Update: These Small Hours – Chapter 2   | Chapter 1

I really thought I’d have flash fiction this weekend, but you know the universe always has a curve ball, lol.

The first week went off really well — probably my best first week back since the pandemic. I was pretty tired the first two days, but by Thursday, I was up to cooking and working on things. I edited for a little while, and was looking forward to a great weekend. Then as I went to sleep on Thursday night, I started to feel less than great. I barely slept, and over the course of Friday, I developed my first cold of the week. My immune system didn’t even try this year to hold off, so I guess that’s good since it means my three day weekend in October might not suck after all, lol.

Anyway, I got cold medicine and slept better last night but I’m still feeling a little run down. My focus this weekend has to be prepping for next week and finishing up These Small Hours so I just refuse to commit to updating flash fiction. (I’m not ruling out tomorrow or even Monday, I just won’t promise it).

So I’m giving you the final preview chapter for These Small Hours. Book 1 will be up for early access on Patreon by Tuesday, and I’ll be releasing the whole thing next Tuesday, September 17 at 7 am.

I’ll see you as soon as possible for the next flash fiction!

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Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 35

I can’t believe I have to go to work tomorrow! The last few weeks went so fast! I tried to set this post up for almost 20 minutes, lol, but the cat keeps laying in front of the keyboard. I think she knows I’m about to abandon her, lol.

Anyway, I’ll be back at some point between Friday-Sunday with the next update, and I’ll try and figure out what the schedule looks like.

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Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 36

Happy Sunday! Started an hour later tonight so I could eat dinner first 😛 I usually finish writing at 6, then start dinner but decided to treat myself to some takeout 🙂

Well, this is the last part of Warning Shots. Started as a little detour, and then I got caught up. Really had no idea where this one was going after a few parts and definitely even times I opened up my Scriv file and had nothing planned so if it felt messy and off the rails, well, it was. I did that a few times with Chain Reaction, too, this summer. It was fun, lol, but I don’t know if I wanna do that again.

Tomorrow’s the very last day of summer break before the kids come back, so I have a lot of things to do. Luckily, there’s no Phillies game on to distract me, so I will definitely have time for Flash Fiction tomorrow. It should be posted at 6 or 7. See you then!

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Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 35

I actually can’t believe school starts Tuesday. Summer went so slow and yet so fast all at the same time.

Just a quick update on how edits are going on These Small Hours, Book 1. I finished editing Chapter 16 last night. The first half of the book needed a handful of new scenes (and then I made a Jason story tweak that meant reworking some scenes) but the second half is all clean up and will probably take me about two or three days. The deadline to finish the PDF is September 9, and I’ll have book out to you guys on CG September 17 as scheduled.

I really just wanna finish it as soon as possible so I can dive into the edits on Books 2 & 3 so they’re out as scheduled in November and December. If you missed it, I posted the first chapter last week and I’m really excited for you guys to read the rest 🙂

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Update: Warning Shots – Part 34

It feels like we’ve lived an eternity since I last updated, lol. Monday night, I’m watching the Phillies, and it’s a tied game. We’re in the eighth or ninth inning, and there’s a possibility it’s going to go into extra innings which is literally my least favorite thing in the world. But then Twitter gets the bomb shell — KELLY MONACO IS OUT — and even better, she’s getting killed offf! I was so damn excited and enjoying it with some of my fellow Sam haters that I didn’t even notice the game went into extras, and then the Phillies won. Amazing night, honestly. 15/10.

Obviously, I’m sorry for Kelly, who is reported to have been blindsided, but that’s probably because she’s been allowed to coast on being a producer’s pet for two decade and thought she was untouchable. My backstage fanfiction is that she was on the kill list from the second she tanked the Jason return promo (she looked like a hostage forced to read a script) but whatever happened, I wish her luck but hallelujah, the pet is out the door. Her fans are attempting to rally and get support for her to come back, like 2011 and Becky’s re-hiring and there’s been a decent amount of press coverage of the whole debacle. But I suspect her fanbase won’t have the juice necessary to keep the pressure up since they’ve never had to campaign for anything in their damn lives.

ANYWAY.

I’m currently scheduled to wrap up Warning Shots on Sunday, and I should be bringing Chain Reaction back Monday. I don’t know yet what day we’re picking for our guaranteed weekly update, though I do suspect we’re staying in the Friday-Monday range for a few weeks while I get my feet under me. Sometimes on Mondays, I actually still have energy. It’s Tuesday when I die, lol. We’ll see how things go.

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Hey! I really hoped I’d get back here earlier than now, but it has been a WILD week, lol. Staff development has been exhausting, and I just died every day when I got home. So I’m planning a four-day update end of summer marathon starting tomorrow night! In other news, if you’re off-screen and out of the loop, Kelly Monaco has been let go from GH! As an OG Sam hater, this gives me great joy. She’s being killed off. Should have happened decades ago, but better late than never. Dreams can come true! See you tomorrow tonight!

Note: I try to keep the sidebar updated with my plans, so always check that first!

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Update Link: These Small Hours – Chapter 1

Hey! I’m going to have to move Flash Fiction to Sunday or maybe skip it all together. Back in May, I got the opportunity to participate in feedback sessions with the company that develops my French program at school. At first it was just about their digital tools, but the presenter liked me so much that she’s inviting me back to another round of feedback about lesson plan creation. I get paid $25 for each session, so it’s totally worth it to have input on the development of future content in my subject 🙂

Anyway, it’s scheduled for today at 11, and I really didn’t have any choice because I am back to work on Monday, 8-3 all next week (save Friday).

SO! Just in case I don’t make it back on Sunday, I am posting the first chapter of These Small Hours! This is from Book 1, out on September 17. If you’ve read any of the story in the bonus chapters I’ve posted previous, I rewrote the entire first half of the book. (My original Chapters 1-16 became Chapters 1-32, lol). This was a last-minute decision, so I didn’t get a chance to finish the subsite.

Please let me know what you think, and I’ll see you as soon as possible, either Sunday or Monday.

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Update Link: Warning Shots – Part 33

Happy Wednesday! I mentioned on Monday this was my last true week of summer vacation because I return to the building on Monday. That means the start times for Flash are going to change and we’re back to scheduling around the Phillies. Next week they’re all night games at 6:40 so it’s probably going to pop back to 5PM writing and 6PM posting. Stay tuned for that — I’ll know better when my schedule comes out for professional development at some point this week (one would hope).

See you Friday!

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Update Link: Warning Shots

Well, it’s my last week of summer vacation. Next Monday, teachers report for 4 half days of prepping our rooms, meetings, and professional development sessions. The students are back two weeks from tomorrow.  I’m prepped almost all my content for the first month, and there’s just some things I have to do to get individual classes ready, but I feel good about getting back into it — except for the 6 am wake up. Boooo, lol.

A note on Flash fiction for this week and next. Warning Shots is edging close to wrapping up, so I’m going to put Chain Reaction on hold for the moment. Once I get back to work, I’ll be reassessing my Flash updates (we’ll probably go to 1 a week and increase as we move through the year) so I don’t want to be juggling two stories. I think I should be able to wrap up Warning Shots at the end of next week, if not a little bit earlier so we’ll see how that works out.

See you Wednesday.

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Update Link: Chain Reaction – Part 34 

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