Update Link: Chapter 1 | Signs of Life Story Page

I finished this Flash Fiction series back in the summer, but haven’t had a chance to edit and repost here and at the archives where I post, Fanfiction.net and Archive of our Own. I’m going to be posting new chapters a few times a week. I do plan on adding a scene or two as I move through the edit, so feel free to reread 🙂 This should hold you guys over for a few weeks as I get back into a regular writing routine.

I’m mostly recovered from Covid — I’m really lucky that the worst of it only lasted a few days — I was really bad last Saturday with aches and chills and the fever. The congestion has lingered, as has the fatigue, but I’m grateful that I got vaccinated and boosted. I’m sure that helped it from getting worse. I remember when I ended up on my first quarantine back in the fall of 2020 — the level of anxiety was absolutely insane, and then going back into the classroom full time — oof. Now cut to a few years later, and it really was just a pretty bad flu.

But I literally did nothing for six days, and I’m absolutely slammed at work and tons of things around the house piled up, so I couldn’t get back to Flash Fiction this week. The plan is to be back on schedule next or week, or definitely by the first weekend in February.

I started to write at night last week, and did pretty good. I finished a Chapter of Fool Me Twice (will be posted tomorrow for Patreon perks), but I had a pretty bad headache and sinus congestion all day on Saturday that put me behind again. Frustrating, but working through it.

Update link: Begin with Chapter 33

Counting Stars Main Site | Chapter Listing

Well, it took almost three years but I finally got Covid. I definitely got it from school because it’s the only place I’ve been in the last two weeks, so the kids keep on giving. Never fails — every single short break from school, I get sick. I’m out of work until at least Thursday, and Saturday was the worst (so far). Literally slept most of the day. Feeling a bit better today — the aches aren’t as bad, and it’s just my throat now that’s really sore with some chest cough.

I did manage to get these final chapters posted — grateful that the editing was already done and just needed to be put into WordPress. With this update, Counting Stars comes to an end. I really hope you enjoyed this rewrite of Jason’s 2000 exit. I’d hoped to have some firm plans for the next project, but it’s been hard to write over the last month — I had a head cold right before Christmas, and now Covid.

Anyway, hopefully it remains a mostly mild case and I’ll be back next weekend with Flash Fiction. Let me know what you thought of Counting Stars 🙂

Update: Begin with Chapter 28

Counting Stars Main Site | Chapter Listing

I swear, I hit the age of thirty-five and my body just decided to start betraying me at every turn. I developed an eye infection last week that isn’t resolving itself so I have to go back to the doctor tomorrow. The only reason I’m telling you this is that the computer screen is bothering my eyes and I already have to use it too much for work, so this last week was mostly a bust and so was this weekend.

But I was right that I did a lot of prep over the break that put me in good shape – if not for the eye situation, I’d have written more, including flash fiction. I did a teledoc visit last time, but tomorrow I’m going into the urgent care to see a doctor in person. Hopefully we’ll get it resolved, and I can enjoy my three day weekend next week to catch up on writing.

Anyway, I’m really excited about these last two weeks of updates! This is Act 3 of Counting Stars, aka the climax and resolution, and it’s been the piece of the plot that’s always been in my head. I just had to figure out what the rest of the story looked like. It’s a bit sad to see this story wrapping up — it’s honestly the fastest a story has moved from production to publishing for me — I started planning in January, and it’s already done, just barely a year later!

See you next weekend for Flash Fiction and the conclusion *fingers crossed*

I didn’t want to just skip Flash Fiction tonight without saying something, because I literally posted this morning promising it, lol. But the day got away from me and I had to wash my hair for work tomorrow. I only have a little bit of time tonight, so I decided spend some time writing Fool Me Twice. My plan is definitely come back at least once during the work week if not twice. I literally have absolutely all my instructional materials ready for the next four days so all I have to do is show up for work. Haven’t been this prepped for a week since the first day of school, lol. I feel good about it.

But I didn’t want to leave the winter break behind without some presents, so I dug out some content that I had as Patreon perks over the summer — two more of the sample chapters from the discovery work I did in August.

First up is Chapter 33 of For the Broken Girl, Book 2 (Book 1 ended with Chapter 32, so we’re just picking up where we left off), then Chapter 1 of These Small Hours, my Kate shooting/Russian/Zacchara 2008 rewrite. 

See you when I see you 🙂

Update Link: Begin with Chapter 25

After this week, we have two updates left, and we’re moving into the big climax of the story. With this update, we close out Act 2 and next week is Act 3. I’m really happy with how it came out, so I hope you guys will enjoy it! Remember to leave a quick like or reply if you have a moment.

See you tonight for the last update of my Winter Break Flash Fiction schedule!

