First, I just posted Micro Fiction #2: Spontaneous Combustion, Part 2.  It’s a crazy little story that probably isn’t very close to character, but I need to loosen up and just have fun. I’ve published more fiction in the last two weeks than likely the entire last eight months so I imagine you guys aren’t complaining 😛 I wrote it in about 19 minutes so I feel good about that.

I post on Twitter and Facebook when I set the clock for the flash and micro fictions, so make sure you follow me on both. At the moment, my Twitter is personal and related to Crimson Glass, so you’ll get both.

Camp NaNoWriMo is going pretty well actually. I’ve figured out what’s wrong with this draft and I found some fun ways to fix it. I like where it’s going. I’ve written 11200 words total, but since I eliminated some aspects, only about 3000 words are going to be kept after the month is over. I’m looking to get to my original 50,000 goal with the new version.

I know I said I was going to continue last week’s Flash Fiction, but Gayle Callen released Love With a Scottish Outlaw and it made me want to dust off A King’s Command. All parts of that story have been renamed, btw, so its A King’s Command, Part 1, Part 2, etc.

So enjoy Flash Fiction #11: A King’s Command, Part 5.

Today is the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo, which is similar to the November writing event except this fits my schedule so much better than November has the last two years.  I wrote over 2000 words today and hope to keep going tomorrow. I’m working on Mad World, so I can kind of do something different recharge my creative juices. So far it’s going well. I had written a bit of it before the kick off, and I have about 6000 words overall. I’m feeling better about my writing than I have in months so I’m looking forward to keeping the flow going.

Hope you guys are enjoying the updates!

Just a quick update to note some site cleaning up. I realized that I hadn’t updated my Recent Updates page since about September 1. This is the page that literally just lists what’s been added, updated, or changed without any of the chatter or fluff. It’s easier to keep up with what you’ve missed if you don’t subscribe to the website. That is now current through last night.

I also realized I hadn’t added the small ficlet I wrote last year, Cast Me Gently, to my Ficlet page. One of the things I want to do as part of my overall creative process is finish making the tiny little title images. They can often keep my creative juices flowing when I haven’t been able to write.

I plan to come back tonight with a Flash Fiction. Also, Camp NaNoWriMo starts today, so I’m going to be digging into that as part of my monthly priorities. Nora Roberts once said that you can’t fix a blank page and I’m trying to take that mantra to heart.

If you haven’t subscribed to updates from Crimson Glass, I encourage you to do so particularly during this period when my updates are erratic. I hope to be back on a regular schedule by the end of the year, but for now, getting an email in your inbox would probably be easier.  There’s a subscription link in the sidebar underneath Recently Updated Novels.

Thanks guys! I’ll see you later tonight!

I wanted to get a flash fiction done tonight, but I’ve been tired all week. Split shifts at work, dog sitting, and a low-grade sinus infection. Still, I’m committing to writing as often as I can so I decided to set my timer for 30 minutes and write.

I actually kind of like what I ended up with — I wrote it in about 21 minutes, and it’s inspired by the Catherine Gayle Thursday release, Power Play. If you love contemporary romance, you should be reading Catherine Gayle.

In other news, it’s been confirmed that Steve Burton is returning to General Hospital. I haven’t watched regularly in about a year or so, but if he’s staying long term and isn’t just a hallucination as rumored, it might just be the kick I need for my writing. To see Steve and Becky together again…*sigh* I liked Billy and I enjoyed watching his version of Jason up until the point Jason Morgan got his memories back. Billy made a good amnesia!Jason but he’s just not Jason Morgan for me, so I tuned out.

We’ll see what happens.

For now, here’s your first Micro Fiction: Spontaneous Combustion. I plan to come back tomorrow with a Flash Fiction, either continuing my Scottish romance or the mystery thriller thing I wrote last week. We’ll see what the muse wants to write.

So I was at the bookstore today and came across a book of 100 prompts for romance authors. I figured, what the hell. So I bought it.

My plan is to pick a prompt and write as many flash fictions as it takes to get to the end of a story. So hopefully, I’ll be back again next week. I wrote this in 40 minutes, but did not go back to really edit or do anything with it. I have no idea where it’s going or it’s going to make sense, but this is part of my practice to stop letting shit get in my head and just write. So I wrote.

Flash Fiction #10: The Wrong Place

 

Edit: Apologies — the link didn’t post at first, which is really gonna suck for people subscribing to this 😛

I’ve been struggling with writing for the last year or so — I don’t think anyone would be surprised that the amount of actual writing I’ve done since early 2016 has been negligible. I went back to graduate school — a more demanding program than my last go around. My health has been rough, my family obligations have increased (despite not having kids of my own somehow). And I’ve just lost the creative juice. I’ve said this before, but it’s become clear to me over the last month that it’s not just the creative mojo I’ve lost, but the actual love of writing.

