July 3, 2020

Your Update Link: Desperate Measures, Part 8

A short update post for you today! I finished Chapter 12 for Mad World yesterday, adding another 6131 to my total. The chapter I’m writing today is going to be insanely wild, and I can’t wait to see how next week’s chapters unfold. By the end of next week, I ought to have a firmer idea of exactly how many chapters I need to get through the story. We’re a few chapters away from the midpoint.

 

July 2, 2020

Your Update Links: An Everlasting Love, Part 8 & Darkest Before The Dawn, Part 3

Other Links: Bittersweet | Ebooks

Yesterday was the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo and it was also my single best day for writing. I wrote 7139 words and completed Chapter 12. It’s pretty much the exact first day I needed to set the tone for next thirty days to come. I’m continuing my Mad World vlog and in the video embedded at the bottom of the post, I talked about how writing went in June and my hopes for the next month. I filmed it on June 30, so it doesn’t talk about yesterday.

In other news, I completed work on Bittersweet’s sub-site and uploaded the book. I’m going to be redesigning the cover, so you might need to redownload the ebook at a later date. I just forgot that Broken Girl was also a purple cover, and I like Broken Girl’s cover better. I tried to change the color, but it just didn’t work and I hate it now, lol. I continued working on the redesigning the Ebook section. The table layout has been updated and is hopefully a bit nicer to look at. It’s still not quite right, but I’m working on it.

I registered the new domain for Crimson Glass (http://www.crimsonglass.org). It looks like moving the site over is actually going to be easier than I thought it might be, but the site will be going down for a few hours sometime this weekend so I can do it all at once, then set up the redirect.

 

July 1, 2020

Life & General Health

  • Wow! This month had a lot of ups and downs. I finished teaching for the school year, and despite having two second interviews at both the high school and middle school, I didn’t end up getting a contact for next year. You win some, you lose some.
  • Classes ended on June 12, so for the last two weeks, I’ve been working on a routine, getting myself into a relaxed schedule where I’m still working but I’m also taking time for self-care.
  • NJ is slowly reopening back up (I went to Barnes & Noble for the first time in months!) but we’re all still nervous, of course, with cases continuing to rise in the rest of the United States. I hope everyone is staying safe.
  • I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. Thanks to my Ripped Bodice care package, I’ve been binging on Deanna Raybourne’s Julia Grey and Veronica Speedwell mysteries. I’m a traditional romance girl, but these books are great.
  • It’s funny to go back watch the video where I unwrapped the package because I definitely didn’t look excited to read the Veronica Speedwell book, but these are really great slow-burn romances with fun mysteries and really immersive world building. Each series has one primary romance, but they take place at a veerrrry slow pace, lol.

Site & Channel

  • I’ve been neglecting the channel to be honest, and that’s mostly because I generally have to put myself together to film things. When I’m not at work, I’m not blowdrying my hair, I’m not putting on make-up, etc. But I’ll be getting updates in this week and next, I promise!
  • The Crimson Glass Facelift is under way. I’ve been publishing ebooks at a fast pace, three of the stories have been converted to sub-sites and I gave out a survey to get some feedback on the site.
  • I still have a few more stories I’m converting over, and of course, more ebooks. I’m also working on the other site clean up I mentioned. Making sure all the stories are tagged, decluttering any parts of the site people aren’t using, etc.
  • I’m also going to be getting a domain for Crimson Glass again. I like the home at cg.dearisobel.org but CG is the larger project, and it should be on its own domain. The dearisobel.org domain is used for my book reviews and general blog.
  • Don’t worry! I’ll have a permanent redirect to the new address.

Currently: Mad World, Book 3

  • I just finished Chapter 10 today, and I’m fully expecting to swing into the chapter a day pace I need to finish the story on time. I wrote all of the chapter today, and can’t wait to write the next group of chapters.
  • Mad World is currently at 61k. I’m expecting to have about 20-25 more chapters. I’m about 2/3 to the midpoint and once we hit that, it’s all down hill from there. I expect the second half to go a lot faster.
  • I’ve been spending most June building up my stamina — starting with 2 25-minute writing sprints, then working my way up to 3. Over the least few weeks, I added the fouth. I usually need 4-5 to finish a full chapter.
  • The Alpha Draft will be finished on July 31, so I will be releasing it to the Crimson Love tier on August 1.
  • The Beta Draft is scheduled to be released on September 1 to Crimson Devoted.
  • The Posting Draft/Ebook will be posted to Crimson Adored on October 1.
  • We’ll have  general release to the Crimson Glass site on October 6, and then I’ll be posting a few chapters a day on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own.

