I added three chapters to Poisonous Dreams and finally, finally, finished Episode 004 of Damaged. Hopefully Episode 005 won’t take as long. I hope to start writing The Best Thing as soon as I finish posting this 😛

Edited: I added a deleted opening scene for The Best Thing, written in Elizabeth’s POV but discarded when I realized it wasn’t right for the story.  Also, apparently my host is upgrading my server next week or so, so at some point, things might not work for a bit. I don’t know much about it, because it’s beyond my technical experience, but it’s just an fyi.

 

I know my posting has fallen off drastically in the last few weeks, so my apologies for that. I’ve been super busy with a lot of offline nosense. I had a friend staying with me for a week, I went to Ireland for my birthday and then I had a major dissertation conference a few days ago, so I really had to get moving on that project.

I’ve been tired as a result and haven’t done much writing. Here’s where we stand:

– I have five scenes left for Damaged, Episode 004. My plans are to finish those up today and tomorrow, and post it sometime late tomorrow night.

– I have fallen behind on writing The Best Thing, and have been stuck on a scene in Chapter 7 for almost a week. Not because it’s difficult to write, but it’s an important scene and I keep restarting it. I hope to get that and Chapter 8 done tonight. Once I break through this, I hope to get a chapter done a day.

– Despite those ambitious plans, I am only posting on Mondays for a while. I still have a lot on my plate this summer: the dissertation has to be written by August 25, so I can go home to New Jersey by August 30. I have another friend coming to London at the end of June, and I, myself, am returning to the golden shores of the Delaware River for a week in June. So it’s just easier to post one day a week.

I am constantly thinking about my fun writing as a break from the relatively dry constiutional and Parliamentary legal literature I’m reading from the eighteenth century. I hope to get back into the swing of things shortly. Until then…um…I love you all very much 😛

I added Chapter Four to The Best Thing. I will update Poisonous Dreams tomorrow.

TBT will not be posted twice a week for a little while. I have my dissertation conference this week, and then next week, an old professor is coming to speak in London, I’m heading up to Northern England for three days, and then I’m going home for a week. June is going to be insane, and I want to make sure I stay ahead of things. I haven’t had a day where I’ve written three chapters just yet, but hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of it and write a chapter a day a least next week to put a larger buffer in.

Damaged, Episode 004 is about two-thirds done and will hopefully be posted by the end of the week.

Just wanted to drop a note that I have returned from Ireland. Amazing trip 🙂 I’ll have updates for The Best Thing, Damaged and Poisonous Dreams hopefully on Monday as this is my friend’s last day in London and tomorrow, I’m working on my dissertation  and laundry 🙂

I added three chapters to Poisonous Dreams to make up for not having updated more these last few days. I’m leaving for Ireland in the morning, so all further updates are postponed until sometime Saturday.

Sorry for just disappearing the last few days. My friend from Jersey is staying with me, and I have a major dissertation meeting with my supervisor tomorrow that I’ve been getting ready for pretty much every waking hour.

Tomorrow, I have that meeting, then some activities with friends planned, and then I’m going to dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s Maze in London for my birthday. After that, I’ll be in Ireland for three days. I don’t think I’ll be getting much writing done before Saturday, or even posting.

I’m still sending manual updates in addition to the site generated emails. If you have signed up to receive updates, and you have not received them, either from melissasuemchugh@gmail.com or newsletter@cg.dearisobel.org, please let me know!

I’ll try to take a break from dissertation research today and post some chapters of PD.

The Best Thing – Chapter 3 added. Thanks to Cora for the beta 🙂

I added Chapters Twelve and Thirteen to Poisonous Dreams. I should have that finished sometime next week, depending on my interest in finishing it off.

I forgot when I decided on a Tues/Friday schedule that my Fridays are pretty much fricked for the next few weeks. Ha. A friend arrives tomorrow, I go home for a week on a Friday, next Friday, I’ll be coming back from Ireland, etc. So we’re switching back to a Mon/Thurs schedule that worked decently enough for FWTM in the beginning.

And since I wanted to concentrate on my dissertation the rest of the day and then finish preparing my room, I posted The Best Thing – Chapter Two early.

