So honestly, not much has changed since last month. I was sick for a lot of the time and was trying to play catch up with current projects.  I’m back to work now and anticipate working at least four days a week for the foreseeable future. This is actually a good thing as it’s going to allow me to finally get into an actual schedule. Left to my own devices for so long, I actually end up spending too much time procrastinating and not enough time writing. Super excited.

So I’ll list the projects that have changed or been added since I last posted. If something you’re looking for isn’t listed, then just scroll down to January’s update.

The Best Thing – I’ve finally figured out how to end this since I changed my original outline. I had a concept that could have extended the story another ten or so chapters, but I’m tweaking it a bit so that the story still feels wrapped up but there are enough breadcrumbs laid out so that if I wanted to revisit this particular story universe, I could pick up some of the loose threads. But we’re looking at about 42 chapters, give or take one or two on either side. I’ve written up to 21, and posted 19, which means I’ve only got a buffer of two more chapters. I’ll get ahead again next week.

All We Are – I got stuck a bit writing Chapter 8, which you’ll understand better when I post it in a few weeks, but we’re past most of the heavy relationship stuff and moving into the plot so it’ll go much faster now and I should finish writing it sometime in March.

Damaged – I don’t have an ETA for a return on this, but I’ve been working on the storylines a bit this morning and I think I fixed one of the problems that was holding me back. I have a few more story notes to work on, then some episode outlining, but it’s back on the radar.

Mad World – Right now, I’m developing a more detailed scene breakdown, which I’d like ready when All We Are is finished being posted sometime in April.

Bittersweet – I’m still outlining this story, so expect it to show up after Burn in Heaven, which is after Mad World. I have a lot of fun stuff planned for this story and I’m sooo excited to write it since I haven’t written 2002 pretty much since 2002 actually happened, ha.

Untitled 2003 Rewrite – Originally conceived as a possible I Shall Believe rewrite, but quickly morphed into an entire rewrite of the fall out of the panic room storyline, so there’s that. This is still in the brainstorming stages, but it’s going to be an interesting one.

Yeah, not much change going on, I know. I’m looking forward to not being sick, to working and getting a new car so I can go write at Starbucks without borrowing my dad’s. 😛

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Your monthly ramble about what I’m writing now and what I’m planning to write next.

In Progress

The Best Thing – The ending of this story is still in flux. I made a story change that affects how long the story will be. I can do two things: I can gloss over some of it in a few chapters or I can use it as launching pad in a possible sequel to continue the progress. I’m not positive which way I’ll go yet but I should know within a few more chapters. The story, as always, works in fits and starts mostly because of writing in Sonny’s POV with his disorder. I’ll be able to talk more about the changes once we hit the section of the story where it comes into play, but a lot of what’s happening Chapter 18-Chapter 21 or so were scripted another way.

Anyway. At the moment I’m typing this, I’ve completed nineteen chapters with an eye towards getting around to about 30 by the end of the first week in February.

All We Are – I hit a bit of bump after  I completed Chapter 7. Not because the story is difficult, I just haven’t had a ton of time to write it.  I’m planning to stake out some space in Starbucks over the weekend (and maybe even tomorrow) to knock out another chunk of chapters. I plan on posting the first chapter on 30 January 2015 and then once a week for a bit.  As I always mention, this is a relatively straightforward story that doesn’t depend so much on character as it does on plot, so when I sit and write it, it flows relatively well. I just have to…sit and do it.

Damaged – Oh my God, it’s actually back in the status list after completely disappearing for some time. If you visit the site, you can probably see that it’s in maintenance mode because I’m doing a few things with the site, but I walked away from the story just to see if I could come back to it with any kind of enthusiasm. I haven’t quite mastered the enthusiasm but I’m sitting back with some of the concepts and I’m tweaking it. It’s back on my radar, so it’ll be back.

Life For Rent – It’s about to be moved from in progress to series, so there’s less pressure on me to get it going with the second part. It’s on my radar and it’s actually relatively well plotted and story boarded. I just…have to sit down and tweak a few things. Honestly, I could get hit with the muse and it could be started tomorrow. There’s no reason it hasn’t been written yet except I haven’t gotten around to it. Ha.

Turning Points/Come On Eileen – Pretty much in the same both. At some point, I’ll deal with them. I promise. That’s why I leave them on the in progress page so I don’t forget.

