Your Update Link: Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 15

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend! It seems crazy that this Thursday we’ll be ending the daily flash fiction updates. It’s been really fun (and challenging!) to follow this content schedule and I had a lot of fun, even if juggling four series and one novel project drove me a bit batty once in a while. I’ve also liked checking in with you guys often as Mad World took shape — usually when I’m in progress on a novel, I check in once every few weeks but I really feel like you guys were able to live through this experience with me.

I had a bit of a crazy weekend, but I still managed to do a lot of work! Mad World, Book 3 is now 23 chapters and seven of those chapters have been revised. This week, I’m focusing on writing the new chapters and finishing up the other 8 chapters that need line edits. When I started revisions, Book 3 was about 93k. I’ve already addded 9k to that total and 6k of that is just new scenes between Chapters 51-57. I started Chapter 58 yesterday which is brand new–and I’m so happy with the Sonny/Carly and Jason/Elizabeth scene I just wrote. I think these two chapters I’ve inserted at this point in the story are going to be some of the best.

Fool Me Twice is still moving along — I’m really deep into the outline and looking forward to moving that project into its next stages. I’m really glad I gave myself two full months to plan — it’s been so relaxing and fun to lean in to it like this and just do a bit a day. It keeps my interest engaged and really makes me excited to get to it. I can’t wait to finally start writing it! And — I even opened up my Broken Girl scriv file to jot down some brainstorming notes for Book 2. This summer has been crazy productive, and I’m hoping to find a way to manage that momentum going into the fall and going back to work.

I have a couple of things planned this week, but I’m not sure how my schedule is going to work out so just stay tuned!

Your Update Links: Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 14 | If Wishes Came True

Hope you’re enjoying the start to your weekend : )

I spent a little time this morning organizing my 2020 episode tag universe on to a page: If Wishes Came True, so that they’re in order and it’s established kind of the theme I have going. I kind of like the idea of writing cut scenes with Jason & Elizabeth discussing the things going on in their lives — you know, the kind of scenes we’d get if they were writing their friendship. The only aspect of this tag universe that doesn’t really fit the show is the POA subplot but I think it’s kind of fun. It lets me add on as I want to without pressure to write a full-fledged 2020 story, if that makes sense.   It’s still a little under construction and I might still change the title.

In other news, I’ve been working on editing Mad World, and changed the Mad World subsite to illustrate the division of Book 3 into two books. I’ve line-edited the first six chapters — today I’m going to work on Chapter 57 and write the new scenes for Chapters 54-57. Tomorrow, I get to start writing the new chapters 🙂 It’s coming along really nicely and I’m excited for this change.

Your Update Link: If Wishes Came True, Part 2

I, uh, think I need to sit down this week and organize the episode tags onto their own page because they’re clearly part of the same universe and all of them kind of happen as cut scenes from GH — nothing says this isn’t happening in the background, I mean, LOL. I just…I have issues.

Your Update Link: Desperate Measures, Part 17

Not a lot to report today. Yesterday, I got a bit burnt out and took the afternoon off. Then, despite going to bed at a decent time for a change, I woke up with a massive sinus headache that is still lingering a little bit. I think it’s honestly because I’m staying inside so much, and I need to get my dad to change the filter on my central air.

Desperate Measures will be wrapping up next Wednesday, on August 19, and Darkest Before the Dawn on August 20. I’ll be back August 31 with the new round of flash fictions and the schedule. I have a lot of ideas so I’ll be letting my Patreons vote on the top two or three.

Your Update Links: Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 13 | If Wishes Came True

New Channel Videos: Mad World, Part 5 | Fool Me Twice, Part 3 and Part 4

Happy Thursday! I have a lot to get to in this post, so if you want to go ahead and just go read the updates and come back — that’s probably a good idea, LOL. We’re down two flash fiction series, so that’s good news. Both stories have about three parts left, so I think they’ll be wrapping up next Wednesday. I’m still taking off that next week to work out revision ideas and decide on the new series and schedule.