Updated: Invisible Strings – Part 14

Well, here we are — this is my last full night of the winter break — I have tomorrow off, but tomorrow night, I have to set the alarm. Boo to alarms forever. I feel pretty good about the upcoming week — all the posts and slides are prepped, so when I get back, it’s just catching up with grading. Hoping to manifest some less crazy chaos in 2023.

Tonight and tomorrow’s Flash Fiction update are going to be in the evening because I’m trying to organize that evening creative energy, lol. I want to write more when I come home from work. I started Fool Me Twice, Book 2 today. I cleaned up the sample chapter from August, then wrote an additional scene, so we’re officially at 6k on day 1 (yes, 5500 of that is from August, but I made it better so we’re counting it).

See you tomorrow for a double update! Counting Stars Chapter 25-29 will be posted in the morning when I get up (around 7-8) and then Flash Fiction in the evening.

Update Link: Invisible Strings – Part 13

The really nice thing about winter break is that it’s the only break long enough where I feel like I get to really relax and enjoy myself. The four day breaks are really just trying to catch up on rest and chores left incomplete or rushed. Most of the major tasks around the house are done (the ones I wanted to get to) and I’m trying to slowly prep for next week so that I’m not rushing around on Monday. Hope everyone else is having a good holiday season!

I’m almost ready to dig into FMT Book 2 on January 1, and I’m cautiously excited about it, lol. It’s a different time period than I’ve been working on for most of the year — I started the year with Mad World, set in 2003/04, and between Counting Stars, Signs of Life, and Kismet, I’ve spent most of the year in 1997-2000. Outside some flash fiction working in 2007, it’s almost a relief to fast-forward to 2018, so I don’t have to worry too much about anachronisms, lol.

The next set of chapters in Counting Stars has a pre-9/11 activity that I wonder if younger readers will even notice — someone goes all the way to the gate at the airport to watch take off. (Think of that Friends episode with Chandler, Janice, and Yemen). That’s been gone for twenty years, and it was such a staple of ’90s television and movies! It’ll be nice not to have to watch myself so much.

Hope you guys are enjoying these brief daily updates! See you tomorrow!

Updated: Invisible Strings – Part 12

Glad so many of you remember this story 🙂 And for those of you who didn’t, hope you were able to catch up. Already mourning the end of winter break, and I still have four full days left, lol. No chance of a winter storm to lengthen it — we’re in the 50s and even 60s next week. New Jersey weather is wild!

I took care of a bunch of housekeeping things:

• Updated the status in the sidebar.
• Added Counting Stars to the header image. I have to update the others.
• Fixed the spacing there.
• Removed Mad World updated and added Counting Stars.

I still have to update my Recent Updates page and add content to the Counting Stars subsite. Really hope you guys are enjoying this. I’m sure a lot of people read it during the alpha and beta draft rounds at Patreon, which I definitely appreciate, but I do miss hearing from you guys on which parts you liked. I guess I’m greedy 😉

I’m making some great progress at planning Fool Me Twice, Book 2. Around 35 chapters have been planned (which is, uh, half the story — we should all glad I’m breaking into smaller releases or you’d never read it) and 11 of them are soundtracked. I’ll start drafting on January 1 with an aim of finishing that first draft at the end of the month. I know that’s a short deadline, but that’s one of the reasons I broke it into smaller pieces.

See you tomorrow!

Update Link: Invisible Strings – Part 11

Catch Up/Reread: Invisible Strings – Part 1

Drop a quick like or reply to let me know what you think!

Continue reading →

Update Link: Begin with Chapter 21

I’m so excited for you guys to read this week’s update! Chapters 21 & 22 took FOREVER to write — I got stuck on them for two weeks because they had to be just right, but once I wrote the Jason scene in Chapter 21, a lot came together. They were added in revisions — it’s insane for me to think of the story without them now.

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Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is having a great couple of days 🙂 I took the first two days of my break for relaxing, catching up with sleep and holiday stuff.

Very sorry for the problems with last week’s update — I schedule the chapters in advance, and Chapters 17 & 18 didn’t post on time, which not only messed everything up, it also put the chapters out of order with the chapters listing. Super frustrating — but it’s fixed now. I didn’t schedule the chapters this week and just posted them one at a time. I’m going to look into the problem to make sure it’s not a normal thing.

I’m hoping to come back today later and begin a daily flash fiction post for the winter break, but my plumbing backed up again and my dad’s coming up to look at it. Not really sure what the rest of my day looks like, so definitely — starting tomorrow, I’ll be updating Invisible Strings daily until Monday, January 2 since it’s more of a sweet, straight forward romance, better suited for the holidays than the serial killer one, lol.