Coming Sooner

Mad World – I’m pretty well settled on this story being next in the rotation which I plan to start digging into as soon as All We Are is finished being written. It’s plotted and storyboarded (with a few minor exceptions). I’ve even worked out the sequel in some fashion so I can lay breadcrumbs. I still want to run it by a beta reader first for thoughts, but yeah, it’s as ready as ready can be.

Burn in Heaven – I’m still ironing out plot details. The overall outline is done but the timing of some incidents is still be worked out and the ending is still a bit vague. I know how I want it to end, but I’m not positive how to get the scene to unfold in a believable way. But it’ll be here soon enough.

Coming Soonish

Counting Stars – It’s relatively in the same space I was the last time I discussed it.  My first pass at the outline was a bit superficial in some ways, so I wanted to pull it back a bit. I haven’t had a chance to go back and work on the outline, so until that happens, it doesn’t move up on my radar.

Bittersweet – So the thing about this story is that I swear it’s a rewrite of The Sisters, but not a rewrite of that story as it existed on this site. It’s actually a rewrite of the Luis Alcazar storyline, which The Sisters is supposed to be about. Because ha, The Sisters is a rewrite of Deserving, which is my version of Alcazar. I know it’s convoluted. Anyway, in my outline, I’m actually rewriting Jason’s entire return. I have a ton written for this, and like The Sisters, it is going to be a series (or least two stories with an open possibility for a third). I’m still working out the large picture details, but I have a ton of individual scene ideas.

The odds are that of all the stories in this section, you’re more likely to see this before you see anything else because it’s working for me right now in a way that some stories haven’t and you never disturb the muse. But I still want to do Mad World and Burn in Heaven first.

Fallen From Grace – This is basically in the same place it was before — I’m debating revisiting my original outline to see if I want to play with it a bit or write it as I had originally intended. It’s pretty low on my list priorities at the moment but I’ll come back to it because there were some scenes I wanted to work with.

For the Broken Girl – I’m still doing the background research on this since it’ll deal with drug abuse and domestic violence–cheerful, right? I’m also trying to visualize how I want the first half of the story to work and the ending. It’s one of those weird stories where the middle scenes are so detailed in my head that what I know about the story is already 5000 words, ha. Yeah. I just have to continue my research.

These Small Hours – It’s the age old question — when is this coming back? I’m still working on the outline, I know. I’m sorry. It’s been a tough one to reoutline because I want it to work for all the characters and aspects. My original outline ignored everything in favor of the Johnny/Nadine, but it doesn’t work that way. I’ll get it there, I promise. I just..have a lot going on in my head.

Illusions – I haven’t even looked at this story in a few months. I have some research to do on New York City in the 1940s, Pearl Harbor and whatnot.

Stories and Concepts

Collision – The issue with this story is that I actually have it mostly plotted out and broken down into scenes, but it was going to be a rewrite of the show on the same scale that I’ve done with Damaged and honestly, that’s not something I can deal with now. So I just want to pull it back a bit, I have to do some cutting and refining. I haven’t really sat down to do it, but I still love love love the concept I had for this story and I’ve never really seen it anywhere else.

Heaven Forbid – This story is going into the trash heap. I’ll be posting the discarded plot sketches shortly.

Inside Your Fear – It’s waiting to be reoutlined. I had envisioned it as a short story, but it’s not going to work that way. Probably going to be a full length story when I get around to it, but more novella than novel. Think maybe a bit longer than Shadows.

Slide – As the sequel to ISB, it’s still going to get written, I just haven’t quite done a lot with the concept. I have a feeling the major reason I haven’t worked on it much is that I’ve fallen out of love with ISB quite a bit. It’s the same reason why Burn in Heaven as a sequel to Poisonous Dreams never quite worked out, though my dislike for ISB is not at PD levels so it’s not likely I’ll rewrite ISB, ha. I just have to get over my issues.

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So rather than my normal monthly story status post, I thought it would be more fun to look back at where this site has gone since I reopened it on January 19, 2014 and where it’s going to go in 2015 while updating you guys on various stories.

The Site

After I lost my crimsonglass.com domain, I had moved the archive to paper-cup.org. But I decided to close that down, which meant moving the site again. Rather than just moving the clean archive, I decided to bite the bullet and convert it to WordPress, which I tried to do ages ago but in the intervening years, the right plugin (Organize Series, you kick ass!) made it possible.

