Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 65

I did a general status update over on Patreon, but I’m going to paste the contents here because it’s useful and has some notes about where we’re going from here. Patreon has a free tier that has some perks and benefits 🙂 It’s a great way to support me and what I do here on the site and keeps me from needing a second job to make ends meet, especially in the summer.

See you guys tomorrow!

This update is organized into IRL updates, Patreon December Recap, Status Report, and January plans. Skip around to whatever interests you.

Catch Up

Honestly feels like the universe is completely against me. I worked so hard to get everything done at work so I could have a relaxing December and get a ton of writing done.

And then on Dec 5, I started to feel sick, and I ended up with pneumonia. I was pretty much dead from Dec 5 – Dec 14, and then from Dec 15-19, my focus was just getting back to work. That took so much out of me, honestly. I didn’t sleep the first week I was sick, and then the second week, I was in bed by 7 and asleep at 8 almost every night. It’s been a huge struggle to get my balance back.

I got a little bit back into writing this week — focusing mostly on just rebuilding the Flash Fiction stamina. Since last Friday, I’ve managed 5 updates and only missed 3 days. I feel pretty good about that.

I still have a week of winter break left, and my focus is to get life back under control. As you guys know, I live alone with three cats, so you can only imagine the disorganized chaos in the house especially with my kittens, Lizzie and Harper — who turned a year old in December. We don’t know their specific birthday — only their general age when they were rescued from a lot in Philadelphia in January, so I was planning to pick a day and celebrate — then I died, lol.

For this upcoming week — I have three goals: write every day, get the basic chores caught up, and reorganize my course content for January.

Patreon Perks – December Recap

I promised a lot of content and I guess I did okay in getting some of it together. I put together the posts for Malice and Kismet, so that was a lot of extra content made available to lower tiers. Plus Kismet was updated with Chapter 7, which had been mostly unfinished since 2022.

I also managed 15 updates for You’re Not Sorry, making some really good progress for the first time in a while, plus launching a second flash fiction series to give me the occasional break from the complexity.

I posted the first two videos for the Crimson Swift perk — and I do actually have Opalite filmed, but I got too sick to post it.

So while December was not what I’d planned it to be — I think it was okay considering I was dead for three weeks, lol.

Status Report

• Flash Fiction: The original plan was to continue the daily marathon through January 4 when my winter break ends. Right now, the plan is continue the daily marathon through January 18 to make up for the days I missed. At that point, I’m going to reassess the schedule. I need to be smarter about the projects I pick — You’re Not Sorry has turned into a Mad World level project with so many pieces and strands that require a ton of plotting and work beyond what I’d ever planned to give this project.
• Novels: I only published one novel in 2025 — the least since 2019. I struggled with some writing blocks, my schedule, and focusing too much on Flash Fiction, especially the second half of the year. Here are the novels that in progress in various ways.
  • These Small Hours, Book 3 is now more than a year over due. I meant to get back to this story over and over again, and just never managed it.
  • Out of the Woods was meant to be a quick flash fiction series edit but my schedule at work really made it almost impossible to work on it these last four months. I meant to make serious progress in November and December, but I got sick both months.
  • For the Broken Girl, Book 2 is a Patreon Perk where I’m writing the first draft in 25 minute sprints for the Obsessed tier on the weekends. I managed maybe 2 updates since starting the project due to schedule issues.
  • Kismet was meant to be a 25 minute sprint December perk for the Devoted tier, but other than posting the chapters and adding Chapter 7, I never managed a true update.
  • Malice was the 2025 25 First Draft Sprint story for Obsessed. I’d had the first act in my head for years, and I wrote the first 12 chapters to see if it could break through my struggles. I put it on the back burner for Broken Girl because Malice still needs a lot of development.
• Novels – In Conclusion: So as you can see — I’ve got 5 novels on the docket, and I’ve been splitting focus. It’s probably not the best idea, and while I loved the idea of playing with a lot of ideas in December, I’m not sure if it’s been really helpful. I think I need to pick one and just make it the novel focus and then figure out a way to make it a Perk across several tiers with different levels of access. I want to think this over a little bit more and then I’ll make a general post.
• Crimson Swift – Thank God Taylor is engaged and planning her wedding and won’t be releasing anything for a while lol. Since I launched this project, my beloved idol has released more than 50 songs across 2 albums! And my fractured focus and schedule have made it difficult to do anything more than a handful of updates in almost 2 years. I’m extremely proud of everything I’ve written for this project, though, and I still love what it’s pushing me to do!