Up Next: Fool Me Twice, Book1

  • Updated the Production Schedule with the dates. I’l lbe starting Discovery on August 1, then writing the Alpha Draft in October and November.
  • That puts me on schedule to start editing on December 1, and do a general release in the first week of February.

Flash Fiction

  • I added a new flash fiction series last week, so that you get a new part every single day, and then Darkest Before the Dawn will be updated on a random day through the week as a  double update.
  • I think An Everlasting Love and Whatever It Takes will probably be finished sometime in August. Desperate Measures may take slightly longer. I probably will not be replacing all three of them at once.
  • Daily Flash Fiction will continue until August 23. If I get a full-time job or a long-term position, most schools go back to work August 24, so I need to be ready to shift.
  • If I am back at work full-time with my own classroom, I’ll probably do flash fiction twice a week.
  • I’ll keep you guys updated.

I think that covers everything! Thanks for all your support! Let me know if you have any questions!

Your Update Link: Whatever It Takes, Part 7

Going to keep this short and sweet today because I have another post going up around noon — the Site & Story status post.  I also don’t have a lot to say here. I stayed up a bit too late reading, and I just don’t seem to function well when I sleep past eight anymore. I’m dragging a bit and didn’t get much done before it was time for Flash Fiction.  I’m still hoping to get Bittersweet’s ebook up today, but it honestly might be tomorrow. I’m just…I’m really tired and I need to do something when I’m done flash fic to get myself going because today Camp NaNoWriMo starts and I really want to start it off well.

The overall Mad World goal remains at 175k, but the word count for NaNoWriMo is 108,000. I might be adjusting that goal as we get further into the month and I get a sense of how much story is really left. This has been a really interesting experience for me to not even really know how many chapters I’m looking at. I’ll keep you guys updated on how the project’s going with each flash fiction.

June 30, 2020

Your Update Link: Desperate Measures, Part 7

Other Links: Crimson Glass Survey | Ebooks

Hello! I’m continuing my work on the Crimson Glass site, and I’ve relaunched the Ebooks page with the updated links for the ebooks I’ve published in June as well as organizing the older books.  There’s still more design I work I want to do, but it’s far enough along that I can give it to you.

One of the suggestions I received in the survey asked me to talk about the benefits of ebooks so I added a section for that as well. There are some instructions for using Calibre, the Nook, and the Kindle for the books but these are external links at the moment. I’ll be working on writing my own with screencaps or maybe even a video.  Honestly, the biggest benefit to using the books I’ve published is having offline access. One of my regrets is not saving enough of my older favorites and just trusting they’d always be online. For a while, Crimson Glass was offline and my stories were inaccessible.

The other reason I like making ebooks is that I’m treating myself like a traditional writer. Writing fanfiction, particularly of the length and (in my opinion) quality that I do, is a second career for me. I even make a little money from it. So making ebooks allows me to feel like a real writer and it treats you guys like a traditional audience. I love the idea that some people might have my books on their ereaders stored with other more traditional authors. My stories will always be available with the chapter by chapter posting, but as I move to releasing them in full at once, I want you guys to have the ability to read on planes, in bed, and away from your computers or iPads.

I hope that explains why I’ve been putting energy into ebooks. I always wanted to do this kind of scale with them and have them available, but until I started using Scrivener to format them, it was a lot harder to do.

In other news, I’ll be publishing the Site & Story Status post and video tomorrow. Camp NaNoWriMo kicks off tomorrow, and I’m really excited to finish Mad World this month. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!

June 29, 2020

Your Update Link: An Everlasting Love, Part 7

Other Links: Crimson Glass Survey | Production Schedule

Thank you so much for those of you who have responded so far to the survey! I’ve had a lot of great feedback, and I’m already starting to implement them. This morning, I rewrote the introduction to the site so that it features a list of links to find stories as well as more update information. Let me know if you think this helps!

I’m also working on redesigning the Ebook page so that it’s updated and more helpful. That should be done for tomorrow’s Flash Fiction update.