At the moment I’m writing this (December 20, 2014 at 8:27 AM), we have 651 posts, 685 comments, and 94 pages. Wow. I just can’t believe the amount of content I added this year — from old and lost stories, to new stories, to sprucing completed stories. And there’s still so much to do!

In 2015, I’ll continue adding to the Fiction Graveyard. I hope to complete that section by the middle of the year through my Monday updates. I also want to think of new ways to organize stories to make sure the little tiny ones that I wrote a long time ago get attention. Maybe finding some sort of way to do them by theme. I found a great plugin that organizes them by tag, so I’ll be looking for ways to continue that.

I also want to add more about the show it self — I have a ton of photos from collecting over the last twelve years and running various websites. I have a lot of screencaps. I have DVDs that I’ve screencapped — so you can imagine that I’d love to share even a portion of my collection. I’ve got more ideas for my little home on the web.

And even though I finished designing my own theme, I’m looking into ways I can improve it — to make it prettier and more functional. I think finally learning how to edit my own WordPress theme is probably the best accomplishment personally. I missed designing and playing with colors, so it’s been fun to get back to it and learn how much I’ve misssed in web design since 2008.

The Stories

So my output in 2014 was relatively decent. I wrote several short stories, a few novellas, and completed three full length stories: Daughters, A Few Words Too Many, and All I Want for Christmas (though Daughters is cheat, I edited it a bit, and wrote in some new material but only the last two chapters are brand new). I also wrote about half of The Best Thing, which is one of the most difficult pieces I’ve tackled until now. Until next year when I plan to challenge myself all over again. All in all, I wrote more than 200,000 words and around 500 pages in Microsoft Word.

As for 2015, well that’s where it gets fun. Here’s the traditional part of this post: the progress review.

Stories on the In Progress Page

The Best Thing — I had a thought while I was writing that changed my concept for the end of the story. Not terribly, but I’m taking a day or so to play with it because I think if I do it right, the story will be just as powerful as my original idea.  I have three chapters written that aren’t posted, two of which are with Cora, and plan to post next week, but take off the week after that and return in January 2015 with my ending firmly in mind and a mind to finish writing it the entire story by the end of January and complete posting it by the end of February.

Come On Eileen/Turning Points – These are only listed on that page because they are technically in the process of being completed but every time I open them, nothing to seems to happen. I don’t see that changing in the rest of December, but hopefully sometime in January.

Life For Rent — I’m reworking the series page (some of the stories listed there now don’t quite belong) and at that point, LFR will move there. Each part  of my outline can work as a standalone story, so it’ll move there in 2015. While I anticipate working on it in 2015, there’s just a lot in my mind before I get there.

All We Are – I got a bit stuck after finishing Chapter Five, but plan on getting through it this week. Once I finish this next chapter, the rest of the story is straightforward and shouldn’t be very difficult. It’s going to be about twenty chapters, so if I can do three a week, I’ll have it all but finished at the end of January. I anticipate posting this by the end of January, first week of February.

All I Want For Christmas – This is completed. I just have to finish posting it and put the final touches on the ebook/

Inside Your Fear – I had storyboarded this as a short story but I tried to write it and realized it didn’t quite work. So it’s going back to the drawing board.

Coming Soon – Stories In Active Development

Burn in Heaven – It was originally not on my radar, but I had an idea that I wanted to write down, and then that idea led to another, so a plot sketch came together. Now I’m working out the scene breakdown to make sure all the angles are covered. It’s a bit more ensemble than A Few Words and the tone is less relationship angsty than action angsty, so I don’t want it to be unbalanced.

Mad World – I have a working outline and a rough scene breakdown. I’ll be sending both to Cora at some point in the new year to get her feedback but I’m still covering some of the angles because MW is a massive ensemble piece. This and Heaven are pretty far along in the development process.

These Small Hours – I know the major events, but I’ve been having issues breaking them down scene by scene. I’m still working on it, but I’m not sure how long this particular outline is going take.

Feels Like Home (Tangle rewrite) – This is outlined and storyboarded. I have some scenes written, but I haven’t actively worked on in a bit. It’s in the best shape to be posted next, but I’m not sure yet.

Other Stories on the Drawing Board

The following stories are still in outline status, meaning I have the concept in my head, I have some general ideas about the flow of events and the ending, but they’re not actively being worked on due to othe projects:

Counting Stars
Fallen From Grace
For The Broken Girl
Illiusions

The following stories aren’t much more than basic concepts — I have a foundation, but I haven’t done anything else with them.

