Your Update Link: Not Knowing When, Part 1

HELLO! Happy Monday! Welcome back to Flash Fiction pn its new day and time. I am SOOOO excited to get started because I spent a lot of this weekend working out some details for the flash fiction series, and I am just ridiculously happy to be back. I missed this!  Today’s entry kicks off a revisit of 2002 and the post-penthouse disaster of that fall. All recap details are included in the first part. You might notice that this update is longer — to compensate for not updating twice a week, I’m writing in two 25 minute sprints starting at 7 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays — although Sunday won’t be as late as 7.  I won’t be able to carve out time every day, but I can probably manage an hour a few times a week.

I thought I might be out of work in September because both my districts are on remote for the first month (and possibly longer) but I found out today there’s a possibility I can snag a long-term permanent position in my district. I won’t know any details until tomorrow, but obviously if I get a long-term job, it’s going to mess with my schedule. School starts in my district tomorrow, so I’ll be playing massive amounts of catch up. I’ll let you guys know when I know more.

I’ve been super busy since I came back from my break last week. I’ve been working really hard on revision plans for Flash Fiction, planning the new round of stories (you guys are going to LOVE Sunday’s update), and I’ve been back to working on Mad World and Fool Me Twice. ALSO! I’ve been knocking items out on my Facelift. I’ve been crazy productive and happy about it 🙂 The biggest update was that I finally finished writing and formatting all the copy for the Alternate History page. Now — I just need to move those stories over!

OH! And the most important thing — I relaunched my soaps blog, Crimson Suds, with a daily snarky recap that’s short and takes me like 10 minutes to put together as well as a longer weekly commentary column.

I won’t have my usual Site & Story status video up tomorrow — that’s been delayed until the weekend, so I’ll save the details until then. I’ll see you guys on Wednesday!

Well, after more than 60 people voted (SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS), it’s very clear what story you guys want first. Nearly 70% of voters want Desperate Measures as the first revised flash fic. Thank you so much for voting! Because the votes were so overwhelming, I’ll set up another poll later to see which flash fiction gets revised second (because…um 43 people are getting their first choice, LOL).  I was worried my little Western romance wasn’t going to get any love, so thanks for those 7 people.

I don’t have a timeline just yet as to when I’ll have Desperate Measures completed. I’m still working on a new writing schedule for next month which I’m hoping to get sorted out this weekend. Thanks again to everyone who voted. I freaking love you guys 😉

The other piece of news I wanted to share is an adjustment to Flash Fiction. Up until now, I’ve set my timer for 20 minutes then posted what was done at the end of it. That worked when I was updating daily this summer which meant we still moved through the story at a good pace. I do not want to commit to updating daily in the fall. While I’m likely not going back to work in September, I should be back to work by October and I would never be able to keep that pace up.

However, I also don’t want to be writing all of these series FOREVER, lol, so I decided that the best way forward would be to lengthen the time I write each day. So what does this mean?

I’ll be doing Flash Fiction on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in evenings, starting at 7. At 7, I’ll use my Pomodoro timer which is how I write my novels. I write in 25 minute sprints with five minute breaks. I’ll complete 2 Pomodoros between 7 and 8, and then post what’s completed at 8 PM. The parts will be longer and will make up for not posting twice a week for each story. On Sundays, the time of the Flash Fiction might move around a bit, but will likely be around noon and will be 2 Pomodoros.

In other news, I’ve been chipping away at the CG Facelift. I worked on some pages in Mad World that needed to updated, including a more detailed Timeline & Setting page that hopefully does a better job of recapping the situation in 2003. I also started to chip away at the screencap and video organization by capping the last of my Liason DVDs. Once all my DVDs are screencapped, I’ll start sorting and cleaning them up. Ultimately, I want to put them online as a good source for graphic makers. But we’re probably a year away from that.

Hello! I said in my livestream yesterday I might be checking in with a poll before I came back officially on Monday, so here I am! I’ve spent the last three days working on outlines and plans to revise my first three completed Flash Fiction series, and I’m here to ask you guys which one do you want me to write first.

All of the series will be largely rewritten (with the exception of Desperate Measures — some of that dialogue will still work) so that I can expand and flesh them out. All three will be substantially longer (40 to 80k). Here are the revised synopses for the projects.

An Everlasting Love

Alternate Universe. Set in California, 1870s.

Their families settled Diamond Springs before the Gold Rush turned it into a boom town, but Jason Morgan and Elizabeth Webber were born into different worlds. She’s the beloved granddaughter of town patriarch Steve Hardy and he’s the illegitimate grandson recognized by the powerful Quartermaine family, but not fully part of them. Jason leaves Elizabeth behind in town to make money working on the railroads, promising he’ll come back for her.

Letters are exchanged and promises are kept, but Elizabeth’s father pressures her into marrying another man — Ric Lansing, the local powerful banker who seems obsessed with her. Elizabeth refuses — until news from Jason’s grandmother causes her to lose faith. She won’t marry Ric, but accepts another proposal. It seems her dreams of romance are behind her for good.

Five years later, Jason finally returns to town as the sheriff, prepared to care for his grandmother in her final years. Jason and Elizabeth realizes that someone has been lying to both of them, and finding their way back to one another might cost them their lives.

Whatever It Takes

Alternate Universe.

