TL;DR Hopelessly behind on work. Update schedule shifting to Fridays & Saturdays for Flash, Sundays for Patreon series. Anticipating getting back to normal starting Oct 27.

So….we need to talk.

Going into this year, I knew that I was going to struggle to prep three courses five days a week, and I tried so hard to organize myself before the school year started, but I wasn’t able to get nearly as much as I’d hoped done, and I feel super overwhelmed. Then you factor in the craziness of nearly four weeks of remodeling chaos, and I’m insanely behind. I need to get a hold of the situation before we’re in the “I have so much to do, we need to take a day off” situation, because we’re heading there. I’m always scrambling to get stuff done for tomorrow, and I have to find a way to get things ready a few weeks ahead of time.

French II has nothing prepped for next week, not even the textbook pages. French I and French III don’t have any of the slides or assignments created. I’m being observed on Monday for content that hasn’t been written. Honestly, sitting down to make the list of all the things that aren’t done might make me cry.

I am very cognizant of the fact I’ve promised Patreon perks that I haven’t been able to fully deliver, and I hate that. I promise you I write it on my schedule, and I take it seriously. But I just don’t know how to balance the real-life job right now, the part-time job, and still sleep and avoid burnout.

Some good news — we’re coming to the end of the first marking period. November has two four-day weekends, and I have a professional day built in, and most of what I’m doing with my kids in Nov and Dec is media-related which is way less time-consuming to put together, especially since most of them have templates put together, and it’s just plugging in the next episode/song/movie information.

So — I want to take this weekend and next to get myself set up for the next few months by making sure that I have those templates put together, that things are set up for plug and play, and that I’m not frantically working late or going to work an hour early to get more work done, and then we can finally be on an actual schedule on Oct 27.

I’ll update Flash on Fridays & Saturdays, and the Patreon series on Sunday for the next two weeks, but nothing should be expected from me on Mon-Thurs. I’ll know by next Friday whether I can come back to updating Flash during the week. I’m working on editing the flash fiction series for a January release, and I can toss 25 minutes of prep work towards it more easily than I can 60 minutes of sustained writing if that makes sense.

+17

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 43

I was so close to having my house back, lol.

They painted the porch today which was the last step — but of course, it’s a rainy, wet day here in NJ and it didn’t dry. So they couldn’t clear their stuff from my living room. I am so sick of living in a construction zone, lol. But with any luck, tomorrow it’ll be gone. It’s just frustrating because it messes up my after work schedule, and I’m trying to get back into the routine.

I’m planning to do two more Flash updates this week, probably writing around 7 and posting at 8 — Tues/Thurs. See you (hopefully) tomorrow.

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Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 42

Well, another baseball season has ended in early October. I appreciate the readers who dropped a reply about the heartbreaking loss last night.

I have to tell you — after Monday, I had that feeling we were likely going to end up here, but you always hold out hope (in Philly, we also call it delusion), and Wednesday gave me a real boost. But it ended as Philly losses usually do — in heartbreak. In 2011, it was the NLDS to the eventual Cardinals World Series and Ryan Howard’s career-changing injury in the last at-bat. And last night, it was a 24-year-old kid’s split-second mistake that ended the season — throwing home instead of first. Devastating.

But while I absolutely want a trophy, I’m never going to be one of those people who think the entire season fails if we don’t win it all. That seems like such a miserable way to watch a sport where there are 162 regular season games. There are 29 other teams, too, and it’s hard as hell to get through the gamut of baseball postseason. So many things have to go right, and we just had everything go wrong. We had an amazing season, and I can’t wait for pitchers and catchers to report. I’m insane.

Which is probably why I’m a Liason fan. It’s holding out hope for something that might never happen because of how damn good it feels when you have it. And knowing how incredible the journey is, and all the people you meet along the way 😛

With baseball over, we’ll get into a regular writing schedule. I’m going to rest and relax this weekend and I’ll have more info on Monday (it’s a day off, so I’ll be updating!)

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Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 42

The Phillies play their elimination game tonight at 9PM. If they win, they play again tomorrow. If they lose, well, I’ll see them in March for spring training. I forgot how much I hate postseason baseball, lol.

