Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 52

Shoulder feels the best it has all week — the brace really helped. It keeps my shoulder stabilized, and helps me remember not to use a bit better. I have the specialist appointment tomorrow where they’ll confirm what the last doctor said, and hopefully give stretches I can use. I’ve been hesitant to try on my own because I don’t want to pick the wrong ones.

I’m going to get back into my writing schedule this week, I hope, starting Tuesday. I wasn’t really able to write or do anything all week for work, so I’m spending the rest of the weekend getting caught up and back on track. Can’t get too annoyed because of the health conditions making things difficult. Just need focus on what I can control, and get back to work when I can.

Oh, and my mood is probably improved by the fact the Phillies demolished the Braves last night, and shutdown them at home for the first time all season. Sometimes it’s the little things.

See you on Tuesday!

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Hey just ducking in to let you know that I won’t be updating Flash Fiction today, but will be doing it tomorrow. I got my shoulder brace on Thursday, and after wearing it all day at school on Friday, my shoulder feels a bit better. So I’m going to take another day today to give it more rest. It’s still hard to sit and work for long periods of times without accidentally jostling the shoulder.

I know I left you on a cliffhanger, but last week as I was finishing up, the pain was really bad, so I had to take a break and couldn’t do much else. Writing sustained for an hour feels like a lot to ask right now. But I think tomorrow after another day of the brace and regular ice and rest, I think I’ll be able to do it.

Thanks!

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Update Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 20

This chapter has a ton of new content! The opening Liason scene has been lengthened, and the conversation has been edited heavily. Then, there’s a second Liason scene that is lightly edited. Finally, the Sonny scene and second half of the chapter is brand new.  Would love to know what you think — I spent a lot of time on this section of the story in edits, so I hope it was worth the extra wait.

I got my new shoulder brace, and it’s helping to limit how much I move the upper arm. We’ll see if it helps alleviate some of the pain. I appreciate the comments and suggestions — hopeful for some relief soon! I’m scaling back on writing this week just because sustained writing at the desk for more than 25 minutes is just not happening, and I’m falling behind with so much at work because I can’t work at the pace I’m used to. Trying not to be too frustrated, but you know me.

But hey, my Phillies clinched last night, so more baseball! We take on the Braves on Saturday, so thanks to the boys for lasting long enough to ensure they’re still in the playoffs by the time my postseason shirt arrives, lol.

See you on Saturday!

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Update Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 19

Note: This chapter is basically brand new! All new material or so heavily edited it’s not recognizable from the OG Flash Fiction.

Well, I’m writing this on Wednesday morning, feeling a bit of mixed feelings. Absolutely elated that my Phillies won the opening game of the Wild Card, and now we’re in a position tonight to clinch a trip to destroy the Braves again in the NLDS, but then I woke up unable to move my shoulder enough to get dressed much less drive to work. This would have been a great time to be married, lol, or live near someone who could drive me. I called out (which I hate to do) so that I can rest and ice, so I can go back to work the next two days.

I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday, and a shoulder brace being sent tomorrow that hopefully helps. I was trying to hold off buying anything until I had doctor’s advice, but I’m having a lot of trouble remembering not to use the arm. I made some adjustments to my desk chair to better support my shoulder and right now, typing this, it feels so much less sore and I don’t feel pain while typing.

Obviously, this shoulder injury and the way it’s getting worse is a huge blow to my hopes to make some real progress on FMT, at least this week. It’s obviously the higher priority to make sure I can get to work, so that’s the focus. Hopefully, this brace gives me some relief, and the specialist on Monday gives me a treatment plan so I can get my life back. It’s not just writing that’s more difficult, it’s literally everything, Changing my clothes is painful right now.

It’s just frustrating that as soon as I got my TMJ meds back, I have another health issue complicating things. But we’ll take it one thing at a time, I’ll keep updating Flash Fiction weekly so I’m still here. See you tomorrow!

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Update Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 18

Happy Tuesday! I’m writing this on Monday, right before (hopefully) a good writing session for FMT. I was hoping to get an earlier start, but it was a rough Monday at work. Getting over a cold so I was super tired, and my shoulder was really sore. I finally got a chance to make a doctor’s appointment for next Monday when I’m off so I’m headed to a specialist. I don’t expect an easy fix, but I want to get back to a good place. It’s really hard to write for longer than an hour right now, especially after I teach all day. Ice relieves some of the pain, but not enough.

Just a reminder that I’m adding an extra posting day for Signs of Life this week, so I’ll be back tomorrow with another update! This week’s chapters have a bunch of new material. The Alexis scene in this chapter is new, so let me know what you think!

Hopefully the next time I check in, my Phillies will have won the first game of their Wild Card series! (Though I’ll be writing that update post before the game so, uh, you’ll know if you check my Twitter and I haven’t lost my mind). See you tomorrow!

Oh, hey, little Easter egg — I named the killer in Watch Me Burn after my least favorite Phillies announcer 😉 If you know, you know.

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Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 51

Happy Sunday! Apologies for not updated yesterday — as Friday evening went on, I started to feel to the first stirrings of a cold. For me, it usually feels like it crawls up my throat (it starts to feel a bit thick, then sore, and then the congestion) but this time it was in reverse. The congestion came first and I thought it was the change in weather, so I took my TMJ meds. Unfortunately, the TMJ meds have a really serious interaction with most cold medicine (particularly the Vicks I have at the house) so I couldn’t take anything until yesterday. So I didn’t sleep well and I woke up a bit late and feeling ugh. I decided to take the day and just rest, let the meds build up.

