Your Update Link: Mad World – Chapter 33

I don’t have a lot to report outside of the update. Writing for Fool Me Twice is moving steady, but very slowly. That should change this week. I say that a lot, heh, but seriously — we’re in the third week of school which means my curriculum is moving along, the students and I are mostly in a routine, and I’m going to be taking my other laptop to work.

I had been taking the older laptop, but it started having issues on Friday. Plus, it has a different screen resolution than my new one which made it a giant pain to go from screen to screen with writing. Bringing this one means I can actually get a scene or two done on my lunch. It’s actually a win-win situation. I’m even buying a second adapter to keep at work to make transporting it back and forth every day easier.

I had always planned for Fool Me Twice to be posted starting in February, so if it takes a bit longer than two months to get the first draft done, it just cuts into my three months of revision time. That’s why I pushed the production schedule so far out to begin. I wrote an update over at Dear Isobel talking about writing and why this story has been hard to get going.

Again — I forgot to write this update post that actually emails you guys on time, but I’m only ten minutes late so that’s not so bad.

Update link: Mad World – Chapter 32

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their lovely feedback to the last few chapters. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I got stuck back in late May/early June and it was during this period of the story. These first 12-13 chapters of Book 2 were the hardest to write because I had to write Brooke’s trauma, and honestly, I was undecided right up until Chapter 29 whether or not I was going to go through with the turn her story took. But not doing it would have changed the trajectory of the rest of the book, so in that respect, I’m glad I went through with it.

I’ve seen some feedback regarding my story beat about the processing of rape kits. Some readers were wondering if that was a story clue to the bad guy, and it’s actually not. As I’ve said before, I did a LOT of a reading before I sat down to write this story. I read a lot of rape survivor testimony, researched rape statutes, and what were some of the most common investigation obstacles. Over and over again, the backlog in processing rape kits lept out at me. All around this country, even today, it is not standard practice in many jurisdictions to automatically run a rape kit. So just imagine what it was like in 2003, before Me, Too, a movement that also very much inspired my writing in this project.

A great site to look at this in more detail is End the Backlog, which also has some options if you want to help stop this terrible injustice.

Thanks again for the amazing feedback and for joining me on this emotional journey. We have 18 chapters left to go, and I’m really excited for you to see where this story goes.

This is going to be short and sweet. I scheduled both this week’s chapters, but forgot to write the update post that actually emails readers and posts on social media.

Your update link: Mad World, Chapter 31

Your update: Mad World – Chapter Thirty

I am exhausted, y’all. Two full days with the students and my brain and feet hurt like hell. I ended up with the worst kind of teacher’s duty — I have to walk the halls for all of first period. I have decent shoes, but a foot injury makes any kind of prolonged exercise like this painful without sneakers. It’s gonna be a long two and half months.

The good news is that I still managed to finish all my work before I left the day and over the last two days, I finished Fool Me Twice, Chapter 4. I’m hoping to get though 5-7 over the next four days, and if I can manage 4 chapters a week, that puts me right on schedule for October 31. And really — it’s just a matter of 2-3 scenes on weekdays, and one chapter on weekends.  My life gets even easier on Friday because the students get their laptops and almost all of the work is completed through Google Classroom. Less paperwork!

The story itself is starting to move along. There’s a lot of moving pieces, so I’m glad I left myself a lot of time for rewrites revisions. I wrote out a huge backstory that basically does what the show never did — explain the memory crap in great detail. Hopefully that lets me stay consistent. I also hit on a fun subplot for the teens — Oscar is going to exist in this universe, but I hope to make him more interesting.

I appreciated the response to Chapter 29 of MW. These chapters surrounding what happened in 29 and the reactions were some of the most difficult to write and part of where the story got hung up for me in May and June. I’m glad the trigger and content warnings have been helpful. Please let me know if I miss any.

 

Your update link: Ebooks

I’m going to be changing the ebook page at some point — I really don’t like the way it’s organized and I feel like it’s kind of a hidden. A lot of readers probably don’t even know I offer them for some of the stories. I just haven’t settled on a way to present it yet. But for now, you can download Mad World, Book 1 in .epub format. I’ll be adding the .mobi and .pdf versions later this week.

I also put up a tentative schedule for the next ebooks — Bittersweet & Mad World Book 2, one a month. Book 2 will definitely be up (along with an option to download both volumes in one ebook). I’m experimenting with how long it takes me to create an ebook for an older story to see if I can manage a new one every month or if I need more time. I have a lot of novels and novellas I’m sure readers would appreciate being able to unhook from a computer and curl up with some fanfiction.

In case you missed it, I posted Chapter 29 earlier this morning. Be aware that it has a trigger warning on the first and last scene. I hope these warnings have been helpful to some readers. This was a dark piece to write and this chapter was one of the most difficult, but nearly as difficult as some of the ones to come.

Your update: Mad World – Chapter Twenty-Nine (Content Warning).

Not a lot of chatter here because I’ll be back later today with an ebook update for Mad World, Book 1. So enjoy this chapter and if you miss my babbling, it’ll come later 😛

Your update: Mad World – Chapter Twenty-Nine (Content Warning).