I don’t know what to do about that. I have the urge to write until I open up the screen. I’ll get through a few scenes (there is actual progress that’s been made with Bittersweet), but I haven’t had that breakthrough moment. When I was writing A Few Words Too Many in early 2014, I wrote that entire story in about a month. It just poured out of me. I stayed up late, I wrote several chapters a day. I wrote every day — it was a struggle to stop writing to do every day things like my actual graduate work and go out with friends. The Best Thing and All We Are came in more fits and starts, but there were days like that for both of those stories, and of course the first two seasons of Damaged–once I figured out what I was doing with that story, it just flowed in about six months.

I’ve lost that somewhere. And it breaks my heart. I don’t know where it went. I still think about unfinished works every day, I plan it in my head. I write entire scenes while I’m supposed to be driving or working. And then I sit down to actually create what I’ve been seeing, and it just falls apart on the page. Maybe I’m being too hard on my self, maybe I literally just have to force myself to write. I don’t know. I’m not giving up.

I sat down this morning to work on Damaged, Season 3, and I’m ripping it apart for the fourth time.  I’ve been having trouble with it because there are some stories in there I’m not excited about and that hasn’t helped. I’m going to spend most of today on it — apart from getting ready a short shift at work. I’m going to keep writing. I can’t promise what or when I’ll be posting new content again.

But I’ll keep trying. I have this memory of the day I wrote If I Don’t Try With You in about three hours–it has to be honestly the best three hour period of my writing career. And that just poured out of me. I think it shows in how good it is (I’m not being modest–I actually cried while writing it, I love that story so much.) I know I’m capable of this kind of writing. I just have to find it again.

I love you guys for sticking around — as always, I am here. I’ll keep trying if you’ll keep waiting.

I haven’t been around much this year at all — my apologies. This semester was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated — the three classes I thought would leave me more time than my usual five actually felt like twelve classes because I had so much reading and writing to do. Between my two graduate classes and my psychology undergraduate course, I had about 500 pages of reading every single week, plus my two jobs. And you know, my family continued to plague me.

What did not help was my laptop crapped out about a month ago–the smaller and lighter laptop with a battery that actually made it portable. I was left with a dinosaur that will be four years old in a year with a battery that gives me maybe twenty minutes before it dies (on a good day). I could no longer bring my computer to work to give me extra time.

My mother has given the semi-permanent loan of her new laptop. She only uses it for grades and lesson plans, so I will happily surrender it for those moments, but the rest of the time it sits dormant. Hopefully that will allow me to cram in more writing time at work now. I’m working on my last paper for the semester, too. Starting Wednesday, I’m free from major projects — just a small research project I’m working on that will not be dominating my time, and my two jobs get cut down to one.

Still here, still want to write. Life keeps getting in the way. Thanks for sticking. I hope to have some stuff for you really soon!

Hello! Just your usual check in to say I haven’t been doing much writing. Every time my life calms down, the universe throws something else at me. I’m still here, still trying to write something but I just don’t know when I can promise material. Please be sure to follow me on Twitter or like Crimson Glass on Facebook. I try to update more on those platforms with news. Also subscribe using the link to the right so you get emails when the website is updated.

In the meanwhile, I’ve written A LOT of stories in the last fifteen years, so I thought I’d take a moment here to recommend some for a reread.

Of my new things — what’s been written since I return to the fandom in 2014, there are the following:

Shadows – Set in 2004. After the hotel fire and the death of Zander Smith, Elizabeth struggles with her devastating guilt while Jason tries to keep Sonny and Carly from destroying the boy he loves like a son. This is a short novella, only around 20,000 words.

A Few Words Too Many – Set in Spring 2003. When Elizabeth learns the extent of Ric’s crimes, she resolves to protect her child from him at any cost, but is she prepared to pay the price? This is a full-length novel, at 114,000 words.

The Best Thing – Set in 2004. Sam died giving birth to her daughter and left custody to Jason, whom everyone believes is the father. He and Elizabeth reconnect over the next year as he struggles to keep his promise to Sam while balancing his loyalties to Sonny and Carly. Even as they fall in love, a dangerous power struggle is building that threatens every one in its path. Extremely full-length at 157,000+ words.

