Update Link: The Archer – Part 18

Starting what I hope is at least two weeks of straight updates! I’m trying to get myself back into a daily writing mindset now that I’ve got things under control at school, at least for the next few weeks. (Probably)

I woke up yesterday with a sore throat, and I was so scared I was getting my annual first three day weekend cold, but twenty-four hours later, it looks like it’s probably from the weather changing which is annoying but better.

My admin is getting me a class set of textbooks which is absolutely amazing. It means not only do I not have to create the entire textbook for the kids, I don’t have print copies of it for them either. It really is a huge weight off my shoulders.

See you tomorrow 🙂

TL;DR: Starting a daily writing plan. Write Flash at 4PM, posting at 5Pm. Starts Sunday, October 12.

Some good news first! I’ve got a ton off my plate the last few dates. I was able to get the bulk of the benchmarks handled and I’m all set to turn in the documentation to the district on time. I also managed to get a ton of grading done while my students were taking the SATs yesterday in class. I’m finally starting to get a head of things at school, and before you know it, we’ll be in Marking Period 2 where I have two four-day weekends in November, the holiday break, and we do a ton of media and events which are already mostly done and prepped.

Some even better news — I’m able to “see” the story again in my head which is a relief. I think I was just so stressed that I couldn’t make room for anything.

Bad news — I’m horribly out of practice with writing. I’ve barely done anything for weeks, and the writing stamina has disappeared. Plus, I’ve been so up and down with energy that I’ve been basically dying and going to bed early so that 7PM target hasn’t worked.

The best writing window I have during the week when it comes to energy is that 4PM hour. I get home, I get it set up, I write, and then go about the rest of my evening. So I think that’s the plan. Tomorrow (Sunday, October 14), and then for (maybe) the rest of the month, I’m planning to do Flash Fiction as often as I can, striving for that daily update.

When November hits, I’ll reassess where I am, if I feel like the 4PM slot still works best, we’ll keep going.

I very much appreciate the patience you guys have shown me  — I knew this year was going to be difficult, and I made it harder on myself in a lot of ways (story of my life), but I’m excited to stop working 24/7 and get back into creative projects that aren’t French, lol.

Catch Up: The Archer

Hello! Letting you know I’m kicking off a mini-marathon tomorrow. 🙂 I’ll be writing at 7 and posting at beginning tomorrow (Tuesday, October 6) through next Monday (October 12). After that, I’ll see how my schedule is.

I do however want to say that’s subject to getting an emergency dental appointment. I had to get two crowns, so two weeks ago, I got the procedure and temps and then today, I was supposed to get the permanents. They weren’t able to get one them fitted correctly so they put it in temporarily. An hour later, it fell out. They’re closed for the night, so I need to call tomorrow and hope they’ll get me in as soon as possible, even if I have to miss some work. So I might miss one of those upcoming dates if it’s after work. I know you guys will understand 🙂

See you tomorrow!

Update Link: The Archer – Part 17

Hello! First full week is in the books, I am exhausted and have a thousand things to do, so it’s like every other Friday honestly. But I miss writing and interacting with you guys, so I’m going to make every attempt to get back on track and writing more regularly.

I think I’m over the mental hump I had this summer (maybe) and I absolutely appreciate the patience you’ve all shown. I’m going to try to be pretty consistent on the weekends with Flash and then novels during the week right now. When the baseball season ends and I’m past the first marking period, I can think about doing more 🙂

TL;DR: I’m too tired and behind already to update, so I’m providing some links for you to read some of the older works. I’ll update during the week if I can, but otherwise, I’ll see you next Friday 🙂

Hello! Checking in on Saturday after completing our first week. It never fails — no matter how prepared I am, there’s always six things I haven’t thought of or eight things that throw me off my game.

This year, the crates I ordered to store student folders and notebooks are back-ordered, and not available until November, so for most of the week, I had stacks of manila folders everywhere. Then, I ordered the wrong notebooks. Luckily, I am insane and spent $80 of my own money to get extra notebooks so I was able to get together for French I, but I had nothing for the rest of the students, and I had to order more. We live in a Title 1 district, which means half our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. I try really hard to supply the students with everything they’ll need. Not having notebooks for the first and maybe second week meant I had to scramble to figure out what to do. And by Friday, I had enough temporary storage (again with my own money because I am, as we already established, insane) so we have some sort of system.

And all of that, and I’m just generally exhausted. My favorite work shoes got a hole in the heel, so now I have new ones and blisters. I’m getting used to the schedule and the huge French I classes — I think I’ve learned maybe ten out of 55 names.