Not a lot of chatter here because I’ll be back later today with an ebook update for Mad World, Book 1. So enjoy this chapter and if you miss my babbling, it’ll come later 😛

Your Update: Mad World – Chapter Twenty-Eight.

I’m going to keep this short and brief (as much as I ever can) because it’s past 9 PM here and I almost forgot to schedule this post for tomorrow morning. I’m three days into staff development week and loving every minute of my new job. It’s trippy being at my old high school, seeing how much has changed. The hallways still mostly look the same, and one of my old English teachers is still in the same room she was when I was a sophomore in 2000. I’ve passed her room a few times and literally had a moment of thinking, damn it, I’m late for Brandt again!

But this week is not only my first at the new job, it’s also the week my parents are closing on their new house and if I want my house to myself, I need to help them pack and move this weekend. So my four day weekend before classes start isn’t going to be a lot of relaxation, heh.

I haven’t been able to write this week yet — it’s been a struggle getting things set up, getting into some sort of routine, figuring out what my energy level is once I’m home. I’m still not quite in the groove yet – I honestly won’t know until the end of next week when I’ve got things sorted out and I’ve been through a few regular school days. I still don’t anticipate  insane issues with my October 20 deadline for FMT.  Even if I only write half a chapter every day, I might push the first draft out to November 3. But there are going to be days when I write full chapters. If I’m no further along by September 10, I’ll revise accordingly.  I set that production schedule before I got hired for this long-term gig and ended up having to work this week.

Just a reminder that Patreon tiers were revised — the ebook for Mad World, Book 2 will be released on Sunday, September 1 on the Crimson Adored tier if you’re interested.

Your Update: Mad World – Chapter Twenty-Seven. Please note that the final scene in this chapter has a trigger warning attached as Elizabeth deals with her rape. The whole story has a content warning, but I’m labeling specific chapters where I go into more details than some readers might be able to handle.

I’m looking forward to this week’s content — the scene in question for Chapter 27 was actually written two years ago, during the first draft of Mad World before I turned into a trilogy. I’m glad I finally get to release it.

As most of you read this, I’ll be in the middle of my first day at my new long-term substitute position. I’m pretty excited to start — this week is all staff development, and I’m looking forward to seeing my classroom, the curriculum, and getting settled before classes start next Tuesday.

Writing wise, I managed to finish three chapters of Fool Me Twice last week. I had hoped to write through Chapter Five, but I only got through Chapter Three. That’s not a big deal honestly — the first week or two of any project takes some time to get going. Every story has its own voice and momentum, and something like FMT is probably going to need some time to settle in. Since I came back to writing in 2014, I haven’t written anything for GH set later than 2006 other than Damaged which doesn’t really count in my eyes since I changed so much. I’m getting a handle on the voices of Liz and Jason after all this time has passed, and doing the work GH refused to do — figuring out exactly who Drew and Sam are.

I also launched the new tiers for Patreon and revised the benefits there. There’s a few more things in the works, but most of the benefits are what I suggested earlier this month. The support levels range from $1-10 and there are a few different rewards at every level. This support has allowed me to keep the lights on at Crimson Glass and I’m hoping to expand into creating more promotional materials for my stories. I liked the promo I made The Best Thing back in the day, and I know there’s video editing software out there I can use to make similar ones.

Your Update: Mad World – Chapter Twenty-Seven. Please note that the final scene in this chapter has a trigger warning attached as Elizabeth deals with her rape. The whole story has a content warning, but I’m labeling specific chapters where I go into more details than some readers might be able to handle.

I’m looking forward to this week’s content — the scene in question for Chapter 27 was actually written two years ago, during the first draft of Mad World before I turned into a trilogy. I’m glad I finally get to release it.

As most of you read this, I’ll be in the middle of my first day at my new long-term substitute position. I’m pretty excited to start — this week is all staff development, and I’m looking forward to seeing my classroom, the curriculum, and getting settled before classes start next Tuesday.

Writing wise, I managed to finish three chapters of Fool Me Twice last week. I had hoped to write through Chapter Five, but I only got through Chapter Three. That’s not a big deal honestly — the first week or two of any project takes some time to get going. Every story has its own voice and momentum, and something like FMT is probably going to need some time to settle in. Since I came back to writing in 2014, I haven’t written anything for GH set later than 2006 other than Damaged which doesn’t really count in my eyes since I changed so much. I’m getting a handle on the voices of Liz and Jason after all this time has passed, and doing the work GH refused to do — figuring out exactly who Drew and Sam are.

I also launched the new tiers for Patreon and revised the benefits there. There’s a few more things in the works, but most of the benefits are what I suggested earlier this month. The support levels range from $1-10 and there are a few different rewards at every level. This support has allowed me to keep the lights on at Crimson Glass and I’m hoping to expand into creating more promotional materials for my stories. I liked the promo I made The Best Thing back in the day, and I know there’s video editing software out there I can use to make similar ones.