Your Update Link: Desperate Measures – Part 20

Happy Thursday! I have to admit — this week has been a struggle for me, mostly because I’m staying up late for the DNC (last night was amazing) and then I’m sleeping in way past my normal comfort zone. I’m used to getting up between 6-7, not I can’t quite roll out of bed until closer to 8:30 because I’m going to sleep until 1:30. It’s rough, LOL. I’m not as young as I used to be. In college — I used to go to Philly for pub quiz from 8-11, then come home to do German homework until 2:30, then get up for a 9;30 German class.  There is no way I could live that schedule now.

Today, as stated, is the last day of Daily Flash Fiction. I just want to say how much I have adored this feature this summer. It gave structure to all of my days and really helped the muse keep in shape for writing in the afternoon. I had a huge collection of people coming back every day for updates and replying — you guys are the reason that I do this so every reply, every view keeps me going. I had an absolute blast writing all four othese incredibly different stories. They were messy, insane, and sometimes — they were even good. I can’t wait to get into revisions and make them mainstream.

I’m developing my Fall schedule — and I’ve settled on a posting schedule for Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Mon/Wed/Frid will be the typical series you’ve come to expect while Sunday will be a special rewrite series. I’ll get into all the details next week because Friday’s series is still be voted on by my Patreon supporters. That poll is available to all tiers.

As I wrote yesterday, I completed the epic Facelift checklist. It’s…extensive, LOL. But while I initially felt overwhelmed yesterday, I actually feel good about it today. I can’t wait to get back to this project now. It’s also been linked in the Currently Working so you can check it out if you want.  I’ll let you know if I complete anything major.

Your Update Link: Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 16

Good morning! Hope your weeks are going well. I’m sorry if there was any confusion with yesterday’s entry to Desperate Measures — there is one more part due out tomorrow. Today, however, is the last part for Darkest Before the Dawn.  There are at least two more parts to this story, but we’re done with the first Elizabeth rewrite — the rewrite of the maternity lie in 2012. The next story we’ll rewrite? Well, I hope you like the final scene.

In CG Facelift news, I said that I needed to make a detailed list of all my projects and steps for the whole thing — so I started that list. I’m only just starting the list for the Alternate History, but I do really well with to-do lists. My favorite thing in the whole world is to make a list and then check things off, LOL. I keep a bullet journal and it’s the only way I got through my student teaching semester when I was juggling the teaching, my night job, and graduate school.

So I’ve reworked the post I gave you guys last month, and before I continue any other Facelift project, I’m going to make the complete list so that I can approach this systematically and not skip anything. It’s more for me, but if you want to see my crazy on display, here you go: CG Facelift. I will post here when it’s done. I also updated the top bar and removed a few links that I don’t think you guys really use. It was making the site stretch out weird on the tablet.

Mad World continues to progress —  I wrote another chapter last night and started line editing the next two chapters. I’m through around Chapter 65 — still six more to write, but I’m getting there.

ETA: I finished the Facelift checklist. It’s….well, it’s there.

Your Update Link: Desperate Measures, Part 19

Your Channel Link: Fool Me Twice 5: Carly Doesn’t Get Slapped Enough

Good morning! I had a really great day yesterday — I wrote an entire chapter of Mad World and edited three more. If you look in the sidebar, I’ve updated the progress chart but it’s hard to really tell what kind of progress has been made, lol. Out of 23 chapters in Book 3, I’m done 8 of them. I still have seven chapters to write and five more to line edit. I’m staying up late this week for the Democratic National Convention, so I’m line editing at night which gives me most of the day to get chapters written. I’m scheduled to finish the Book 3 beta by Sunday, and then I’ll get started on Book 4.

I started working on a YouTube channel page for the site. It’s crazy disorganized right now, but it’s been linked in the top bar. I have so much to do to get that section under control, but I’ll be satisfied if I can just do a bit at a time. I have a crazy habit of taking on a bunch of projects at once and then…not getting any of them, done, LOL. So I think I just need to take minute, make a list of all the things I need to do — then do them in order. I also linked all of CG’s social media accounts in the the sidebar.

There’s a new vlog up — the next entry in the Discovering Fool Me Twice.  I talk at length about the Jason story in this one which I hope explains the title. I’m still working on transcripts, but I think honestly — let’s get the section organized, done, and then I can go back in and do the transcripts. I’ll embed the video below.