Heaven Forbid
Collision
Slide

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Another month, anothe set of priorities. This post is organized by where the stories are listed

In Progress Stories

1. The Best Thing – We’re finally rolling forward on this. Part 2 ends after Chapter 19 about half through January. I’m really hoping to pick up on the writing at that point so that by January, I’m posting two chapters a week. However, I’m also trying to get my next story to post ready. Not completely positive which will that will be, as I have several in the works regarding outlines.

2. All I Want For Christmas – Posting schedule set up to begin December 3 and finish up December 31, the small story kinks are mostly worked out. I really like the story world I’ve built for this alternate universe, so if there’s a demand for it, I’d write a sequel.  I’m about halfway through the story now.

3. Turning Points – I’m playing around with the next part, but it’s a whenever I get around to it type of story. I’ll be looking to wrap it up relatively soon.

4. Life For Rent – A recent addition to the in progress page. The second and third entries in this story were plotted in 2006, so I’ll be looking at these soon to either update or adjust.

5. Inside Your Fear – A short story that’s a rewrite of something I wrote in 2003. I’ve changed the story so it’s a Courtney POV. I play with every once in a while, but it never quite hits me. Eventually, I get the right mood in my head to finish it up.

6. Come On Eileen – Really planning to finish this off before the end of the year.

Coming Soon Stories (organized chronological order)

1. Counting Stars – I had this storyboarded and ready to go, but I realized some of the angles were a bit superficial. I’m revisiting it to deepen it, and still playing with the timeline.

2. Mad World – I have most of the story plotted, but  it’s going to deal with a serial rapist. I want it to be part mystery, part drama so I want to get the details just right.

3. Fallen From Grace – Revisiting the outline soon,  but it’s low on my list of priorities.

4. For the Broken Girl – Still in the outlining stages as it deals with drug abuse and domestic violence, so like most of my planned stories, trying to get the details and emotions just right. Also, while the middle of the story is relatively solid in my head, the beginning and the end are still a little murky.

5. Collision – Ah. The story that stays in my head, but has never made it far. I still play with it occasionally and I’m reluctant to eliminate it because the main plot is so good, but it was supposed to be a huge ensemble story which is always tricky.

6. Burn in Heaven – I started playing with the outline a bit, have some good ideas on how to play it out, but the details are still getting stuck in my head.

7. These Small Hours – I made a major story shift change. It used to be more Johnny/Nadine in nature, but Jason/Elizabeth’s side of it needed to be more in focus since Sonny ends up living. I have the outline somewhat figured out, but there’s gaps and whatnot to work with.

8. Slide – Though I am still planning to write it and have some vague ideas on what to do. I honestly haven’t looked at it more than that, though I should soon since it’s been ten years since the original.

9. Heaven Forbid — Permanently shelved. The original plan for the story has been discarded, but I’d like to do a Jason return storyline at some point.

10. Illusions – the Alternate Universe. I like what I wrote so far, so I’d like to do more, but it’s just not happening for me at the moment.

11. Untitled Marriage of Convenience Story – Likely to be my next project if I can just manage to give it a title.

12. Feels Like Home (Tangled rewrite) – Played with a bit over the weekend. Will shuffle it into my writing schedule as I can.

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Haven’t posted one of these in months, so figured now was good as time as any.

1. The Best Thing – Chapters 1-7 are currently posted on the site. I wanted to finish Chapters 8-12 before I resumed posting so I would have a decent buffer zone in case I got sick or things came up. I finished all but Chapter 11, which I intend to finish up this weekend. So, as long as Cora gives them the approval stamp, I should post Chapter 8 by the end of next week.

TBT has been difficult to write for two reasons: Obviously, I’m working with Sonny’s bipolar illness and I really want to do it justice. Secondly, I’ve been challenging myself by taking scenes with Jason/Elizabeth that I would normally do in Elizabeth’s POV and doing them from Jason’s side. It’s…ha…been just that–challenging, but I think Jason’s voice is starting to happen for me.

2. Damaged – Is on permanent hiatus as I play around with a few things. Like TBT, I want to get buffer episodes done so I’m not so hurried along, and put myself into a routine of writing one or two scenes. Not being discontinued, but being bumped for a bit until my creative juices come back to me. I reallly like Billy Miller as Jason which I was not expecting, ha, so may have to adjust for that.

