Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 75

Thanks to the windchill, it feels like it’s -12  and I am so done with winter.  The only slightly good news is we have a few days above freezing (37 mind you) coming and maybe some of this snow will finally melt. This is like 2010 when it snowed and snowed and snowed and stayed cold and by March, you’re like, I forgot what grass looks like. HOW DOES WARMTH FEEL

Anyway. I’m freezing inside my own house, and I can’t wait for it to be over. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but my desk is by the window in the office and this part hangs over the porch which isn’t well insulated, so it’s colder than the rest of the house. It’s usually fine because I’ve had my trusty space heater since college — uh, but it’s 15 years old and it was NOT built for the negative -12 we were dealing with. Me and Lizzie curled up in a chair wrapped up like burritos until I got the feeling back in my fingertips (and watched Drag Race Season 4 reruns, justice for Dida).

I’ve switched to the other space heater from the living room (that I bought when the heater went out last fall), and I think it’s time to retire my old reliable office heater. And when the sun is up, it’s not too bad, so I’m getting it in early while I can still feel my external limbs.

 

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 74

Happy Friday 🙂 We’re still packed in ice and snow and freezing our asses off here in South Jersey with temps supposedly lingering around 0 all day tomorrow. I am so done with winter.

I mostly got everything on the list done this week, including the planned work on These Small Hours! I’m ready to get back into writing starting Monday so yay for everyone, but mostly me.

Had myself a little panic attack over the last week. Last Sunday, I was making meatloaf, so I took off my ring and put it on the counter. It’s a claddagh ring that I bought in Ireland when I turned 30. That was the year I was doing grad school in London, and trips to Dublin were affordable. Mike and Lauren, who were with me in London, and our friend Diana who planned her visit at that point, bought me a trip to Ireland, paying for my flight and hostel. They thought the ginger should return to the land of her people for the big 3-0. We did a day trip in Galloway, and Lauren and I went into a jewelry store where we bought both ring with our birthstones. I’ve worn mine every day since, and Lauren wore hers until she passed from cancer a few years ago. The ring got knocked off the counter (either by me or the chaos agent, Lizzie the Menace.) Devastation. I searched everywhere and nearly gave up until Wednesday after work — it was just chilling on the floor in a spot i damn well know I looked three thousand times. The universe man.

Anyway, other than, a half-decent week here for me. Except  for the cold. Boo to the cold. Bring on spring and baseball!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 73

I can’t believe this stupid story is at more than seventy updates. Good grief.

Trying to get myself prepped for the earlier weekend updates with baseball season heading our way. I miss my dummies hitting balls with sticks.

Another update tomorrow might happen, but it depends on how much I get done the rest of the day — I have some content prep to do, some household tasks I finally have the energy for, and I’d like to organize some time to relax, too, lol, so we’ll see 😛

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 72

I’m not sure how you guys further north than me do it. We’ve barely broken 20 degrees all week, and my house is so cold — even with the heater running. The office has been especially cold because it has an extension that was built out over the porch decades ago — and neither the porch nor the extension was properly insulated. I wish I’d switched the office to the back room which gets all the afternoon sun and keeps it warmer, but whatever.

January didn’t really go the way I’d planned, story of my life, so let’s hope February gets better.

I am absolutely planning to be back here tomorrow to write at 11 or 12 and post at noon or 1, so stay tuned for that 🙂

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 71

Apologies for just disappearing again 😛 I attempted a 30 minute writing session and I honestly wasn’t happy with what I produced, so it just felt like a better idea to sit back and try to come back when I honestly felt better and like I was on the mend.  Like I said last week — it’s difficult to feel creative when I’ve been so sick, and so much of my energy has just been getting to the end of the marking period with everything done.

