so I had no cards to go to do urgent care or get meds in person, and Amazon Prime has been a real bitch lately. I literally just got my refill of cough drops which is the only thing that helps me relax enough to sleep. I called out tomorrow because I honestly need a full day of sleep.

I sort of feel better??? But it’s hard to say until I actually try to get some sleep. Will I stay asleep? That’s the real question. With any luck, I get to sleep normally tonight and pick up a few extra hours and wake up tomorrow feeling mostly okay, then I can finish some things before going back for the last 10 days.

Either way, I think we’ll get back on track with the December perks tomorrow. If not, almost for sure on Tuesday. If I’m not up to it then, I’m going to a doctor, lol.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 60

I appreciate you guys letting me detour for a few days to 1997 🙂 I jumped into a marathon without a lot of pre-planning, and like I said, this story has a lot pieces and I felt like I wasn’t making progress or that I was spinning my wheels. I like to do a really detailed breakdown with dialogue notes because then I can write faster.  For example, here’s a breakdown of a much earlier scene (you can click to make it bigger). I do a lot of my outlining this way because I can make notes about the dialogue I can see/hear in my head without really having to put it into prose. That way when I’m actually writing in a timed session, I’m thinking about how to write the scene, not what to write. I can go faster and cover more ground.

So taking two days off let me take a minute, take a deep breath and outline without the pressure of having to write the scene in an hour. I was able to sketch out three full updates (or what I think should be three updates) which takes me into today and Friday — and then I’ll sketch out next week over the weekend when we switch to Foolish Games.

Anyway, thanks again. It helps to have your support. See you tomorrow (hopefully around the same time)

Update Link: Foolish Games – Part 2 

Honestly so tired tonight I think I’m gonna get a bowl of cereal for dinner and go to bed early.

85% chance tomorrow’s update is Not Sorry. Spent a really good hour today organizing my notes and working out the timeline, and then plotted out the next two parts down to dialogue beats (which is my preferred plan before writing because then it’s so much easier and my brain knows where we’re going). Then it’ll be Not Sorry for Thurs/Fri, back to Foolish Games for Sat/Sun and we’ll be on our new schedule 🙂

See you tomorrow!

Update Link: Foolish Games – Part 1

Happy Tuesday! Yes — that is a new story. Let me explain –

Short Explanation: Need to sketch out the next section of You’re Not Sorry because I’m winging it, and didn’t want to miss a day or several. Not Sorry will return either on Thursday or next Monday. If I’m not ready to start writing again on Thursday, I don’t want to write the new story for three days, switch to Not Sorry for 1 day and come back to the new story since it’s the new weekend story.

Longer Explanation

You’re Not Sorry has ended up being a deeply complex story with several strands and subplots that I didn’t plan for and I’ve been winging the last few parts, which I don’t like. (For example: the entire teen storyline has been a massive addition and was not planned in the slightest. I don’t mind the detour because it’s given me more motivations for Kristina, but it has been a detour, and I haven’t been able to sit down and plan the rest of the story.)

I’m taking a little time (1-3 days) to take a moment, and finish sketching out the story — without complicating life more. To avoid messing up my marathon, I’m going to start the story I had planned next. It will be your Flash update for today and maybe for a few days, and then we’ll make it the weekend Flash story until You’re Not Sorry is done.

Origins of New Story

As for this story, Foolish Games, it’s set in late 1997/early 1998. I’ve been mildly obsessed with this era for some time. I got inspired by a gif someone posted back in 2018 about the 20th anniversary, about Liz being at the shooting at Luke’s the night Jason saved Nikolas’s life, and I got struck with — what if she was a nurse and in Jason’s age range? Since Becky Herbst is actually older than Liz, it doesn’t feel weird to go back and age her to be about 22 since she was 21 at that point.

That particular plot bunny morphed into a story Kismet, that I wrote a little bit for an old Flash Fiction (Part 1 | Part 2) and was the November 2022 NaNoWriMo project. I started to write it according to my plot sketch — and then detoured into a mob storyline I hadn’t planned and that would either make Kismet super long — or I needed to rethink what that story was about. I recently decided that I was more interested in telling the story I’d started and not the one I’d planned. Kismet began as the “What if Elizabeth was part of the Michael story, not Robin?” and it’s become “What if Jason didn’t get involved with Michael’s paternity at all?” At least that’s the new plan.

If you’re interested in Kismet, it’s the $5 reward over on Patreon, and for Dec/Jan, I’ll be doing 25-minute writing sessions on Sundays to get it moving and then decide which story is going to be the weekend Flash Fiction series on Patreon (where I write first drafts of novels in flash fiction sessions). Right now, the choice is between Kismet and For the Broken Girl, Book 2 (the $10 Obsessed tier reward).

(I’ve also written another 1997/98 story: Karma).

A New Direction

Since I decided to remove the Michael element of Kismet, I had two choices: let the storyline I’d planned fade into the ether or….spin it off into its own story, and that’s what we’re doing here. Foolish Games begins after Michael’s death and the lie has begun, with Elizabeth as the NICU nurse and Carly who has already taken off.