3. Mad World – Next on my list once TBT is closer to being completed. I’m doing some research on the type of crime that’s going to be done in this story, as well the fallout. Once it gets underway, it’s going to be really fun to write but I want to make sure I’m nailing certain aspects. Just because it’s fanfiction, it doesn’t mean it can’t be realistic 😛

4. Fiction Graveyard Stories — I’m gathering them together, editing them for typos. No ETA when they’ll be posted or how often.

5. These Small Hours — Remains in the outlining stages. I have not really had the energy to get back to this story, but I definitely intend to as soon as my brain feels up to it.

6. Feels Like Home (formerly Tangle) — Same place it was in the summer, but hopefully it will start to gel soon.

7. For the Broken Girl — A rewrite of the 2006 drug storyline that’s been in my head but due to the type of content, so far off from being done.

Everything else is in development hell and may not emerge any time soon. Just as I was settling into a new writing routine that was actually working, I came down with an annoying cold that threw me off in all aspects of life, not just writing. Oy.

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Novels/Alternate Reality

1. The Best Thing – I finished Part One with the end of Chapter Seven, and I think the reason getting Part Two going is because the first few chapters are really setting up the actual meat of the story. I have to do the characterizations just right or honestly, it all falls apart. I’m almost finished Chapter Eight, but I’m unhappy with some of the scenes. One this chapter and possibly Chapter Nine are behind me, I feel like it’ll be smoother sailing.

2. These Small Hours – I’m working on major revisioning of this story, but it’s been slow-going because I’m been pressed for time and haven’t had much chance to really dig in. I hope to get it done soon, so I can finish outlining, storyboard and get back to writing it

3. Feels Like Home (formerly Tangle)  – I picked out the POV scenes I’m going to tackle first in hopes that it’ll jump start the rest of the story.  No ETA on posting.

4.  Damaged – I hope to finish Episode 005 soon. I just haven’t settled into a rhythm of writing this one yet. I hope to get into a routine of writing two scenes a day, so that I’ll be able to post an episode a week, but I’m not sure when this routine will commence, it might continue to be stalled in some ways until I move home to London and start working regular hours.

5. Mad World – I’ve got it mostly outlined, but I’m still trying to visualize the ending to get it just right. It’s insane ensemble piece that is going to be angsty and difficult, so I want to get it jut right.

6. Fallen From Grace – On the drawing board, waiting for its turn in the reoutlining cycle.

76. For the Broken Girl – A rewrite of the 2006 drugs storyline. I have the major events in my head, a ton of it is already outlined. I had some thoughts that I just started writing, and before I knew it, I had written a lot of details. I’m going back over it, trying to visualize the ending.

8. Untitled Chesapeake Bay Homage – I actually started playing with an outline for this, so you never know. I liked some of the stuff, but more of it needs to work. I do not want it to be just like Nora Roberts’ series — I wanted to use that plotline as a jumping point.

Novellas

1. The End of Everything – I haven’t even started to think about an outline for this. May end up being scrapped.

2.  The End of the Beginning – Storyboarded, just waiting for the mood to strike.

3. Inside Your Fear – As above, storyboarded and waiting for the right moment.

4. Paternity Switch – A rewrite of the paternity storyline from 2006, but it’s really on the edges of my mind, I have to play with a few things first history wise to see if it even works.

Short Stories

1. Three Weeks, Two Days – Storyboarded, just waiting to be angry enough to rewrite it as it’s a rewrite of Elizabeth switching the results of Sam’s test in 2012.

Backburnered/Hiatus

1. Come on Eileen – I hope to finish it off soon, but you never know

2. Turning Points – Will probably wrap this up in another few parts.

3.  Silent Reverie/Collision/Illusions – Sitting in development hell waiting for a turn in the outline cycle, or permanently stalled.

4. Burn in Heaven/Counting Stars/Life For Rent – Also in development hell, but way more likely to be written than those above.

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My muse is a fluid thing, so in the three weeks since I last sat down and disected where I am regarding stories, statuses and ideas have shifted.

In Progress

1. The Best Thing — Chris, my muse, fell in love with this story as I was outlining it. I’m averaging almost a chapter a day, hopefully will have it ready next week to post. It’s storyboarded through thirty-seven chapters, so it’s going to be a long one. I am super excited about the changes I made since I originally outlined it in March. I saved those original plot sketches to post when the story is further along for those of you who are interested.  I also saved a deleted scene, as I tossed my original opening scene in favor of something much better.