I am honestly feeling so much better now. Even when I thought I was doing better a month ago, I didn’t feel as good as I do now. I still have some congestion, but I’m managing it with some good over-the-counter meds and getting sleep which makes a huge difference. Even better — my energy levels are almost back to where they were before I got sick. I still have some real life things to get back under control (my house, guys, good lord) and I lost pretty much all the extra time I was going to use to get a head of the next marking period, but it is what it is. I already know that I won’t have school tomorrow (yay for snow days!) and that’s such a huge relief. I honestly needed a day to get back on track, so thanks from the universe.

I’m hopeful to get back on track with everything this week — starting with this update today. I was hoping to update yesterday, but it was hard to get into the right frame of mind given what’s been going on outside in the real world.

I hope everyone is staying safe and warm, and I’ll see you hopefully tomorrow for a snow day update.

 

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 70

TL;DR – I am sick again, but possibly recovering, who knows. Flash Fic today is not 60 minute timed, but 30 minutes because I don’t think I can handle 60 minutes right now. If this works, we’ll keep this up for tomorrow and hope to be back to normal sometime before the end of the decade.

You know, I read that pneumonia can “come back” and I was like, well, that’s not gonna happen to me because — well, I don’t know why I was that arrogant considering my immune system.

Anyway, it didn’t come back in full force, which is good. It was mostly just a resurgence of the congestion, both head and chest, but a bit more mild (I could take deep breaths and I didn’t want to die). But it happened at the same time we had some reallly dry days — like all them moisture got sucked out of my entire region or something. My humidifier couldn’t keep, especially at night — so I didn’t sleep for three straight days. I used one of my sick days on Monday hoping I’d be able to sleep and feel better, but it just got worse. I only have three days left, so I had to work the rest of the week. Basically a zombie.

I ended up stopping the meds I got at the doctor last week after Tuesday, because not only were they not working, but I actively felt worse. I switched to over the counter stuff, hoping some sort of combo would work. So some Alka-Seltzer Cold & Flu chewables, the CVS brand of chest congestion tablets, nasal spray, Nyquil, and saline mist (which I’ve been drowning myself in). I also bought a second humidifier and dug up my essential oils diffuser because I still had some eucalyptus, and with all of that — I slept finally.

Anyway. This has been the most annoying six weeks of my life. Ruined December, has tanked January, and I swear if I’m still sick in February —

I did zero creative writing this week. I don’t know what to tell you other than you need to be able to think to create and my only thought all week was I WANT TO SLEEP. 

It’s the end of the marking period on Friday, and I’m, once again, scrambling to get caught up and prepped for work. And it’s really hard to concentrate for long periods of time because I have to stop and irrigate my frickin nasal cavity so I can breathe.

Everything sucks.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 69

• the recent updates page will be updated at some point this week, promise

Apologies for not updating on Friday! I can’t remember now if I mentioned it — but I woke up with a sore throat last weekend, and it just got worse all week. I was worried I’d caught strep (on top of everything else!) Rapid test was negative, but the full test isn’t back until tomorrow. Doctor said it was post-nasal drip, but a really bad case, and like, sure. Whatever. He gave me meds. We’ll see.

Got back to work okay. Was sort of able to get a decent handle on things — caught up with most of my grading, managed to get a little bit of long-term planning done, though I don’t think I’ll go into Marking Period 3 as organized as I came into MP2 which is fine since MP2 got blown up.

I worked on These Small Hours every day this week, but it was a lot of prep work — planning the book, thinking out the threads and subplots, etc. Looking forward to getting into the plot sketch this weekend and writing by next Monday.

While I miss writing every day and offering you guy something several times a week, it was so necessary for me to strip back and just relax my brain. It was better coming home and not trying to think about how to organize energy to write for an hour. I managed 10-20 minutes on writing and pretty much died around 5:30-6 every day.

 

Update: You’re Not Sorry – Part 68

Note: One of my goals this week is to update the Recent Updates page, archive 2025 and start the 2026 page.