Jason Morgan met Elizabeth Webber when she saved his life, alongside her brother Steven, the local mob doctor. He left town to recuperate away from the eyes of the police, and by the time he returns, she’s dating Ric Lansing, his boss’s smug brother. Jason and Elizabeth are drawn to each other, and after some twists and turns, they’re finally together and planning their future. But Ric doesn’t let go so easily

Just before the birth of their first child, Jason and Elizabeth are injured in an explosion that leads to the death of their daughter. Elizabeth sinks into depression as Jason nearly kills himself searching for vengeance, finding enemies around every corner. One night, Jason disappears, and Elizabeth has to force herself out of the darkness to go after her husband to drag him back to her. Will their quest for revenge cost them more than just their marriage?

Desperate Measures

Alternate History.

Set Summer 2018. Angry and disappointed in Franco Baldwin’s constant lies, Elizabeth Webber breaks their engagement and moves her three boys to a new home, eager for a new start.

Standing behind her in support are new found twin brothers, Jason Morgan and Drew Cain, who still struggle to separate their identities and their relationships with the sons Jason created but Drew raised. Jason’s closer to Jake, and Drew is closer to Danny, but their mother has left town, struggling to deal with the return of Danny’s cancer.

But Elizabeth’s first night in her new home ends in a bloody attack. A phone call in the middle of the night finds Jason desperately trying to clear Elizabeth’s name of murder and searching her missing children. The mistakes and regrets of Jason and Elizabeth’s past are coming back to haunt them, and this time, walking away won’t stop it.

 

This poll will be open for 24 hours.

Once a week or so, I do a livestream for my Patreon supporters. Today, since I’ve been so MIA since I finished flash fiction, I wanted to post the link for all my readers. It’s short notice (my livestreams always are) so if you’re around at 12 PM EST, head over. It’s usually pretty quiet since it’s my lazy way of posting writing updates, lol, but I’d love if anyone wanted to have questions or chat.  I’d schedule these more regularly with more notice if anyone wants them.

ETA: If you miss the livestream, the link will still be here for you watch it but will not be available elsewhere on the channel. It’s set to unlisted, so you can only see it if you have the link.

Update Link: Flash Fiction

In Case You Missed It: Ruining Everything (If Wishes Came True Part 5)

Happy Monday! As promised, I’m here to preview your Flash Fiction series when the feature returns next Monday on August 31. I’ll be updating each story once a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, typically in the evenings.

Mondays: Not Knowing When

Set in 2002. After learning that Jason helped Sonny fake his death, then lied to her, Elizabeth walks out on him and a future together. But before long, she finds herself drawn back into his world when she sees something she shouldn’t and has no choice but to trust him.

Wednesdays: A Shot in the Dark

Sam has been reunited with her son, Danny, and Jason and Elizabeth are starting a new chapter in their lives together, putting the past and the tragic loss of their son behind him. Then Lucky comes home with startling news that changes everything.

Friday: A King’s Command

A Flash Fiction Alternate Universe. Set in Medieval Scotland. When Jason Morgan, one of the Highland’s fiercest lairds is commanded to marry the daughter of a Lowland clan, he reluctantly obeys and brings Elizabeth back to his keep, surprised and intrigued by her kindness and beauty. But she’s keeping a dark secret that threatens their future. 

Sunday: 2001

At the moment, Sunday’s series is a bit loose. I’m intending to just do a series of scene rewrites or episode tags set in 2001, but I also know who I am as a person and I’m sure once I start playing in this time period, I might come up with a few ideas that need fleshing out. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.

I’m excited to write all of these series, but particularly to tackle 2001 and 2002. This is a time period that I haven’t revisited in nearly 18 years. I wrote a lot of 2002 fanfiction at the time, but once Courtney and Ric came along, I set more stories in 2003 and re-visited the fall a lot less. When I wrote Bittersweet, I rewrote all of Jason’s return, instead of starting partially through it. As for 2001, I wrote one single story set in 2001 but it wasn’t that great, lol, and it’s not available anywhere to read. So those two series are going to be A LOT of fun.

For A Shot in the Dark, I know how many of you guys wanted to continue following Jason and Elizabeth after Darkest Before the Dawn and the revelation of Jake being alive. That was always going be posted, but I’m glad I have a lot of interest. And A King’s Command is a revisit of one of my earliest Flash Fiction series and one of the most frequent requests to bring back.

I think this is the only update I’ll be making for a few days — but you never know know with me. I’ve been feeling a bit burnt out the last few days, and my migraines and TMJ are back since I’m not sleeping well. Hoping to get that sorted out at the doctor’s today 🙂

Your Update Link: Ruining Everything (If Wishes Came True, Part 5)

Hello! I hope you guys are having a great weekend. I’ve done nothing for almost four days, lol, but this afternoon, I decided to finish some restructuring work for If Wishes Came True, my strange 2020 episode tag series, then got inspired to add to it. I meant this series to be deleted scenes, but the show took a nose dive in quality last week and, well, I couldn’t abandon Jason and Elizabeth without at least trying. This continues to be just short stories that I’ll update when I can.

I also updated the Production Schedule with Mad World’s new dates. Book 3 will be released on the site October 6, then Book 4 on December 8. Fool Me Twice has been pushed to March. This is mostly to make up for the fact that I didn’t give myself enough of a break between writing the first draft of Books 3 and 4 before going into revisions so my brain forced a break on me. Now I know — it doesn’t matter how long a first draft takes — I need a minimum of seven full days before I can throw myself into revisions. Otherwise, my brain will revolt.

I’ll update tomorrow with the new schedule for Flash Fiction.  New series return August 31 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. I’ll see you tomorrow!

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!