2. These Small Hours — I had originally planned to just dive into this based on a new outline I wrote in February, but I think it lacks balance, depth and I want to concentrate on a few key themes. I’m working on this one, and don’t really have an ETA for posting.

3. Tangle – I haven’t retitled this yet, and for some reason, it’s being quite bitchy. A Few Words Too Many gave me similar troubles, so it might be time to pick a character and just start writing their POV scenes. I did that with Carly in FWTM and then the story just started to flow.  I’ll probably start that sometime next week.

4. Turning Points – I’ve started part six. I don’t know how long this will be, I write it when I feel like it, so there’s no real ETA on how I’ll be posting.

5. Come On Eileen – I have started the second half of the story, and hope to fit it in at some point.

6. Damaged — I’m working on Episode 004, but The Best Thing has been flowing so well, I try not to piss Chris off by working on things he doesn’t want to do. I have it about halfway finished. Hopefully soon — I probably won’t be posting it on the schedule I had hoped for initially, though.

Storyboarding & Outlining

4. Mad World — I had outlined the rewrite initially, but there were some aspects I didn’t like, particularly the ending. I’m playing around with it, but there’s no ETA on posting.

5. Inside Your Fear – A short novella based on the four chapters of this I originally posted in 2003. It’s storyboarded, but I just haven’t felt inspired to write it. It’s a Courtney story with Elizabeth and Jason as supporting characters, so that might be why it’s been difficult.

6.  End of the Beginning – Johnny/Nadine prequel to Tangle. Ready to go, just waiting for inspiration to strike so I can write it.

Stories Backburnered/On Hiatus

7. Silent Reverie – This, along with the The End of Everything, have basically tied for resurrection. I have to reoutline the story. I may rewrite the earlier portions. I also have to go back and research the Nikolas/Lorenzo/Mary connection if I want to bring that in. It’s not high on my list of priorities though.

8. Collision – As always, still in the outline process. I’ve been debating scaling down the story, which would make it easier to write. We’ll see.

9. Pictures of You – I finally remembered what made me write this story when I was doing Jason research for Damaged. I think I was going to have Jason turn Sonny into the Feds to save Spinelli, which explains him skipping bail. This doesn’t change the fact I’m unlikely to ever write it, but heh, I do love the opening scene I wrote for it, so you just never know.

10. Slide – Still in the outlining stages. It could happen at any point, if inspiration strikes.

11. Heaven Forbid – Still leaning towards either trashing it or finding someone else who might want to write it. I’d happily send along my plot sketches for it.  I just have no interest in writing for GH in 2014 apart from Damaged.

12. Illusions – I’m playing with the first few chapaters and the outline I wrote all those years ago. It’s something I want to write, but I have it set up now for Sonny/Emily, and good grief, no. So I’m still figuring it out.

13. Fallen From Grace – I’m going back to the outlining stage with this, to play around with my initial thoughts. I had intended it to be a messy relationship story, where Nikolas/Robin are married, but she’s drawn into an affair with Patrick, who has been dating Elizabeth. She turns to Jason, etc. It’s insane, and I had trouble with character motivations, so I changed it over to straight Electrick. I feel more confident in my writing now, so you never know.

14. Burn in Heaven – Started to expand on my initial notes. Once I knock a few stories off the list (MW, TBT, Tangle, TSH), I’ll move this higher up.

15. Counting Stars – This went back to the outlining phase to fill in some plot holes and depth.

16. Life For Rent – I have to storyboard this, but inspiration hasn’t hit. I hope to get some Lulu and Dillon DVD edits at some point to help me figure out their story.

Ideas For Novels, Shorts & Novellas

1. The End of Everything – Revising the early chapters to reflect that once Courtney shot Brian, I no longer gave a damn about them as a couple, which was hard. Don’t know how this is going to turn out though.

2. Paternity Switch – This has no title, but it’s just a vague sense of rewriting the 2006 paternity debacle, with the paternity test being switched and Elizabeth actually believing Lucky is the father.

3. Three Weeks, Two Days – a short story that will be a rewrite of a maternity switch nonsense from 2012. It’s outlined and storyboarded, I just have to get pissed off enough to write it.

4. Chesapeak Bay Homage – Unlikely to go very far, but it’s on my list if I’m in the mood for contemporary alternate universe.