If they win and they play tomorrow, that game is scheduled for 6 and I have to do a grocery run tomorrow, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to update after all. I was going to do a run today, but I woke up with a migraine and had to call out. It’s better now, but it’s really thrown me off schedule wise. Also, my mother invited me out for dinner Friday night, so an update then will be late.

Will keep you in the loop. It’s okay if you hope the Phillies lose so I can get back to normal writing. The anxiety is not great, lol.

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Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 40

Well, my magical Swillies weekend did not go exactly to plan.

Don’t get me wrong, my girl Taylor held up her end of the bargain. Showgirl is perfect and I’ve been playing it nonstop — it’s going to be so much fun to plan some happy stories for a change.

The Phillies — uh. Well, let’s just say my writing schedule might be freed up after this week. We’re facing elimination in LA tomorrow night with a 9:08 start. It’s so wild. They feel like such a different team right now, not like the one I’ve been watching for six months. I mean, we could still win. Other teams have come back from 0-2 in the series and won. But, uh, I’m not tying my hopes and dreams to them.

Anyway 😛

Bathroom is completely done and they’ve moved on to redoing the entire porch. I was hoping that wouldn’t disrupt my schedule much, but they leave around 5, 5:30 so I just have to organize my schedule around that.  I don’t have to lock up the cats or travel to shower, so other than just not being able to sort of relax and change into comfy clothes when I get home, things are pretty much okay.

The plan right now is to update every day until Friday to make up for the lack of updates for the last few weeks. The only day I might not make is Thursday because the Phillies are scheduled to play early, but, uh, we have to win tomorrow.

I’m used to disappointment, lol, so whatever happens happens at this point.

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Heeeyyyy, poking my head in to let you know how things are going and when life is getting back on track!!

TL;DR: Flash updates return Tues, Thurs, Fri with options for more based on scheduling.

Bathroom is very nearly finished. They installed everything but the sink today, so I got to shower without a 25 minute drive back and forth to the parents house which is how I’ve been spending most of my life for the last two weeks. They need to do the sink and some little bits and bobs tomorrow — supposedly, it’s going to take a few hours tomorrow. I’m disappointed it’s taking another day — it was promised to be done today, but there was a mishap with my parents’ bathroom (shower door installers cracked the tile) so my contractor went to fix that before coming to my house today).

That puts a kink in my plans — I had hoped to get things all cleaned up today. Things are everywhere from moving things upstairs so I could lock up the cats during construction and my work days. Lizzie the Terror hated being locked up, so she dug out the carpet by the office door, so bits of subcarpet is basically everywhere, lol. The contractor left late every night, so there’s just so much I haven’t been able to do at home that I was planning to do tonight. Then this evening, I would do some Flash while waiting for the new album at midnight and then another update tomorrow while I relaxed and listened to the new album. Now, I’ve got to keep the cats contained tomorrow morning before I can start cleanup tomorrow afternoon. I was soooo upset, I’d been planning for this three-day weekend for MONTHS and my day off is basically garbage now other than staying up late tonight.

This weekend is super busy! I’ve got plans for dinner with my sister so I can take her to the album release party for her birthday, and then the next morning, I’m taking the nieces for their birthdays (September & November babies!) to see the movie again and then lunch, and THENNN NLDS GAME 1 on Saturday night with my sister or parents. Sunday, I’m going to sleep late and then prep the upcoming school week.

BUT — life gets back to normal after that. The Phillies will be playing for a few more weeks, but they don’t play every night. I don’t know times yet (so stupid honestly but what are you gonna do), but I should be updating on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday next week for Flash.

I knew September was gonna be annoying, lol, but we’ll be back to normal soon. Thanks for your patience 🙂

+17

Normally, I wouldn’t come in to let you know I’m not updating today, lol, but since this is the only day I could realistically promise, I do feel it’s necessary to come in and let you know why exactly I’m not updating tonight.

My schedule is a little tight, but it’s not impossible. And I actually have the energy. The challenge is story-related.

Before I started writing, I had the Cates murder mystery completely plotted. I know all the big movements, the peaks and valleys. And I wrapped my head around some of the subplots as I envisioned them at the time of writing.  It’s part of the reason I was able to update as much as I have since starting the story on July 8.

I’ve written 39 updates and around 106k words in the last 11 weeks. That’s…insane, lol. It’s literally like updating every other day for 77 straight days.