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Your Update Link: Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 15

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend! It seems crazy that this Thursday we’ll be ending the daily flash fiction updates. It’s been really fun (and challenging!) to follow this content schedule and I had a lot of fun, even if juggling four series and one novel project drove me a bit batty once in a while. I’ve also liked checking in with you guys often as Mad World took shape — usually when I’m in progress on a novel, I check in once every few weeks but I really feel like you guys were able to live through this experience with me.

I had a bit of a crazy weekend, but I still managed to do a lot of work! Mad World, Book 3 is now 23 chapters and seven of those chapters have been revised. This week, I’m focusing on writing the new chapters and finishing up the other 8 chapters that need line edits. When I started revisions, Book 3 was about 93k. I’ve already addded 9k to that total and 6k of that is just new scenes between Chapters 51-57. I started Chapter 58 yesterday which is brand new–and I’m so happy with the Sonny/Carly and Jason/Elizabeth scene I just wrote. I think these two chapters I’ve inserted at this point in the story are going to be some of the best.

Fool Me Twice is still moving along — I’m really deep into the outline and looking forward to moving that project into its next stages. I’m really glad I gave myself two full months to plan — it’s been so relaxing and fun to lean in to it like this and just do a bit a day. It keeps my interest engaged and really makes me excited to get to it. I can’t wait to finally start writing it! And — I even opened up my Broken Girl scriv file to jot down some brainstorming notes for Book 2. This summer has been crazy productive, and I’m hoping to find a way to manage that momentum going into the fall and going back to work.

I have a couple of things planned this week, but I’m not sure how my schedule is going to work out so just stay tuned!

Your Update Links: Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 14 | If Wishes Came True

Hope you’re enjoying the start to your weekend : )

I spent a little time this morning organizing my 2020 episode tag universe on to a page: If Wishes Came True, so that they’re in order and it’s established kind of the theme I have going. I kind of like the idea of writing cut scenes with Jason & Elizabeth discussing the things going on in their lives — you know, the kind of scenes we’d get if they were writing their friendship. The only aspect of this tag universe that doesn’t really fit the show is the POA subplot but I think it’s kind of fun. It lets me add on as I want to without pressure to write a full-fledged 2020 story, if that makes sense.   It’s still a little under construction and I might still change the title.

In other news, I’ve been working on editing Mad World, and changed the Mad World subsite to illustrate the division of Book 3 into two books. I’ve line-edited the first six chapters — today I’m going to work on Chapter 57 and write the new scenes for Chapters 54-57. Tomorrow, I get to start writing the new chapters 🙂 It’s coming along really nicely and I’m excited for this change.

Your Update Link: If Wishes Came True, Part 2

I, uh, think I need to sit down this week and organize the episode tags onto their own page because they’re clearly part of the same universe and all of them kind of happen as cut scenes from GH — nothing says this isn’t happening in the background, I mean, LOL. I just…I have issues.

Your Update Link: Desperate Measures, Part 17

Not a lot to report today. Yesterday, I got a bit burnt out and took the afternoon off. Then, despite going to bed at a decent time for a change, I woke up with a massive sinus headache that is still lingering a little bit. I think it’s honestly because I’m staying inside so much, and I need to get my dad to change the filter on my central air.

Desperate Measures will be wrapping up next Wednesday, on August 19, and Darkest Before the Dawn on August 20. I’ll be back August 31 with the new round of flash fictions and the schedule. I have a lot of ideas so I’ll be letting my Patreons vote on the top two or three.

Your Update Links: Darkest Before the Dawn, Part 13 | If Wishes Came True

New Channel Videos: Mad World, Part 5 | Fool Me Twice, Part 3 and Part 4

Happy Thursday! I have a lot to get to in this post, so if you want to go ahead and just go read the updates and come back — that’s probably a good idea, LOL. We’re down two flash fiction series, so that’s good news. Both stories have about three parts left, so I think they’ll be wrapping up next Wednesday. I’m still taking off that next week to work out revision ideas and decide on the new series and schedule.

I finally finished the last episode tag in the trio I promised last week. This picks up midway through Friday, August 7’s show when Jason has had his motorcycle accident. I have some thoughts about a tag or two this week, but I want to see how the rest of the week works out in today and tomorrow’s episodes. If Wishes Came True is now available, and could probably fit into the universe of the other two tags, Strong Enough and This Is Me Trying. None of them are specifically connected but they don’t really contradict each other either.  I also finally updated the Alternate History, Alphabetical List, and Recent Updates page so yay for me on that score! I’m hoping to get back to the facelift, but for a variety of reasons it’s been a struggle.