I finally finished the last episode tag in the trio I promised last week. This picks up midway through Friday, August 7’s show when Jason has had his motorcycle accident. I have some thoughts about a tag or two this week, but I want to see how the rest of the week works out in today and tomorrow’s episodes. If Wishes Came True is now available, and could probably fit into the universe of the other two tags, Strong Enough and This Is Me Trying. None of them are specifically connected but they don’t really contradict each other either.  I also finally updated the Alternate History, Alphabetical List, and Recent Updates page so yay for me on that score! I’m hoping to get back to the facelift, but for a variety of reasons it’s been a struggle.

I’m finally getting the video posts going. Mad World’s latest post has a transcript, but it’s messy, lol. Fool Me Twice has two new videos, posted on Tuesday and today, going over the final bits of discovery.  I’ll be linking them this way going forward — each page will have the embedded video, a playlist table of contents, a quick online summary and transcript. The transcript takes the longest, but I’m going to carve out some time this weekend to deal with them. There will be an official channel page at some point. I hope you enjoy!

In my final bit of news — Mad World, Book 3 is officially being separated into two books. As I was working on the beta draft yesterday, it became very clear to me that I had two narratives that are deeply interrelated, but still different stories. I have organized the new Book 3 — it’s 23 chapters. The new Book 4 is still in the process of being reorganized. It’s currently at 25 chapters. We’re kind of looking at the Book 1 and 2 situation — Book 1 opened the world and set me up for Book 2, and I feel like that’s what Book 3 is doing. It’s dealing with the fallout of Books 1 & 2 while setting us up for the final confrontations of Book 4.

What does this mean for scheduling? I’m not entirely positive at this time other than the fact that the October 6 date is set in stone for some sort of general release. I might drop Book 3 on October 6, then Book 4 in December — because then when Fool Me Twice Book 1 comes out in February, it’ll be a new book every other month. I might do a poll as I get through the beta draft and get some feedback on whether or not that works for you.

I’ll have more information for you in next week’s vlog post as I finish up restructuring the beta draft and get started on line edits for Book 3.

 

Your Update Link: Whatever It Takes, Part 16

Another series is finished and moves into revision. As I said last week, I wanted to finish all current series in progress, then take off the last week of August to get ready for the new school year. Once I know if I’ll be back to work full-time in September, I’ll work out a schedule and unveil the next set of series, one of which will include the sequel to Darkest Before the Dawn. I’m still working on revision ideas for An Everlasting Love — Mad World has eaten all my energy, lol. That’s another reason I want to take off the last week of August.

I started working on the beta draft for Mad World and we’re getting closer to the idea of splitting this into two books. I’m pretty sure I’ll know for sure after I complete today’s work. Each day, I’m taking ten chapters and looking over notes, adding scenes and chapters where they need to be. I’ve added plans for about six or seven scenes in existing chapters and then two more chapters — on top of at least five or six chapters I know have to be added to today’s batch of ten. That’s only the first half of the book — you see why I might be splitting it.

See you guys tomorrow!

Your Update Link: Desperate Measures, Part 17

Good morning! It’s been a very annoying 24 hours. I was supposed to have Zoom job interview yesterday and then I realized that the principal said Monday, August 11. I was working on this week’s Bullet Journal spread, and uh, it turns out Monday is August 10. So at 10 AM I suddenly found myself wondering — when exactly does this principal think our interview is? There I was, all washed, dressed, and ready — and it’s today instead. The universe is against me.

In other news — that third episode tag isn’t quite ready and I’m annoyed because it was supposed to follow Friday’s show with Jason’s accident and will make much less sense now. Luckily, through reading your comments, it looks like 85% of you are not watching currently so you probably won’t notice. Heh. I’ll try to work on it today and get it finished. It’s my favorite of the three, so I’m definitely writing it.

MAD WORLD! I finally finished reading the draft yesterday but it took FOREVER, lol. I didn’t finish until after 9 and I had to get to bed to get for my interview. I’m going to sit down today and start sketching out the big changes I wanna make. As you guys know, this story is ALREADY a beast with forty chapters and 235k. Based on my initial read, I’m going to have to add anywhere from 5-7 to chapters.

I’m still not sure how it’s going to affect publication. I was pleasantly surprised that the middle chapters I was sure would need the most work aren’t that bad — the first few chapters need more work — but the rest of the chapters need tweaks and additions. That makes me feel a lot better about getting a full beta draft done on time.

