Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Six

Good morning! I wanted to let you guys know about a scheduling change for Flash Fiction Sundays. These last two weeks, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t updated. The first time, I legitimately forgot because I was relaxing downstairs and didn’t remember until it was time to post work for my students.

This time, I made a conscious decision to skip Sunday night. I don’t think flash fiction at 7 PM on Sundays is going to work for me. I’m trying to relax and stay away from my office and computer as often as possible to help with headaches and stress, particularly on Sundays when I’m about to go back to work and sitting in that terrible room. Thinking over my schedule on Sundays, I think the best bet is to update in the morning, between 9-11.

I don’t think we’ll be updating this Sunday because I have my second vaccine shot and I’ve heard the second one leaves you feeling really terrible the day after. If I feel up to it, I’ll do it, but I’m not making any promises.

See you Thursday!

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Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Five

So I was working on the schedule, telling myself if I edit through Chapter 20 today, then I can start posting three chapters a week. But then I realized that even if I start posting three times a week today, I have enough chapters edited right now to get me through April 1 — and I’m actually going straight from this post to the editing of 16-20. That edit would get me to April 10. Even with three chapters a week, I’m posting into May.

So I can honestly afford to start posting a bit more often and get the chapters moving! Which makes me very happy since this chapter and the next are my favorites of this early batch. Thanks for your patience as I got moving on this story and organized my editing time into something that works with my new normal.

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Update Link: A King’s Command – Part 22

Sorry again for noping out of last Sunday. I really can’t believe I forgot like that! I have finally managed to get some more chapters of Fool Me Twice edited — I’m done through Chapter 15, and the plan is to finish up through Chapter 20 tomorrow so I can work on the second half the story. If I finish through Chapter 20, I’ll bump up posting. I’ll post Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays 🙂 I’ll know for sure by the time I come back on Sunday.

Still have issues with sleeping, but I have managed to sort out most of the issues I’ve having during the day. It’s so strange that if I can block the sound of the whooshing with any other sound, I don’t have as many of the side effects — except slight vertigo sometimes but that’s probably caused by the uncomfortable place where I’m doing my teaching.  I just got a mouth guard for protecting my jaw from grinding and clenching while I’m sleeping so I’m hoping that will help. We’ll see. It’s frustrating to know I “slept” for seven hours but it’s such a restless sleep and then I wake up with headaches from the TMJ.

I still haven’t picked the next project yet. Returning to work really ended up being harder on me than I thought it would be, and that sucks since my content is finally at a point where I don’t have to work an extra 20 hours on the weekend. And my district is thinking about changing our schedule AGAIN for the fourth marking period, so it’s just–you know, just trying to get through it.

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Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Four

So excited to be posting Chapter Four today! I love the flashback in this chapter and we’re finally out of the setup and exposition part of the story. I’m still working on getting more chapters edited so I can post more frequently.

Health wise — the ear situation isn’t resolved, but I’m going back to the specialist in about two weeks. I’m struggling mostly because I’m not sleeping well — I get 7 hours but it’s not quality, and I spend a lot of time tossing and turning. Then, at work, I’m in windowless room all day, remote teaching, staring at a screen in a crappy chair. I’m pretty exhausted by the time I get home just from the lack of good sleep. So when I go back to to the doctor, I’m going to ask him to help me focus on this. It’s making it difficult to do anything at home once work is done.

But weekends are clear of prep work, so that’s great. Saturdays are set aside entirely for editing, and I’m planning to get done about 5 chapters this weekend, which would be great, maybe even more. We’ll see how that goes.

I’ll see you guys tomorrow for Flash Fiction, and I’ll do better this weekend, promise 🙂

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Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter 3

One of the hardest parts about posting two chapters a week is just knowing what’s coming next and wanting you guys to read it ASAP, lol. I really love this chapter, but Chapters 4-6 are some of my favorites in this early part of the story.

I managed to finally finish the edit on Chapter 11 & 12 — 12 was holding me up for a month, but I finished it on Saturday.  I looked over the next few chapters, and I was pleasantly surprised that it’s lighter edits — mostly just writing the flashbacks. I don’t think I’ll get to it tomorrow or Wednesday, but hopefully on Thursday or Friday. I’d like to get through Chapter 20 this week so I can start bumping up to three chapters a week.

I’ll see you guys on Thursday!

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Uh, so I relaxed so well today I forgot about flash fiction. I played The Sims 4 all morning, then took a long bubble bath, read three books, watched the first three Avengers movies, and just like…vegged out on the sofa downstairs. Then I came upstairs to schedule my post for tomorrow’s workday, and realized, oh hey, I’m usually doing something on Sundays.

Very sorry about that, LOL, but hey, that’s a good thing that I figured out how to relax so well that I forgot about anything else I was supposed to plan. I’ll make an attempt to make it up on Wednesday. See you on Tuesday for the next chapter of Fool Me Twice!