A Note about TBT:

So over all four sites I posted this at (RTN, CG, AON, and FF) I had a few people suggesting Elizabeth be in the live in nanny. In my original outline, I actually had Elizabeth as a student nurse at General Hospital being more involved and moving in for a while, but I kept getting stuck on how to get them to reconnect. I finally discarded that concept because I didn’t want it to feel like they’d had a faux family experience and fell in love that way.

I wanted to channel their original love story—coming together at crossroads in their lives, talking, and just being there for one another, which is how I wrote a version of the opening scene. Plus, I love the idea of Elizabeth finally making a living from her art. So she won’t need to be a live-in nanny, because our girl gets a massive art opening in Chapter Six that makes her comfortable. I mentioned that she sold art in California in the first chapter, and will build on more later how that enabled her to survive until her show.

Also, this story more than anything else is going to be Jason’s story. A Few Words was definitely Elizabeth’s journey, but since the major theme in this is Jason’s loyalty, you’ll get his voice more often, particularly in the later chapters when that takes off. It’s going to be a challenge for me, one I might not have done once but I think I can do it. Though this chapter is Elizabeth’s POV, since he was the narrator in the first one.

I posted on Facebook last night that I was going to post The Best Thing on Thursday, but then I went and wrote all of Chapter Six in about two hours, because sometimes a story just works. I’ll be posting two chapters a week, so I’ve got a decent buffer to keep the chapters flowing. The next chapter is due on Friday (or possibly very late Thursday for me). So…Chapter One is finally online!

I also added two chapters of Poisonous Dreams yesterday.

I continue to hear from you guys that your updates are starting to arrive. I think I’ve removed everyone that has contacted me, but please don’t hesitate to yell at me if I missed you 😛

I know I’m overdue to add Damaged, Episode 004 and I am really sorry. I’m going to finish up TBT 7 this week and hopefully have Damaged 4 out this weekend, but next week is going to be rough. I have a friend staying with me starting Friday, and then leaving for Ireland next Tuesday for three days, and then a dissertation conference right after that.

Edit: For some reason, Microsoft Word pretended I didn’t spend a half hour going over the beta copy Cora sent me and because I thought it had…you know..believed me when I accepted her changes, I just went ahead and posted without rereading the chapter. Technology, I smite thee. Anyway, I put off fixing it because I posted this bastard in four places and it didn’t seem fair not to fix it in all places. So that’s all done now.

Hey, so in addition to updating Poisonous Dreams with Chapter 9, I’ve become aware that the plugin I use to send users an activation code for their accounts may not be compatible with the version of WordPress. I am happy send anyone their activation codes by email, so just let me know.

Thanks for letting me know when your updates are being sent by the site. I still haven’t heard from the vast majority of you, so either you just ignore these emails altogether, or you’re not receiving it. At least 20 people have been in touch with me, so that’s something. I am happy to continue manual updates even if a handful of you end up not getting the newsletter. As I’ve told several of you, if you care enough to get updates, I’ll do what I can to see that you get updated.

No ETA on posting The Best Thing quite yet. The first three chaptes are with my beta, and I won’t post until I’ve finished through chapter seven. I’m partway through chapter five, so that’s something.

I also, hah, spent some time sketching plots for some other ideas I had while watching my 2006 DVDs. I really enjoyed that year on GH, even though I spend so much time rewritng certain aspects. I think it had a great mix of characters and interactions that set up some great things, so even though I may rewrite it, I’m still happy with that year — until the great paternity debacle that screwed the next eight years up. (My God, how was it eight years ago? Where does the time go?)

So the media section had videos added today. Three for These Small Hours, a promo for The Best Thing (made today!), and a fan video for the beauty that was Matt Hunter back in 2008 when he first graced us with his presence. Before he got…broken.

I’ll sort out the slideshows later.

I have updated the contacts list with those of you who contacted me to tell me you’re receiving site emails. Let me know if you start receiving them. The email log is starting to work better, but I still don’t know if they’re being blocked by servers.

I also added Chapters Seven and Eight to Poisonous Dreams.

I’m embedding the promo for TBT here because I’m kind of okay with how it turned out :