Good. Grief. How did I get so bogged down in stories again? Now I remember why I stopped writing. I had too many ideas and not enough hours to write.

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A lot has changed in the last three weeks, so here’s an update on where I am on a few stories.

In Progress & Recently Completed

1. A Few Words Too Many – Though I’ve only posted through Chapter 15, I have completed all 24 chapters. I anticipate posting the last chapter on 30 April 2014, which is almost funny since I hadn’t intended on posting it until May.

2. Daughters –  Seventeen chapters have been posted on the site, but I’ve finished the last two chapters. I anticipate posting the last chapter on 24 April 2014.

3. These Small Hours – One of the next two stories I am actively writing. I have it plotted and storyboarded, but I’m doing one last pass through to make sure I’ve covered all the angles I need to cover. I anticipate posting Chapter 1 on 1 May 2014, and posting it twice a week until it’s completed.

4. Tangle – The other story I am actively writing. It’s not as far along as These Small Hours, but it’s been completely storyboarded nad I think I’ve covered all the angles so I just have to dig in and start on. Not sure when I’ll start posting it, but when I have about six or seven chapters ready, I will.

5. Short Stories
– Inside Your Fear: A short novelette that’s one of my resurrected stories. No idea when it’ll be ready. I’ll write it when the mood strikes.

– End of the Beginning: A Johnny/Nadine prequel to Hand Me Down. It’s been storyboarded. Will write when the muse feels up to it.

6. Damaged – I wrote the first two episodes and had plotted out thirty additional, and then I decided I hadn’t gone about it at all the right way, so I stepped back, reworked out the storylines and still have some work to do, though I am working on Episode 003. I anticipate posting the next episode 2 May 2014, and hope that I’ll have plotted out the first set of episodes to my satisfaction so I can write it more quickly.

Poll Winners

The top three choices!

1. Mad World – I’m refining the plot, as I didn’t like some of the things I had planned originally. I’m trying to keep the story as focused as possible under the single umbrella story, and intend to spend the first two weeks of May finishing the plot and storyboarding it. After which, I’ll writing. I hope to begin posting it in June.

2. The Best Thing – The end of the story is giving me agita. I know how I want it to end, I just can’t quite get it there yet. As soon as I’m satisfied with the plot sketch, I’ll start breaking it down into scenes to see if it’ll work out.

3. Counting Stars – Plotted and storyboarded, but I’m opening back up the process because I think in an effort to keep it shorter than normal and focused, I’ve cut out some things.

Stories Still On the Drawing Board

1. Life For Rent – Parts 2 and 3 have been plotted, I’m still working on storyboarding. I’ll probably write it in my free time. Ha, what is that anyway? When the mood strikes me. Each story isn’t terribly long, or shouldn’t be, so you never know when it might show up.

2. Fallen From Grace  – I’ve been debating going back to my original concept for the story — shifting and changing relationships when people are vulnerable, making it a little more messy. Still not sure. There’s a reason I’ve never written it much further, so I’m playing around with it.

3. Collision – I’m going back to replot it based on some new ideas. Never sure if this will ever get written, but I like the main concept so much that I’ve left it on my list.

4. Heaven Forbid – I’m leaning towards trashing this partially because I’m not keen on writing Silas as a character since he’s eaten the show in the last few months. The idea was okay, but I’ve kind of fulfilled what I wanted to do while writing Damaged, which takes up the Jason popsicle story. I try not to deal with doing the same elements of the same time period–I’d rater make things different.

Possible Sequels

1. Slide – It’s in my head to do this, but I had originally planned to set in 2005, but since originally writing I Shall Believe, I’ve fallen out of love with Lorenzo Alcazar and I’m not keen on writing him and Carly. I’m playing around with some ideas.

2. Burn in Heaven – I started playing around with concepts for this so that I could lay bread crumbs in Few Words. I haven’t done any full out plotting for it, so I’m not sure when it could really be focused on. It’s definitely something I plan to do once I clear up some of the other in progress stuff.

Back Burnered Stories & On Hiatus

1. Illusions – I like this concept, and there are entire portions that I like, but I want to do more research before I dig back into it, and possibly rewrite sections.

2. Silent Reverie – One of my resurrected stories that people seem to want to read. I’d have to rewrite it, I think, because I was winging that story and it showed up a little. It’s something I’m playing with when I get bored, so you never know when it might show up.