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Update Link: A King’s Command – Part 21

Hey! I’m going to pre-emptively cancel tomorrow’s Flash Fiction update and shift Not Knowing When to double updates in March, instead of doing Saturday updates for a few weeks. This is honestly because I’m still having the issue with my ear. When I’m not teaching, I can keep headphones and listen to music, podcasts, or white noise covers the sound but I have to leave them off so I can remote teach.

The combination of the sound, the uncomfortable chair, and the screens makes me really tired so I’m not editing on week nights right now. I want to keep Saturdays just for editing which would make me too tired for Flash Fiction. Sundays, I generally do errands and don’t spend a ton of time on the computer so evening Flash Fics are fine.

I go back to the doctor around March 23, and I have spring recess Apr2 – 7, so I’m looking forward to some downtime soon.  While remote teaching is exhausting from the screens, I have gotten my course content to a point where it’s on autopilot and I can mostly focus on the students and the day to day stuff. This probably wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the remote teaching. I’m so sick of computer screens, tbh.

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Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Two

Thank you so much for the great response to the first chapter on all the platforms where I post. I’m so glad you guys liked it! I have to admit, I’m a little impatient for you guys to read the entire thing, LOL, which is probably why I’m hoping to get to three chapters a week as soon as possible.

The transition back into the building has been mostly smooth, but the chair I’m sitting in for remote teaching is SUPER awful so my back hurts and I can only fall sleep in a certain way to avoid the whooshing in my ear being a pain, so me and my neck are not having a good week. It’s super fun, lol. I’m working it out, but it just means I’m very sore and tired when I get home. I haven’t really been able to edit, but I kind of knew this first full week back would be rough.  I should catch up this weekend.

I’m going to try to update Not Knowing When twice this weekend because I feel bad about not doing it last week. I’ll know on Friday if I’ll be able to do it. See you guys tomorrow for Flash Fiction!

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Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter 1

Unbelievably excited to bring this first chapter to you guys. I’ve been hard at work on this book for the last six months, and it’s probably had the most issues due to the pandemic than any others because I was juggling the whole world falling apart at the same time I started a stressful new  job full-time.  It’s slowed down the post-production process to a crawl, which is why we’re returning to my old release model — a few chapters a week. I’m hoping to speed up to three chapters a week, but I won’t feel comforting doing that until I’ve cleared 20 chapters in the editing process.

Ricochet is the first book in a trilogy, and it’s probably one of the most ambitious stories I’ve ever attempted because it has a lot of moving pieces, and it’s more of an ensemble than even Mad World. This is also set in modern GH, beginning in October 2017, and I know a lot of my readers are not current GH viewers. Plus, it features a lot of characters that you might not be familiar with or fond of, including Oscar, Kim, Franco, Sam, Sonny, or Carly. I hope you guys will all give it a chance! Let me know what you think and I’ll see you on Thursday!

If you’re not a current GH viewer, you might find the following links useful:

Inspiration & Dedication — Why I’m writing it and what inspired me

Characters

Timeline (deep detail into 2012-17)

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Update Link: A King’s Command – Part 20

Happy Sunday! Sorry about not doing flash fiction last night. I grossly underestimated how long it would take to get my shot last night. I waited in a decently long line (it was moving, but it was a mega site and lots of people in line, around 300 were there when I was). It was really well-organized — the Army did an amazing job. I’ve waited in worse lines. Unfortunately, due to my amoxicillin allergy, they made me wait another 30 minutes after my shot so I didn’t even leave until nearly 7. I still had to eat dinner — anyway. My next shot is scheduled for two Saturdays from now, but I’m more prepared for the whole thing and it’ll be earlier, too. Around 3, so I’ll be home by 7.

I’m glad you guys enjoyed the two snippets I gave you this weekend of what I’m playing with. I will say that as much as I love returning to worlds I’ve created like Mad World and Broken Girl, there is something fun about playing with something new, particularly Burn in Heaven. That’s a sequel to something already completed, but it’s a completely new narrative set several years later so I get to play in the same world with a whole new set of expectations.  I’m going to keep playing with some ideas this week — I think I want to play with Malice tomorrow on my break from work.

Very excited for you guys to finally start reading Fool Me Twice this week. The chapters are scheduled through Chapter 10, so we’re good to go for a full month, and I’m starting to feel slightly better. I mean, we’re still having better days than others, but getting back into the building and getting the vaccine shot — that helped. I’m still having that terrible ear issue but the sinus issue is cleared up and that was making it worse. I mostly block it with an earbud playing white noise so I can concentrate.

I hope to make up that part of Not Knowing When this week — maybe on Wednesday depending on how the week goes, so that I’m still finishing both on the same day. We’ll see 🙂

I might post a snippet of Malice for you tomorrow, but I might not, so I’ll see you when I see you 🙂

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