All We Are – Set in Fall 2006. As Elizabeth plans to take a paternity test, she learns she has been suspended from her job, suspected of providing Lucky with pills. Ric gives her an ultimatum: Lose your job, your child, and go to jail or testify against Jason. She turns to Jason for help, but their solution may just end up causing them more problems than they can solve. Shorter novel, at around 63,000 words.

Damaged, Seasons 1 and 2 – Begins in 2014, a rewrite of the entire show. After AJ Quartermaine is murdered, Port Charles looks to move on, either to forget what they’ve done or learn to live with what they know. Season 1 is 12 episodes, running about 74,000+ words and Season 2 is 14 episodes at 94,000 words.

If I Don’t Try With You – In 2008, moments after they become engaged, Jason and Elizabeth learn that Michael has been shot. What if she refuses to give up on their future? How does Carly let her little boy go? And can anyone control the fallout? This is a shorter novella, at 15,000+ words.

Since I started posting new content again (three years ago this month), I have written three full-length novels, two seasons of an ongoing series, and several shorter pieces, including some Christmas materials. To be honest, I’ve begun to stop feeling guilty about not posting so much in the last year because my output is roughly that of your average romance author. Except Nora Roberts, who is insanely prolific.  So I recommend anything I’ve written in the last three years, but please start with the list above for a reread. I am so proud of the stuff I’ve written since I started posting again. For a complete list of what I’ve written by year, check out Sort By Year Written.

For older recommendations, check out:

The Witness – I constantly recommend this one because I love it so much. It’s action with Jason and Liz friendship, Lucky screwing up, Scrubs, Carly being normal, Cassadine insanity. It’s a crazy story that was sooo much fun to write.

I Shall Believe – This story has serious flaws, but it’s one of the most popular stories I’ve ever written, and the one where I think I really challenged myself. Courtney is a full-fledged character here with her own storyline, and it was a lot of fun to write.

First Do No Harm – A short novella set in 2006 that is super angsty but turned out better than I ever could have anticipated. How the Liason paternity mess might have unraveled.

Intoxication – Written back in 2003. It’s not really Liason, it’s not really LiRic, it’s something in the middle, and it’s more of a legal story — if Sonny had been tried for pushing Liz at Rice Plaza back then.

Aurora Dawning – The only fantasy story I’ve ever written — Liz and Jason as chosen people to save a kingdom.

Daughters – Written partially in 2006-08, then completed in 2014. A semi-AU universe with Liz and Patrick as siblings trying to get through life.

Sanctuary – This is a Scrubs fic set in 2006, but if you pay attention there’s a Liason background plot running through it.

Yesterdays – One of my favorite AUs– Liz and Jason as divorced parents struggling to understand how it went wrong.

Take Me By the Hand – a trilogy about Elizabeth and Emily back in 2003, struggling with depression and cancer. Angsty, but something else I’m really proud of.

 

I hope this list helps tide you over until I get back.  🙂 I also still have Fiction Graveyard material that I need to post, so I’m working on cleaning some of that up. What’s left is super messed up and basically needs full edits so I’ll keep you posted.

I think I’ll just stop promising things to you guys, because it’s been hard to come through on any of them lately. Last month was annoying — mostly because I was playing catch up all month with class work and dealing with the allergy rash I’ve had since October. It was super bad last month, and incredibly distracting.

The good news is that I know what I’m allergic to. The bad news is that it’s formaldehyde and fragrance mix, two things that are basically in everything, so I have to replace almost every product I own. Super fun stuff.

Another obstacle has just been the quality of my writing. I feel like I’ve lost the ability to write for these characters — I wrote dialogue, and it’s not in those character’s voice, and it’s been really discouraging. I’ve been plugging away at it, and yesterday I wrote a Jason/Michael scene for Damaged that felt a lot closer to what I’m used to. I don’t know if I’ve turned a corner, I’m hoping.

Still here, still trying.

So as a follow up to yesterday, I made a new goal for February: Every day, I’ll write for at least 15 minutes, if not 30 minutes. If I make it to 30 minutes, I’ll post whatever I write a Flash Fiction. I may go over the 30 minutes, but I will never exceed an hour. And whatever I post, I can’t go back and edit. I might take concepts and rework them later, but the Flash Fiction stands. This is a writing experiment to kind of get my head back in the game and to stop worrying about quality so much. I’m a good writer, so the more I do it, the better it will be. That’s the dream anyway.

So, here’s your first February Flash Fiction: an homage to Nora Roberts and her novel, Montana Sky. I will likely to be continuing this, probably tomorrow, but it’s not awful, so that’s a good first step.

Flash Fiction 9: The Will