January & Beyond

• On Patreon

  • Novels: I’ll be focusing on one novel with updates across several tiers – I just need to decide which novel and specifically how I’ll update.
  • Crimson Swift: These will be the weekend 25-minute session plans. Once I know how I’m going to organize the Novel perks, I’m going to make the Swift Sessions available across 2-3 tiers in some format.
  • Free Tier: Crimson Swift videos will return January 1. My plan is to do a few at a time so I can build a library so I can upload every day. These were going to stay on the free tier and be uploaded daily through January 4. I’m going to extend this — posting January & February for the free tier, then moving to the $1 tier in March.

• On Crimson Glass

  • My Flash Fiction marathon will continue through January 18 — two weeks longer than the original ending to make up for the weeks I missed.
  • At that point, I’ll reassess the schedule and see what’s workable moving forward. The Flash Fictions have become the site’s focus and the novels have been backburnered, which is the opposite of how I want to write. I don’t want to update only once a week — that’s obviously not good for any of us, lol. But I don’t think daily is sustainable.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 64

Remind me for our next Flash Fiction series not to choose a story with a plot that’s Mad World level complex. Thanks.

ANYWAY.

No spoilers, but I thoroughly enjoyed every second of Stranger Things, Vol 2 last night. I started rewatching Vol 1 at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, so that it would finish just after 8 so I could right from Vol 1 to Vol 2 with only breaks for the bathroom, drink refills, and snacks. I finished at about 11:30. I was thoroughly entertained. I was practically on my feet for 75% watching it like I watch the Phillies. Completely stressed, going back and forth between pacing, cheering, crying, and freaking out.

I cannot wait for the finale — but I’m also sad because I’ve loved this show for so much of what I consider my “adult” life — I started watching just after I started subbing and grad school back in 2016.  And this show is so linked to who I was at that point in time — I was still going out all the time with my best friend, Lauren, and our crew went to our favorite Philly pub for pub quiz nearly every week. We knew the whole staff there (the pub quiz host was Lauren’s wedding DJ). The server started raving about Stranger Things, and Lauren and I were like — we should watch this. I went home that night to do some grad reading — as I always left homework for 1 AM on a Thursday morning after pub quiz — and put Season 1 on for background music. I’ll never forget sitting at my old, cramped desk with my laptop up for notes, my notebooks covered in tiny handwriting to fit everything, and my Nook tablet set up on the desk as my TV screen. Next thing I knew, it was 4 AM and I was hooked. Lauren had also turned it on and we were both obsessed.

Lauren and I never got around to watching it together — life was so different after 2016. We were both working full-time jobs, and her extra time was for her new husband and mine was for graduate school. One of our other friends got a job in Florida and got married there, and the other got promoted to manager of the supermarket he’d worked at since he was a teenager, so we were always catching up in our group chats on this show and anything else we both loved. I still have our group chat pinned in my phone, and I can go back to see what we all thought about Season 4 — the last one we watched “together”. Lauren passed away a month after that season ended — on August 9. None of us have talked about it in this year’s season in the group chat. We haven’t used it since she passed, and we didn’t start a new one. She was really the glue that held us together, and without her, we’ve drifted away from each other. I still love and adore that group, and I know they feel the same, but it’s just never going to be what it was.

It’s such a weird thing to think about when you’re watching something — but that’s what grief is, right? It’s fresh and hot and burns at first, and then it fades from your every day life. It’s not the first thing you think about when you wake up or the last when you go to sleep. It comes up at holidays and birthdays and moments where you think, Lauren’s supposed to be here. I guess that never goes away, does it? She was 33 when she died. She was supposed to turn 34 that year and 38 this last October. She was supposed to be celebrating her son’s fourth Christmas. And we were supposed to be in a group chat, obsessing about this show we’d always watched. So stupid to think about that, really. Or dwell on it.