But as I started writing, the characters started doing their own thing. I got interested in the dynamics of the teen groups and what relationships could/should exist based on the way the show has aged the characters (they put Rocco/Danny in the same age group and aged them both, so in my head it makes sense to put them with Aiden). And then how their relatinships complicated their parents, and so on.

I also got really interested in Jason playing the supportive role — he’s usually going out to do the action, but that’s not where he’s needed in this story, and how does he handle that? Plus the Liason relationship impacting the Jason/Sam/Danny dynamic, etc. And as I started to play up jurisdictional things to bring Molly in (and add more layers of complication as signs begin to point inside the house for the killer), I realized that Anna and Pikeman was a useful beat to play. And honestly, there’s a ton of things I could be doing that I’m not (I don’t have the room for Michael/Willow/Drew though I’ve hinted at them and Carly/Sonny are sort of in the background where I like them currently but they can and should play roles when it’s necessary).

There’s just a few story elements I’ve pulled in that really work (including Gia), and I actually need to sit down and plot how all these new pieces fit into my larger whole in interesting and complex ways without feeling like I’m pantsing it. This week feels like a good time to take a moment, take a deep breath, and refit the puzzle pieces together. I still plan to update at some point based on the schedule (bathroom remodel starts tomorrow!) but I don’t know what day.

I promise, as soon as I can, to be updating 3-4 times a week. I’m in a good place at work — I just need the homefront to cooperate.

If you’re looking for something to read while I’m plotting, I’ve got a couple of recommendations –

• Karma – a murder mystery set in alternate 1997 with an aged Elizabeth working at GH.
• Counting Stars – 1999 rewrite after Jason leaves, but Lucky doesn’t come back.
• A Few Words Too Many – rewrite of Liz’s pregnancy in April 2003. The first novel I wrote when I came back, and there’s still a sequel on the backburner.

+13

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 39

I secured two tickets for The Release of a Showgirl’s launch party on Oct 3 for me and my sister, so I’m having a very good day! I already took that day off for a personal day, so it’s a solid Taylor day for me!

My bathroom remodel is starting on Monday, and I’m not entirely sure how the schedule works — I’m sure they’re gone by the time I normally do Flash, but I’ll know more on Monday. I’m very excited to get a new bathroom, but still wish it wasn’t being done during the school year, lol.

Other good news — we’re moving into the final week of the Phillies season, which means we get to move into a firm Flash schedule and your girl gets to have a consistent bedtime again! The last regular season game is next Sunday, Sep 28, and unless things go tragically wrong this week, we don’t play at all until Oct 4 with the NLDS. But that’s in the middle of the remodel, so I’m not promising daily updates at that point.

As soon as I know more, I’ll post a schedule. For this upcoming week, I’m hoping for Mon/Thurs at the minimum, but let’s see how it goes once we’re in the remodel phase.

+15

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 38

So sorry about not updating yesterday! I was gonna take a nap so I could recharge a little and then overslept. I am not built for these late starts! So I’m writing a little early today to conserve energy.

I hope you guys have been enjoying this story so far 🙂 It’s the way I love to write umbrella stories where you have chunks that hyperfocus on a major plot piece, then shifts to another so it doesn’t feel like we’re doing the same thing every update. We’ve spent a bit on the weekend with the antics of teenagers, so the scenes took a lot longer to write because instead of plot development, it was character beats that just sometimes take longer for my brain to process. Shifting back into the larger murder investigation now 🙂

We still have a long way to go with this story because I have so many twists and turns planned!

+14

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 37

Our last West Coast trip of the season! I’m getting too old for 10:10 starts, and I don’t even get to sleep in tomorrow. You might ask why I’m staying up, and it’s because I’m insane. We need one more win (or the Mets have to lose one more game) and we clinch the NL East for the second year in a row and I NEED to put in my order for my merch as soon as it drops. Also, they need to beat the shit out of the Dodgers for a bye out of the Wild Card series.

I assure you, me staying up helps them. I’m convinced of it.

Anyways, if I’m still alive tomorrow, we’ll be back tomorrow for another update. They’re off on Thursday (and I’ll be dead by then).

I love baseball, but I am so ready to have a consistent bedtime for a while, lol.

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