I feel a lot better today, and I’m really hoping this is the regularly scheduled cold I usually get on Columbus Day weekend — three years in a row, I get nailed on our first day off. My immune system is famous for holding out just long enough until the weekend or a break. I literally didn’t get my Covid symptoms until the afternoon of a Friday that was a half-day for students and we were off that Monday for MLK Day. It’d be really nice to have next weekend to actually get things done.

A few notes for the month of October & November —

• Fool Me Twice’s second draft is still a work in progress. I have roughly 46 chapters left to write. I know that sounds like a lot, but this second book is insanely stupid and long, lol. I’m already written 43 chapters, and of the 46 left, I’m keeping a lot more of my first draft than I did in the first half.
• FMT’s beta draft being posted and updated at different intervals for three different tiers if you want to read along (and let me know how you like it and what maybe needs work!)
  • Stalker ($15) – Same day updates (Chapters 39-82 available now!)
  • Obsessed ($10) – When I finish the chapters that take place on a day, I bundle them together. (Chapters 39-78 available now!)
  • Adored ($7) – Updated monthly on the last day of the month (Chapters 39-82 available as of yesterday).
• No matter where I am on November 1, I’m taking a break from FMT. I’ve been working on it almost without stopping since January. The only “breaks” I’ve taken are ones when I can’t write and I feel guilty, lol. This will be a scheduled “I’m not thinking about this story at all” break.
• This is because my NaNoWriMo story is only plotted out to 30 chapters, which means I could maybe get a huge chunk of it done if writing goes well. I have two four day weekends, and as long as I don’t get sick (ha), it’s possible I might even finish it.
• In Flash Fiction news, Watch Me Burn will conclude on October 28. The new series, Hits Different, will debut the next Saturday. I’ll be doubling up on Fridays twice that month (Nov 10, Nov 24) because I have those four day weekends.
• And finally! Starting October 11, I’ll be posting three chapters of Signs of Life a week — Tues/Wed/Thurs. That way I’ll be finished posting in November.

See you Tuesday!

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Update Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 17

Hope you’re having a good week! I took a half day because I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon, and I have to catch the PATCO train into Philly. It’s with the TMJ doctor, and I’m looking forward to it. I got fitted for a dental thing that’s supposed to stop the clenching at night which is a huge cause of my jaw pain.

As soon as that’s sorted out, I’m gonna make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor. My shoulder is feeling really sore, and it’s hard to write after work because I move it so much while I’m teaching, then it’s too sore to do anything with at home. I’m planning to get a brace this week or next to help me avoid using it. I’m left-handed, so I just naturally reach for everything with that hand even if my right is available, and it’s hard to stop myself until I’ve already done the dumb thing, lol. A brace would force me to remember.

See you on Saturday!

ETA: I finally fixed the style issues with Signs of Life. Thanks for your patience while I tried to figure out why some of the colors and whatnot weren’t working. Just needed to change some tags and we’re all good now!

+7

Update Link: Signs of Life – Chapter 16

This is usually up earlier because I schedule it the night before but my shoulder was really sore. I concentrated on getting a chapter of FMT done instead. Hope you guys are having a better week than me, lol. Frustrations at school — not with the kids, they’re great. But man, a lot of people have opinions about how to teach who don’t actually spend any time in classroom. Super fun for me.

+7

Update Link: Watch Me Burn – Part 50

Happy Saturday! It’s cold and rainy here in NJ as we get the scraps of the tropical storm that was annoying North Carolina yesterday (or last night, I think). Going into the last week of September, I’m pleasantly surprised by not tired I am. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not a bucket of energy, lol, but my last district had me feeling June tired within a few weeks and it was like dragging myself across the finish line every Friday.  I miss my chaos demons in the 7th grade, my 6th graders losing their minds because dix-neuf sounds like “deez nuts” (19 in French), but I’m enjoying the older grades as well.

I’m also pretty happy by the progress I’ve made in FMT since school started. I wasn’t expecting to really do much of anything, but to manage three chapters during the work week? Pretty great. When baseball ends, I’ll have even more time. (But let’s hope for a deep October postseason run for my Phillies!)

Fun GH Trivia note: I was looking through my old CD sleeves for a Backstreet Boy foreign important single (my 90s girls know what I’m saying), and I found my Scott Clifton CDs!! I forgot about these, lol. He played Dillon in 2003-07 and had a brief career as an indie artist. He sold a trio of CDs through his website and I snapped every single one up because your girl is the OG stan. I watched Bold for like 3 weeks this summer, and it took me like six episodes to hate Liam because, well, it’s SCOTT. Anyway, I am now binging on these old gems 🙂

I’ll see you guys on Tuesday for the next update of Signs of Life. We’re starting to get into the middle part of the story where I added most of the new material, and there’s some really good Liason stuff coming up in the wake of the PCPD search warrant debacle that I can’t wait for you guys to read!

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Update Link: Signs of Life, Chapter 15

Hope everyone is having a good week! I’m feeling good considering it’s Wednesday, and I’ve already written two chapters of FMT. I don’t know if anyone remembers last September when I promised Flash Fiction updates and editing on Counting Stars and basically did NOTHING the entire month, lol. I don’t know if it’s just easier with a 2 minute commute, not running lunch duty EVERY day, or the shorter classes, or maybe just the switch in district — I just feel like I have things mostly under control. Which is…not my normal September, lol. Let’s hope this holds! I know I can’t write tomorrow — Back to School Night for me, but I feel good about Friday.

See you on Saturday for Flash Fiction!

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