Anyway — looking forward to the finale, but not the end of my winterbreak. See you guys tomorrow! I’m not sure what time yet because I have some family plans at some point and they haven’t set the time — so it’ll either be late morning or late afternoon. See you 🙂

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 63

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 🙂 I’m officially on my winter break and very relieved to have nothing but time to rest ahead of me for the better part of the next two weeks. Apparently it can take up to six months to recover from pneumonia. If it actually takes me that long, I may throw myself off a cliff. The chest congestion is slightly better, and I finally finished all my antibiotics but I still have some shortness of breath and I’m still so tired. I really only have like 2-3 tasks in me every day, if that. So irritating. I was gonna write at 12 and post at 1 today, but then I had another horrible coughing fit that actually seemed to clear out some of the congestion, so win win???

Anyway, I’m going to do my best to continue updating every day.

If, after you finish today’s update, you want to read some holiday-themed stories, I’ve created a list below. Newest at the top, oldest at the bottom

• • Karma
  • Mad World: At Christmas
  • Bitterweet Second Epilogue
  • A Merry Little Christmas
  • Other People’s Truths
  • All I Want For Christmas
  • The Best Thing & The Next Best Thing
  • Daughters
  • Home For Christmas
  • Noel
  • A Second Chance
  • Always An Angel

 

 

 

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 62

I was feeling better until this weekend, when I started to feel really tired and rundown all over again — and then last night, the chest congestion kept me up until almost 1. I barely slept again, and so I made the decision to call out because the only cough medicine that really works is the one that makes me super drowsy. Anyway. I feel a little better now but I’m still coughing more now than I was a few days ago, so that’s fun for everyone. I am determined to drag myself through the half day tomorrow, but the thought that I would still be in my room right now with kids that I have to keep alive makes me want to vomit honestly. This has been the most annoying month of my life.  (Oh, and I tried to sleep some more after schlepping downstairs to feed the cats their wet food but Lizzie came up to randomly attack me until I gave them dry food so that was fun.)

I thought I’d try to update and then I’m going to take another nap.

 

Update Link: Foolish Games – Part 3

I really can’t wait for the first day of break on Wednesday. I really need a few days off in a row where I can just sleep an extra hour or two. One of the hardest things about recovering this last week is just feeling completely dead by 7:30, 8pm every night. Even when I try to push it, I’m still drifting off around 9. And right now, I’m exhausted and all I want is a nap. Seriously, I think Covid was a faster recovery.  The cough is still lingering and I hate it so much.

I hope you guys enjoy the switch to a different story on the weekend. It lets me switch focus and exercise different creative muscles, especially going back to a story written in the late 90s. Honestly, it feels like writing a historical fiction piece at this point which makes me want to vomit considering we’re talking about my teen years but truly — the lack of the internet, social media, cell phones — it’s just such a different world. Plus, it’s always a good excuse to listen to 90s music. Outside my Taylor Swift obsession, 90s music is literally the best musical era ever. (Along with 80s ballads). Plus, it also gives me a chance to sketch out more of Not Sorry. We’re heading into a really complicated set piece and I want to make sure I make good choices.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 61

Well, here we are two weeks after my last update and my experience with the plague. I’m still catching up on sleep, and have been mostly passed out by 8 or 9 every night this week. But I made it to Friday, and the kids have been taking it easy on me for the most part. I’m just happy to get back to regular updates.

I think we’re back to daily updating for the next few weeks. The original marathon was scheduled to go through January 5, I’ll probably extend it through the end of January along with all the other December Patreon perks and then we can evaluate our 2026 schedule in February.

We’re switching back to Foolish Games for the weekend story to get back on schedule.

Just checking in to let you know I’ve been recovering on schedule. Wednesday really was the worst day — and you can tell by how badly my update post was worded, lol. But I got a really good cough medicine, two types of anti-biotics, and an inhaler. Plus, my mom hooked me up with some extra nebulizer treatments that definitely helped out. Last night for the first time since last Thursday, I actually slept four hours in a row. Plus my dad and cousin came up today and did some housekeeping that really boosted my mood. It sucks to be so sick and live alone. Every small task drained every bit of energy, just ugh.

Anyway, today’s the first day I also had an appetite which was nice, lol. I can take full and deep breaths without wheezing too badly.  I’m also sitting in the office, feeling up to going through the pack of emails in my work email and starting to think about next week and going back to work on Monday. I had already planned a super low key final week of classes for the kids, and I have every expectation that the majority of my kids will go easy on me this week.