I hope you guys are okay with the mild detour while I get Not Sorry in order 🙂 It might serve as a break to those of you not particularly invested in current day GH, to back to a simpler time. Writing about 1997 feels like historical fiction at this point, lol. No smart phones, wheeeee!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 59

Happy December!

I posted the December Patreon Perks this morning, and thought I’d summarize the tiers because every tier is getting new content this month 🙂

• Free: Crimson Swift Song Videos. 3-5 minute descriptions of the songs and my ideas for writing. Starts Dec 4.
• Fan ($1): The first 11 chapters of Malice, a first draft flash fiction I worked on last year. Will be posted Dec 3.
• Devoted ($5): First 6 chapters of Kismet posted Dec 2. 25 minute writing sessions on Sundays in Dec/Jan.
• Obsessed ($10): For the Broken Girl, Saturday Flash 25 minute writing sessions. Starting Sat, Dec 6.
• Stalker ($15): Out of the Woods, daily 25 minute writing sessions. Started today!

See you tomorrow! Should be earlier, I hope.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 58

Happy Sunday! Going into the last afternoon of the break before three full straight weeks of classes. We’re in school until December 23, but that last day is a half day when the majority of the day is the teachers vs. students in our annual volleyball tournament, so it’s not even that bad. I’m looking forward to this December — I managed to finagle the content schedules so that French II & IIII are watching media from December 5-December 19 — and only French I is still finishing up a unit that second week. It’s going to be a much more laid back month than normal.

The Praxis went okay yesterday — I feel better about the writing than I did the last time, and slightly better about the speaking. These are my weakest areas because I still rely on doing a lot of preparation and the spontaneous creation of the language is more challenging when you can use notes or resources. I scored like 4/18 on both those sections last time, but this time I made the word count on the writing without issues, and while I don’t know if the writing was as complex as they wanted, I was able to get my point across a lot more confidently. The speaking section, I also got 4/18 last time and I *think* I did better on the first two tasks than last time.

That being said, I’m still expecting to miss the 162 score by a few points. You only get 20 seconds to read the questions on the listening section, and I missed answering 2-3 questions because I was rereading the choices and lost track of the timer which I don’t remember doing the last time. Still — progress. And I can get away with failing it again because the state just needs to see that I’m trying to finish the certification because French teachers are like unicorns. We don’t really exist, lol.

ANYWAY.

December starts tomorrow, and it’s going to be great to be able to come home and not feel like I have to do a ton of work at night! I have so many plans for this month, writing wise. Let’s hope I can make it work. So far, I’ve nailed every day of Flash, even when I was tired. I’m trying to rebuild my writing stamina so I can write 1-2 hours every day 🙂

See you tomorrow! It’s a grocery run day, so I’ll be updating closer to 6 or 7.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 57

I can’t believe I had to pay almost $180 for the privilege of taking an annoying three hour French test. Leaving in a few hours for the torture, and hoping that I pass this time so I can move on to the LAST step I need for my certification — the OPI interview which is going to be the worst experience ever. I love teaching French, but the certification process is a nightmare.

ANYWAY.

I can’t believe we’re at Part 57 — that’s insane, lol.

I did finally get a really good idea for the next flash fiction series — it’s related to another story I’ve been developing for a long time, but I couldn’t quite work this idea in without making the story three times as long (lol, shocking right?) so I decided to spin it off and make it its own thing. I want to sit with it a little while before I’m completely sold on it or share some info with you.

See you guys tomorrow! I’ll probably be posting around 2!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 55

Every time I make the smallest attempt to stay up a bit late and then sleep past 8, Lizzie the Terror reminds me that I have mouths to feed no later than 8 AM. Literally slaps at my face with her paws until I give up and feed her. I respect the commitment, honestly.

Tomorrow’s update will definitely be early! I have to take my French Praxis again at 2PM, so I’ll be leaving my house around 1. I’m not looking forward to it, though I honestly might accidentally pass it since it’s been about two years since I took it last and I’ve been doing a lot more advanced French prep since I’m teaching higher levels. Man I wish I’d just taken it back when I graduated. I was so much more fluent in the advanced stuff back then, but oh well 😛 I was 12 points short of passing last time, so you never know. But it’s a 3 hour test, so I won’t be home until almost 6 and I will likely just stare at the wall afterwards. It’s excruciating and I hate it so much.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 55

Hope everyone had a great holiday! I devoured Stranger Things last night — it was sooo good! And it was really great to just shut down social media, put away the phone, turn off the lights, grab some wine, and just enjoy one of my all-time favorite TV shows.

I should be updating mid-day tomorrow, but we’ll see.

 

ETA: Happy Thanksgiving!!! I’m moving today’s update to later this afternoon. I’ll probably write at 7 or 8 and post at 8 or 9. I stayed up to watch Stranger Things, and listen LISTEN I was too pumped to go to sleep until like almost 2, and then overslept. 

See you tonight 🙂

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 54

Early update because I AM FREEEEEE (until monday). Admin let us out at noon today because again, I work for one of the districts in the area. Came right home and decide to get the update out of the way so I can prep for Stranger Things. I can’t believe it’s on tonight, we’ve waited so long!

I’ll be posting early tomorrow, probably at 11 or noon because I’ll head to my sister’s early.

Hope you guys are enjoying our binge-a-thon!