For Fool Me Twice, I spent some time on Saturday and Sunday working on it, but not yesterday. Today, I’ll be getting back to my daily 25 minutes sprints and hopefully adding a second one to spend a full 50 minutes on discovery.

There are two videos on the channel that got uploaded, but I want to put separate posts with their text highlights. My schedule is getting a little crunched, to be honest, because this interview is on a different day than I was expecting. The only reason I can fit Flash Fiction in today is because I’m washing my hair at 9 AM, then letting it lightly dry until after Flash Fic because it’ll be faster to dry it.  I’ll be back with them later.

Your Update Links: Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 12 | This Is Me Trying

Happy Monday! Sorry for not posting the episode tag yesterday. I woke up SUPER late because I accidentally stayed up until 3 AM on Saturday night (LISTEN I AM AN ADULT I DO WHAT I WANT). I knew I had to really focus on getting as far as possible in rereading Mad World, so I just put it off and then never got a chance to get back to it.  I still need to add it to the Alphabetical List & Alternate History page. I’ll do that today.

Like Strong Enough, I included an in depth recap. It’s not exactly tied to Strong Enough, but you could see them existing in the same universe. It’s not Jason/Elizabeth — more of an explanation of the Jake shares debacle, LOL, and getting Elizabeth and Sam in a scene together. I hope you enjoy This Is Me Trying. I should have the third tag, If Wishes Came True, tomorrow or Wednesday. (And yes, I’ve been listening to a lot of Taylor Swift’s folklore, why do you ask?)

I’m working on rereading Mad World today, so that’s obviously the priority. I have lots of thoughts, but I want to wait until I’m done rereading to share them. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!

Your Update Links: Whatever It Takes – Part 15 | Strong Enough

That’s right – I have a surprise ficlet (Strong Enough) for you guys and even more interesting news — it’s the first of at least three stories I was inspired to write by watching four episodes of General Hospital this week.

I want to take a moment for you to digest that statement because I am as shocked and appalled by it as you are. I watched FOUR episodes of GH yesterday and was IMMEDIATELY inspired to write episode tags. Just so there’s no misunderstanding — these episodes were not from 1999, 2002, 2006, or even 2012 — They were episodes that aired August 3-6, 2020.

THIS YEAR. I WAS INSPIRED BY THIS YEAR‘S SHOW. I AM VERY CONFUSED.

So today, I have the first episode tag for you. It fits between Wednesday and Thursday’s episodes, after that gorgeous Sonny and Elizabeth scene (wait. did i just say that about something on THIS SHOW??) in the hospital and before Jason’s scenes at the courthouse on Thursday with Chase and Jordan. If you’re not super sure what’s going on with the show these days, I’ve included a recap in the timeline portion of the story. This is the level of detail that I hope my timelines will have going forward. Let me know if it helped.

Tomorrow and Monday, I will update with the next two episode tags. I did a quick Twitter poll last night to choose the order because I honestly had no preference — I WANT TO WRITE THEM ALL. YOU GUYS WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.  If you want a preview of the next two stories, I already posted their info on the Alternate History page. Just skip to 2017-Present.

Please enjoy. I will see you guys tomorrow with This Is Me Trying.

Your Update Link: Desperate Measures, Part 16

If you’ve visited this page after getting the email update notification, then you get to see the title, and yes, you are not wrong. You’re not hallucinating. Yesterday, I finally FINISHED the first draft of this massive insane mess, lol. After 653 pages, 235k words, and arounf 100 hours of my blood, sweat, and tears — Book 3’s first draft is done and available at Patreon for $3 and up tiers. It is, I repeat, a giant mess but it’s there if you want it.

While I take two days off from Mad World, I’m digging in more deeply to Fool Me Twice discovery and am super excited about the Jason scenes I planned yesterday. I found a REALLY great way to revisit the AJ murder mess that lets me not only revisit Jason’s early history, but Sonny and Carly’s relationship with Michal AS WELL AS Liason history with Jake and their friendship AND MONICA GETS TO SCREAM AT CARLY. LOL. I am freaking pumped to write that section of the story.

Filmed vlogs for Mad World and Fool Me Twice — Mad World will be up tomorrow, I think, and you’ll see today’s episode of FMT in about a week — there are still two more episodes from last Friday that need to be posted.

See you guys tomorrow!