That being said, as many of you expressed in your comments, pneumonia is no joke and I’m going to be careful with my recovery. I’m making zero promises about this upcoming week. If I feel up to updating, I absolutely will. We were getting into a good groove there and I miss it. But I’m just giving myself a break. This was a really awful week, and I’m not rushing to repeat it.

Our Patreon December Christmas Perks will be extended into January or February depending on when I get back into regular writing again.

I found out at the doctor that I had pneumonia.

2025 blows.

Obviously updates are paused for a moment. I’m sorry sorry, and me, I’m angrier than you are.

EDIT, Dec 9

So I ended up not sleeping on Sunday night or feeling much better on Monday. The only way for you to get better after chest congestion is to have a productive cough, and that didn’t actually develop for me until overnight. I was able to get a quick telehealth appointment with CVS Minute Clinic (if your insurance covers that, I’ve had two super amazing experiences; I recommend them). She sent in a prescription and I just picked it up. I ended up taking another day off because I honestly couldn’t see myself getting into work and not being dead. But I slept slightly better last night and then was able to nap today for the first time since Saturday morning.

Honestly, I’m exhausted, physically and mentally. I have to go back to work tomorrow and I haven’t looked at a single thing — I didn’t even post my lesson plans. I’m so frustrated. I worked so hard to make December a relaxing month where I could get everything done at work, come home, and do a lot of writing for you guys, and now I feel like that entire plan failed. Right now, I’m not guaranteeing any updates return before Saturday. I don’t know what happens tomorrow when I get to work, how much I’ll be able to catch up and reorganize, or how I’ll feel when I get home. Hopefully, the meds kick in, I get an okay sleep tonight, and the kids are sort of relaxed tomorrow (they might, they like me and I just gave them two free days) and we can talk about updates. But I just don’t know.

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Let me tell you RIGHT NOW that 2026 is going to be the year we fix my immune system because what the absolute fuck.

TL;DR: I’ve been sick since Friday. I don’t really know with what, but my guess is some sort of sinus thing that has resolved and is lingering with chest congestion that makes my life annoying. Should be back to updating tomorrow or Tuesday at the absolute latest.

— more if you want

I didn’t mention it on Wednesday but I ended up calling out of work because I was feeling extra tired and achy — the kind of thing I was hoping some extra sleep and rest would fix because I had December so perfectly plotted out and one day out wasn’t going to derail it all that much. But I didn’t actually feel all that much better, and pushed myself to finish work for the week. I thought maybe a nap on Friday would help but I just started to feel worse and worse and now here I am on Sunday night and the only thing I’ve accomplished this weekend is rewatching Season 1 of Stranger Things. I haven’t properly slept since Thursday night, getting maybe 2-3 hours at a time scattered. And of course I left my wallet in my desk drawer so I had no cards to go to do urgent care or get meds in person, and Amazon Prime has been a real bitch lately. I literally just got my refill of cough drops which is the only thing that helps me relax enough to sleep. I called out tomorrow because I honestly need a full day of sleep.

I sort of feel better??? But it’s hard to say until I actually try to get some sleep. Will I stay asleep? That’s the real question. With any luck, I get to sleep normally tonight and pick up a few extra hours and wake up tomorrow feeling mostly okay, then I can finish some things before going back for the last 10 days.

Either way, I think we’ll get back on track with the December perks tomorrow. If not, almost for sure on Tuesday. If I’m not up to it then, I’m going to a doctor, lol.

Update Link: You’re Not Sorry – Part 60

I appreciate you guys letting me detour for a few days to 1997 🙂 I jumped into a marathon without a lot of pre-planning, and like I said, this story has a lot pieces and I felt like I wasn’t making progress or that I was spinning my wheels. I like to do a really detailed breakdown with dialogue notes because then I can write faster.  For example, here’s a breakdown of a much earlier scene (you can click to make it bigger). I do a lot of my outlining this way because I can make notes about the dialogue I can see/hear in my head without really having to put it into prose. That way when I’m actually writing in a timed session, I’m thinking about how to write the scene, not what to write. I can go faster and cover more ground.

So taking two days off let me take a minute, take a deep breath and outline without the pressure of having to write the scene in an hour. I was able to sketch out three full updates (or what I think should be three updates) which takes me into today and Friday — and then I’ll sketch out next week over the weekend when we switch to Foolish Games.

Anyway, thanks again. It helps to have your support. See you tomorrow (hopefully around the same time)