I didn’t get nearly enough done for next week while I was at work because I was putting out fires, so I’m spending basically the entire week getting things organized and back under some sort of control.

I’m just not going to be able to update this week — I don’t have the mental bandwidth. I have some links for some of my older work to keep you busy if you’re missing the stories 🙂

• Novel: Counting Stars (set in January 2000)
• Novel: The Best Thing (set in December 2004)
• Novella: Karma (set December 1997)
• Flash Fiction: Hits Different (set March 1996)
• Edited Flash: The Last Time (set February 2007)

Update Link: The Archer – Part 16

Hello 🙂 I’d hoped to update more this week, at least once or twice, but back to work brings the early alarm, work days packed with meetings and prep, and then crashing when I get home. Two days, I took naps at 5PM, including yesterday.  If you’ve been here a while, you know that September is always a crap shoot for updates.

I’m tentatively optimistic for this year. I have the bulk of prep done for September, and there’s no construction or renovations planned for my house this year or a new cat to ease in. I won’t really know until I get through the first few weeks what I’m dealing with. I have my largest classes yet — 25 in Period 1 and 30 in Period 4. I haven’t taught a class that large in a long time, but I’m also really happy that my French I numbers are up. 34 students last year, 55 this year. I have a study hall again, but only for the first half of the period. If that holds, it’s an extra twenty minutes going into my lunch.

I’m hoping/planning to update every day through Monday to make up for the fact that I’m probably not updating again until the following weekend.

I really appreciate the patience this summer — I’ve had the most horrible mental writing block, and it’s not coming back as fast as it usually does. I’m still really having trouble visualizing the story, which is a brand-new problem for me. I used to just struggle with getting the vision on screen, but it was always in my head. Now, I can’t see or hear the characters the way I’m used to, which is kind of scary as a writer, I’ll be honest with you. I’m trying to write my way through it, but I honestly don’t have a frame of reference for fixing this. My high level of productivity always came from my ability to play the story in my head when I wasn’t writing, so I was always preparing or planning. I feel like I’m trying to find my way in the dark.

I’ll see you hopefully tomorrow 🙂

Update: The Archer – Part 15

I had to set my alarm to 6 am again 🙁 Staff development week starts on Monday. So long, summer.

I had some awful mental writing blocks this week — I kept sitting down, opening Scriv, and just nothing would happen. I tried scriptwriting software instead because sometimes just writing dialogue helps, but seriously nothing. I finally got some lines down last night that I don’t hate, but I just couldn’t make anything happen.

I haven’t been reading a lot this year — or last — and I’m wondering if that has something to do with it. I used to read an average of 4-5 books a week, and now I rarely read even one a month. There’s a couple reasons for it — some of my favorite authors have switched genres or retired, and there aren’t many historical romances being published (which is WILD because it feels like they disappeared right around the time Bridgerton came out). I also just rarely have the time or energy. I’m going back to reread my favorite series (In Death by J.D. Robb) and hoping that that helps.

Still not planning to stick to update schedule right now — I’m going to update when I have time and energy, and hope it’s 1-3 times a week 🙂

Update: The Archer – Part 14

Hope everyone’s week got off to a good start 🙂

I spent most of my Friday dealing with my phone. The sim card died and I couldn’t make any phone calls — it’s the only phone I have, so fixing it was an emergency. Just a huge hassle, spent half the day in the Verizon office, and ended up having to get a new phone.

I went into week early this week and I’m so glad I did — two huge items from my order are missing, and I found out they emptied all of my bookshelves and shoved the items into my closets, so it all has to be unpacked and set back up. If I’d found that out next Monday, with only a week to fix things, I’d be going insane.

The Phillies are playing on the West Coast all week, so I’ll be updating later and hopefully every day 🙂

Update Link: The Archer – Part 13

I fixed the numbering on Long Live, because obviously the last update was only Part 3. Not much else to say — still trying to prep for the school year, still annoyed at how many things I didn’t get to this summer, and still terrible at waking up early.

Update Link: The Archer – Part 12

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well! I had the worst night sleep last night — couldn’t fall asleep until midnight, woke up at 1, couldn’t sleep again for three hours, and then overslept until 11. Pretty sure that’s the first side effect I’ve had from the meds — they said it would cause trouble sleeping so hopefully I’ll be able to get that sorted. The most annoying thing about starting medications is how long it takes to build the therapeutic levels in your body (6-8 weeks) but side effects are immediate booo.

I’m updating The Archer M/W/F this week, and I am hoping to do Long Live Tues/Thurs but those are optional. I still have to add it to the Flash Fiction page. See you later 🙂