I updated the Production Schedule with the rest of 2020’s novel schedule. Flash Fiction does not feature on this page. The schedule also has a Google Calendar for you to look at if you want. I’m still working on the Calendar.

June 28, 2020

Your Update Link: Darkest Before The Dawn, Part 2

Other Links: Crimson Glass Survey | Bittersweet sub-site

Happy Sunday! I worked late last night and finished the preliminary version of the Bittersweet sub-site. The layout is a bit different than either Mad World or For the Broken Girl, so let me know you if you have any suggestions or issues accessing parts of it. I still have some content to work on — I’ve been having weird website errors and upload issuse so it just took longer to get the theme ready.

Five years ago, I asked my readers to give me some feedback on the website — about a year after I opened it up as a WordPress Archive, I wanted to see how everyone was using it and to get some ideas. I got some great feedback from that survey — I added the Recent Updates and Alphabetical List of All Stories pages. It also helped me de-clutter the sidebar I had at the time.

So five years later (wow!), I’m looking to get some more ideas. So for the next week, I’ll be linking the survey in all my updates. It should take no more than 4 minutes and it’s anonymous so be completely honest!  I’ve got a few anniversaries coming up — this July is the 18th anniversary of my first Liason story, Deserving (lost to the wilds), and September 19, 2002 is the 18th birthday of my original fanfiction website, In A Perfect World. Crimson Glass proper opened in April 2004, but I don’t celebrate that because I just moved it from one home to the other.

Since I turned 36 year this year, the 18th anniversary of these things means that for literally HALF my life, I’ve been writing Liason fanfiction. I want to make this a special year 🙂

June 27, 2020

Your Update Link: Whatever It Takes, Part 6

I’m working on the Bittersweet sub-site but I’ve run into a very strange problem. I test all my new themes on a different WordPress installation, but every time I try to upload it, the site stops working. I’ve put in a Support ticket, so hopefully that will take care of it, but for now — that’s been put on hold.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another flash fiction update 🙂

June 26, 2020

Your Update Links: An Everlasting Love, Part 6 and Desperate Measures, Part 6

With this update, we’re caught up to where I would have been if I hadn’t taken Monday off. I’ll be back to my usual one a day schedule for the foreseeable future. The newest series, Darkest Before the Dawn, might see some extra updates on random days because I can easily fit another 20 minutes in around 8-9 once I get my routine really set.  Remember to follow me on Twitter to find out when I start my timer — it’s generally in the morning!

I’m working on the Bittersweet sub-site. I’ve worked on the images, the layout, and ebook. All that’s left is getting the theme up and running and getting the pieces of the site organized. That should be done on Saturday or Sunday. After that, I’ll be taking a week off to just look at the site and doing some minor housekeeping things. After that, I’ll be overhauling The Best Thing, then A Few Words.

I’m also doing an open call for Patreon benefit suggestions. If you’re not currently a Patreon supporter, is there something that might change your mind? This post is open to the public, so if you have any thoughts or suggestions let me know.

Mad World is coming along well — I hit 47k yesterday and finished Chapter 8. We’re really getting out of the setup part of the story, the hardest part to write, and I’m about to launch into the huge stories so I’m hopefully that next week is our week to start churning out a chapter a day. That’s another reason I’m taking the week off from structured website work to make sure I give myself the time in the afternoon.

June 25, 2020

Your Update Links: Whatever It Takes, Part 5 and Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 1

Hey! You’re not blind — that’s a new Flash Fiction series I’m starting today. I was, in no way, planning to do this, LOL. But then Tania asked me to rewrite a story from 2016 yesterday, and my brain basically exploded. I couldn’t imagine waiting another month before one of my current series were done, so I’m going to update this new one Sundays and then pick a random day throughout the week to double up.

I’m really excited about this — it’s set in 2012 and is basically — what happens if Steve Burton doesn’t leave? Because we know that his leaving wasn’t planned and they had to cut a ton of story and rewrite things to make it happen.  I’m going to write this in three parts — each part rewrites a terrible Elizabeth story from 2012-2017, but it’s all set as if Jason doesn’t reunite with Sam and go off the pier.

In other news, I’m working on the Bittersweet subsite. I created the images and cover today, and started on the ebook. I suspect it should be done on Sunday. I hope you enjoy the new updates and I’ll see you guys tomorrow for another double update.