Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Nine

Well, I’m glad I didn’t promise the Flash Fiction on Sunday because I’m typing this post on Sunday afternoon and literally every piece of me hurts. I wanted to get this post ready for Tuesday morning because I’m not sure how I’m going to feel on Monday.  I’m probably going to take a sick day because I just feel really sore, and I don’t think I’m up to eight hours in that terrible, windowless room with the chair and being stuck on the computer. This has been a very rough start to the beginning of the year, but I have hopes it’s turning around. I only have three more weeks of remote teaching before I’m back in the classroom, I’m fully vaccinated, and I’m going to the specialist for my ear stuff again on Thursday.

Taking care of some housekeeping — I’m leaning a particular way for the next project, but I want to play with it a bit more before I commit. I’m hoping to make a final decision by the end of the week so I can play in Discovery and be ready for Camp NaNoWriMo.

The other thing I want to cover is a release schedule. I’m going to be heavily revising my Production Schedule in the next week or so and I to get some feedback on how you like the updates. Do you want them all at once like I did for Mad World, Book 3, or scatter the updates over a few weeks or months?

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Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Eight

Update Link: A King’s Command – Part 23

If you missed my note on Tuesday about Sunday flash fiction — it’s being moved to Sunday mornings. I’m trying to stay away from my office Sunday-Wednesday so I can cut down on screen time. The last two weeks, I was relaxing and really didn’t want to to stop to come upstairs and write. It’ll be easier in the morning.

I’m not updating this Sunday because I’m getting my second vaccine shot tomorrow and the side effects of this second one are supposed to be crappy so I want to make sure I’ve got food and meals prepped for the week so I can (hopefully) go back to work on Monday. I already have to take a sick day on Thursday for my ENT specialist, so I really need to do my best to get to work. My mom said she actually ran a fever and had to take off two days, so, uh, that should be fun. We’ll see.

Anyway — you’ll get Chapter Eight of Ricochet tomorrow morning, so hopefully that’ll tide you over this week. We’ll start the new Flash Fic schedule next weekend.

Happy “Franco is Still Dead” Week!

Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Seven

I bring you FMT on this glorious second day of freedom after the death of the third worst character in General Hospital history. (Courtney and Peter are actually worse, because at least Franco used to be a semi-entertaining villain, those bitches have never had goddamn purpose). ANYWAY. Congratulations to all of us — we survived the Elizabeth Webber Hostage Crisis. I know Roger will be back, but it’ll probably be another dumb ass character no one asked for. I’m going to wallow in this glory for a little bit longer.

I’ve stayed out of my office for the last three days which I think has been really good for my stress levels. I think, LOL. We’ll see. Tomorrow, when I get home from work, I need to get set up for remote teaching from home on Friday, so I’ll work on editing for a few days.  Next week, I’m taking a sick day for my specialist’s appointment on Thursday so I plan on doing more editing then, too. It’s coming together 🙂

Still no thoughts on what’s next. I’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern creatively while I try to get through editing and the last few weeks. It’s been a crazy year and it’s only March!

Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Six

Good morning! I wanted to let you guys know about a scheduling change for Flash Fiction Sundays. These last two weeks, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t updated. The first time, I legitimately forgot because I was relaxing downstairs and didn’t remember until it was time to post work for my students.

This time, I made a conscious decision to skip Sunday night. I don’t think flash fiction at 7 PM on Sundays is going to work for me. I’m trying to relax and stay away from my office and computer as often as possible to help with headaches and stress, particularly on Sundays when I’m about to go back to work and sitting in that terrible room. Thinking over my schedule on Sundays, I think the best bet is to update in the morning, between 9-11.

I don’t think we’ll be updating this Sunday because I have my second vaccine shot and I’ve heard the second one leaves you feeling really terrible the day after. If I feel up to it, I’ll do it, but I’m not making any promises.

See you Thursday!

Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Five

So I was working on the schedule, telling myself if I edit through Chapter 20 today, then I can start posting three chapters a week. But then I realized that even if I start posting three times a week today, I have enough chapters edited right now to get me through April 1 — and I’m actually going straight from this post to the editing of 16-20. That edit would get me to April 10. Even with three chapters a week, I’m posting into May.

So I can honestly afford to start posting a bit more often and get the chapters moving! Which makes me very happy since this chapter and the next are my favorites of this early batch. Thanks for your patience as I got moving on this story and organized my editing time into something that works with my new normal.

Update Link: A King’s Command – Part 22

Sorry again for noping out of last Sunday. I really can’t believe I forgot like that! I have finally managed to get some more chapters of Fool Me Twice edited — I’m done through Chapter 15, and the plan is to finish up through Chapter 20 tomorrow so I can work on the second half the story. If I finish through Chapter 20, I’ll bump up posting. I’ll post Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays 🙂 I’ll know for sure by the time I come back on Sunday.

Still have issues with sleeping, but I have managed to sort out most of the issues I’ve having during the day. It’s so strange that if I can block the sound of the whooshing with any other sound, I don’t have as many of the side effects — except slight vertigo sometimes but that’s probably caused by the uncomfortable place where I’m doing my teaching.  I just got a mouth guard for protecting my jaw from grinding and clenching while I’m sleeping so I’m hoping that will help. We’ll see. It’s frustrating to know I “slept” for seven hours but it’s such a restless sleep and then I wake up with headaches from the TMJ.

I still haven’t picked the next project yet. Returning to work really ended up being harder on me than I thought it would be, and that sucks since my content is finally at a point where I don’t have to work an extra 20 hours on the weekend. And my district is thinking about changing our schedule AGAIN for the fourth marking period, so it’s just–you know, just trying to get through it.

Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter Four

So excited to be posting Chapter Four today! I love the flashback in this chapter and we’re finally out of the setup and exposition part of the story. I’m still working on getting more chapters edited so I can post more frequently.

Health wise — the ear situation isn’t resolved, but I’m going back to the specialist in about two weeks. I’m struggling mostly because I’m not sleeping well — I get 7 hours but it’s not quality, and I spend a lot of time tossing and turning. Then, at work, I’m in windowless room all day, remote teaching, staring at a screen in a crappy chair. I’m pretty exhausted by the time I get home just from the lack of good sleep. So when I go back to to the doctor, I’m going to ask him to help me focus on this. It’s making it difficult to do anything at home once work is done.

But weekends are clear of prep work, so that’s great. Saturdays are set aside entirely for editing, and I’m planning to get done about 5 chapters this weekend, which would be great, maybe even more. We’ll see how that goes.

I’ll see you guys tomorrow for Flash Fiction, and I’ll do better this weekend, promise 🙂

Update Link: Ricochet, Chapter 3

One of the hardest parts about posting two chapters a week is just knowing what’s coming next and wanting you guys to read it ASAP, lol. I really love this chapter, but Chapters 4-6 are some of my favorites in this early part of the story.

I managed to finally finish the edit on Chapter 11 & 12 — 12 was holding me up for a month, but I finished it on Saturday.  I looked over the next few chapters, and I was pleasantly surprised that it’s lighter edits — mostly just writing the flashbacks. I don’t think I’ll get to it tomorrow or Wednesday, but hopefully on Thursday or Friday. I’d like to get through Chapter 20 this week so I can start bumping up to three chapters a week.

I’ll see you guys on Thursday!

Uh, so I relaxed so well today I forgot about flash fiction. I played The Sims 4 all morning, then took a long bubble bath, read three books, watched the first three Avengers movies, and just like…vegged out on the sofa downstairs. Then I came upstairs to schedule my post for tomorrow’s workday, and realized, oh hey, I’m usually doing something on Sundays.

Very sorry about that, LOL, but hey, that’s a good thing that I figured out how to relax so well that I forgot about anything else I was supposed to plan. I’ll make an attempt to make it up on Wednesday. See you on Tuesday for the next chapter of Fool Me Twice!