I’m finally getting the video posts going. Mad World’s latest post has a transcript, but it’s messy, lol. Fool Me Twice has two new videos, posted on Tuesday and today, going over the final bits of discovery.  I’ll be linking them this way going forward — each page will have the embedded video, a playlist table of contents, a quick online summary and transcript. The transcript takes the longest, but I’m going to carve out some time this weekend to deal with them. There will be an official channel page at some point. I hope you enjoy!

In my final bit of news — Mad World, Book 3 is officially being separated into two books. As I was working on the beta draft yesterday, it became very clear to me that I had two narratives that are deeply interrelated, but still different stories. I have organized the new Book 3 — it’s 23 chapters. The new Book 4 is still in the process of being reorganized. It’s currently at 25 chapters. We’re kind of looking at the Book 1 and 2 situation — Book 1 opened the world and set me up for Book 2, and I feel like that’s what Book 3 is doing. It’s dealing with the fallout of Books 1 & 2 while setting us up for the final confrontations of Book 4.

What does this mean for scheduling? I’m not entirely positive at this time other than the fact that the October 6 date is set in stone for some sort of general release. I might drop Book 3 on October 6, then Book 4 in December — because then when Fool Me Twice Book 1 comes out in February, it’ll be a new book every other month. I might do a poll as I get through the beta draft and get some feedback on whether or not that works for you.

I’ll have more information for you in next week’s vlog post as I finish up restructuring the beta draft and get started on line edits for Book 3.

 

Your Update Link: Whatever It Takes, Part 16

Another series is finished and moves into revision. As I said last week, I wanted to finish all current series in progress, then take off the last week of August to get ready for the new school year. Once I know if I’ll be back to work full-time in September, I’ll work out a schedule and unveil the next set of series, one of which will include the sequel to Darkest Before the Dawn. I’m still working on revision ideas for An Everlasting Love — Mad World has eaten all my energy, lol. That’s another reason I want to take off the last week of August.

I started working on the beta draft for Mad World and we’re getting closer to the idea of splitting this into two books. I’m pretty sure I’ll know for sure after I complete today’s work. Each day, I’m taking ten chapters and looking over notes, adding scenes and chapters where they need to be. I’ve added plans for about six or seven scenes in existing chapters and then two more chapters — on top of at least five or six chapters I know have to be added to today’s batch of ten. That’s only the first half of the book — you see why I might be splitting it.

See you guys tomorrow!

Your Update Link: Desperate Measures, Part 17

Good morning! It’s been a very annoying 24 hours. I was supposed to have Zoom job interview yesterday and then I realized that the principal said Monday, August 11. I was working on this week’s Bullet Journal spread, and uh, it turns out Monday is August 10. So at 10 AM I suddenly found myself wondering — when exactly does this principal think our interview is? There I was, all washed, dressed, and ready — and it’s today instead. The universe is against me.

In other news — that third episode tag isn’t quite ready and I’m annoyed because it was supposed to follow Friday’s show with Jason’s accident and will make much less sense now. Luckily, through reading your comments, it looks like 85% of you are not watching currently so you probably won’t notice. Heh. I’ll try to work on it today and get it finished. It’s my favorite of the three, so I’m definitely writing it.

MAD WORLD! I finally finished reading the draft yesterday but it took FOREVER, lol. I didn’t finish until after 9 and I had to get to bed to get for my interview. I’m going to sit down today and start sketching out the big changes I wanna make. As you guys know, this story is ALREADY a beast with forty chapters and 235k. Based on my initial read, I’m going to have to add anywhere from 5-7 to chapters.

I’m still not sure how it’s going to affect publication. I was pleasantly surprised that the middle chapters I was sure would need the most work aren’t that bad — the first few chapters need more work — but the rest of the chapters need tweaks and additions. That makes me feel a lot better about getting a full beta draft done on time.

For Fool Me Twice, I spent some time on Saturday and Sunday working on it, but not yesterday. Today, I’ll be getting back to my daily 25 minutes sprints and hopefully adding a second one to spend a full 50 minutes on discovery.

There are two videos on the channel that got uploaded, but I want to put separate posts with their text highlights. My schedule is getting a little crunched, to be honest, because this interview is on a different day than I was expecting. The only reason I can fit Flash Fiction in today is because I’m washing my hair at 9 AM, then letting it lightly dry until after Flash Fic because it’ll be faster to dry it.  I’ll be back with them later.