Happy Saturday! One more sleep until I return to normal working hours. Looking forward to getting back into the classroom now that I feel so much better than I did when we broke for the the holidays. I still have a little chest congestion, and the two flights to complete my laundry are a challenge for my lungs, but I’m able to sleep almost flat which is great. I woke up with a sore throat this morning, but I’m choosing to ignore that for now.

I am unsure if I’m going to update tomorrow. I have a few things that need to be done, both for work and for the house to ready myself to return to that normal working condition. I also want to complete what’s needed for These Small Hours to stay on track with my plan to start planning Book 3 this week (I’m rereading Books 1 & 2 and what exists of the ending of the book from the original draft).

But energy wise, I’m in good shape — I think. I spent the last six hours working on French III and I got in the zone which hasn’t happened in a while. Whether this is a bonus energy spike or me being able to do work for longer periods of time again, I guess we’ll find out.

Always a good reminder to subscribe to the email update list or join Patreon as a free member and download the app. I post in the Flash Fiction chat when I update!

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 67

Hello 🙂

If you’re a member over on Patreon, I put up two free posts this week talking about some changes we’re making in 2026. The first one is a longer, detailed talk about me and how things are going, and how it affects writing (about 50 minutes), and the second is about 10 minutes which goes over the changes with a basic explanation.

If you’re not interested in either, no worries I’ll boil down the schedule below

• Flash Fiction
  • The marathon is over, which I figured you guys already knew. If you’re interested in why, check out the videos.
  • Flash Fiction moves immediately (today) to 2-3 updates, spanning Friday-Sunday.
  • Most weeks I’m good with 2 updates. Some weeks, we might manage 3, and other weeks, maybe just one.
• Novels
  • I’m still keeping the Jan-Mar / Apr – Jun / Jul – Sep / Oct-Dec schedule.
  • It’ll be good for me to switch between projects regularly to avoid the burnout I had with These Small Hours.
  • I’ll switch between projects until 1 is done, and then put another one in the rotation
  • First Rotation!
    • These Small Hours, Book 3
    • Fool Me Twice, Book 3
• These Small Hours
  • I’m rereading These Small Hours Books 1-2 and what exists of the original ending of the book (from before it was split in three) this weekend and making notes.
  • Then, beginning Monday, with 10 minutes a day and gradually growing until I’m at least 2 x 25 minute sprints a day in January, I’ll start putting together Book 3.
  • The hope is begin writing the first draft of Book 3 on Mon, Jan 12 with some thoughts I’ll finish the first draft by the end of February.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 66

Hey! Hope everyone is having a good day! This is a bit later than I wanted, but I had a busy day. Did a grocery run, recycled laptops that have literally been sitting around for YEARS (I was watching a declutter video and they’re like hey, do you have electronics sitting around and I DID sooo) then worked on some content for January at work. I’m almost done student-facing materials for January. I have a few more lesson plans and instructional slides to do, but we’re in good shape. Better than I thought considering how much of December I spent basically dead.

Believe it or not, I’m still dealing with some chest congestion, and I get really tired doing flights of stairs. Covid was less of a pain in the ass.

Couple of programming notes

• Flash Fiction Marathon continues until January 18 to make up for the two weeks I missed. After that, we scale back to 2-3 updates.
• I am going to shift gears this year and work on novels.
  • January – March: These Small Hours, Book 3
  • April – June: Fool Me Twice, Book 3
  • July – September: Reader’s Choice (we’ll vote on my four in progress: Out of the Woods, Kismet, Malice, and For the Broken Girl, Book 3)
  • October – December: Fool Me Twice, Book 4
• Weekends: One 25 minute session for Crimson Swift. The TTPD collections are the first focus.

That’s an ambitious schedule, I know, but it’s one I used to be able to pretty easily when I was doing Flash Fiction updates maybe twice a week. I love Flash Fiction, but those daily updates really need to be a “I’m on break for a week, yay!” or “summer vacation, let’s goooo” type of things. At least for the rest of this year.

See you tomorrow 🙂