3. Pictures of You – A story no one even knows about, set in 2009 after the biotoxin scare. It was a weird couple of pages I wrote in 2009 long after I had stopped writing actively, and I thought it might be interesting to see what happened if Sonny skipped town in RICO charges. Robin’s in the thick of her PPD, there’s a vague idea of having Nadine and Liz get drunk at Jake’s and sing Alanis Morissette’s You Ought to Know after seeing Jason near Sam, and Nikolas with that Emilylookalike thing that was on the show for a while. Ha. It’s a weird motley crue of something will likely never see the light of day, but you never know.

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In Progress & Stories Coming Up

001. Shadows was completed on March 18, 2014, so yay 😛 That’s one story down.

002. Daughters is almost finished being revised. I know I said I would start reposting it last week, but a few things got in the way of editing, so it’ll return next week when I come home from Oxford.

003. A Few Words Too Many is in progress. There are twenty-four total chapters planned, twelve of which are already completed. Chapter One has been posted, and I plan on posting twice a week until it’s completed. (Next post to come Tuesday if I find time on vacation).

004. These Small Hours is in progress. I have edited the first five or six chapters, and compressed them into three chapters (with no loss of content). I replotted the story, because I realized I had originally intended for Sonny to die, but when I didn’t kill him, I had to write in the fallout, which shifts the story from purely Johnny/Nadine, to equally Jason/Elizabeth, and some small smidgens of Sonny/Kate.  There are eighteen total chapters, of which four are finished. It has been storyboarded, so it shouldn’t be too hard to deal with.

005. Tangle has been completely replotted, and all scenes are storyboarded. There are twenty-five total chapters planned, including three chapters to cover the distance from 2010 to 2024, where the story takes place. (And the first chapter serves as a bridge between 2008-10, because the saga picks up with Michael’s shooting.) There is a vague sense that I will also do some prequels that bridge the smaller stories (Lucky/Sam, Johnny/Nadine, Patrick/Robin, Leyla/Pete) at some point but it’s not on my list of priorities.

Stories Coming Soon

Though the poll still has to run its course, it looks like the top three choices are The Best Thing, Mad World and Slide in that order. That may change, but the order in which the top three fall in the poll will be the order I write them.

006. The Best Thing is partially plotted through big events. I have to sit down and finish out my larger plan for the story before digging into the smaller bits. I don’t plan on doing this until the poll is completed, and I have finished FWTM, Hours, and Daughters.

007. Mad World is completely replotted, it just needs to be storyboarded which won’t be done until the poll is closed, and I finish the three stories I listed above.

008. Slide is only partially plotted. I have pieces of it that remain from my earlier intentions, but I changed the year it was set, and some of the storylines have to change along with that.

Stories Coming One Day

009. Counting Stars has been plotted. There are few last bits to work on before I storyboard the scenes. I may end up just writing it in my free time as it’s not going to be very long.

010.  Life For Rent  has been plotted, and partially storyboarded. I may work on it every once in a while, but we’ll see. It will be finished, if only to rewrite the second half of 2006 so I like it as much as what happened on the show in the first half of the year.

011. Fallen From Grace  has been plotted, some key scenes have been written. It needs to be storyboarded.

012. Collision  is partially plotted. It needs a lot of work before it would be ready for storyboarding, which means it is still far off in the distance.

013. Damaged is being replanned, since I know how AJ is being written out. I had originally planned for it to be an AJ redemption story, but it just…hurts too much. It’s back on the maybe I might trash it list.

014. Heaven Forbid is plotted out in big details, smaller details are being worked out. After that, it just needs to be storyboarded.

015. No Angel is halfway done. I write it in spurts of anger, and it could be done any time.

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1. Untitled Episode Tag, 14 February 2014 — Post-confrontation with Elizabeth/Britt.  ETA: 22 February 2014

2.  Shadows, Part 1 – The new Shadows is almost completed, and will be two long pieces. The first part will be posted 1 March 2014, and the second part, 8 March 2014.

3. The following stories will be expecting revised chapters to begin being posted 1 April 2014: Tangle, Daughters

4. The following stories are expecting updates to resume after 1 May 2014: These Small Hours, Daughters, Tangle

5. This summer, the following stories are expected to be completed: Daughters, Tangle, Shadows, These Small Hours.

6. New stories to be posted starting 1 July 2014: Untitled Revision of Poisonous Dreams, Fallen From Grace

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