If you’re following me on Twitter, you know that I finished my beta draft of Bittersweet yesterday. I cleaned up the last eighty pages and sent them off to Cora to beta read. I’m really hoping to be able to come back with the rest of the story in about two weeks, but we’ll see. I am soooo excited to have that finished. I wrote a ton this week and I feel great about what I turned out.

So now, today being July 1, we’re digging into Camp NaNoWriMo. My goal is take what I already have of Mad World and write/revise until I have a draft ready for beta. That’s the plan for the entire month–at the end of July, I want to be absolutely done with the first draft. I won’t post progress updates here, so follow me on Twitter @crimsonglass for news.

 

Unsurprisingly, Mad World won the Camp NanoWriMo poll, though it was really close — I think at the end only about five votes separated Mad World from Broken Girl.  As you might remember, I worked on Mad World for last year’s July event and finished a draft of it in September. It was an okay draft, but I had some ideas to really do something interesting with Elizabeth’s story and do more with the panic room storyline.

So my goal this summer to get that rewrite finished. To get the story through the panic room story, and then spend August combining last year’s draft with this year’s, and put together something you guys can read this fall.

Bittersweet should be returning sometime in July. I’ve written through Chapter 29 and plan to finish the last few chapters this week. I’ll keep you guys in the loop and I should have a return date sometime soon. Thanks for your patience there.

I should also return to updating Smoke and Mirrors either this weekend or next week. I’m still kind of working on a routine and it’s hard when my work schedule is all over the place.  Writing is back in my daily schedule but not always the way  I want it to be.

This year, during Camp NaNoWriMo, I’ll be tweeting about my progress and maybe even posting small snippets on Twitter. Follow the hashtags #crimsonglass and #cgmadworld to make sure you don’t miss anything if that’s something you’re interested in.

In extracurricular news, I’ve started a Summer Reading Project to boost my novel reading numbers. I’m rereading my favorite romance series and then reviewing them. Check out my personal blog for more information. I’m also writing a weekly post about how I would write current GH storylines, and I plan to add some other content later this summer.

If you haven’t voted in the poll yet to choose my Camp NaNoWriMo project, I decided to give some small previews. I have an entire chapter from Mad World, and an opening scene from For the Broken Girl. I’ve been writing Mad World longer, so I had an entire chapter. I had to write the scene for Broken Girl, that’s why there’s less.

Mad World – Chapter One

For the Broken Girl – Opening Scene

Please make sure to vote by June 26!

In other news, I started a GH commentary series over at my boring blog where I basically rewrite ongoing GH stories in the form of a plot sketch. It’s called If I Wrote GH, and I launched it with a recounting of how I would rewrite the gaslighting story of Carly and Nelle.

I’ll be back this weekend with some story updates!

 

 

Apologies! The first poll did not work for some reason, so I changed plugins. Please vote again — no vote was recorded. I am publishing a new post so that email goes out again. The poll is open until midnight on June 26 so that I’ll have a couple of days to outline the winning project.

 

Back in 2014, when I was winding down A Few Words Too Many, I asked for you guys to pick the next project I worked on. You guys picked The Best Thing, which only proves how smart y’all are since it’s literally the best thing I’ve ever written.

So here are five descriptions of the projects I’d like to focus on in July, during Camp NaNoWriMo. Read them over, and then select your favorite in the poll

MAD WORLD
Set in Summer 2003.
Elizabeth’s hasty marriage and tragic miscarriage shortly thereafter has the people in her life worried about her, including best friend Emily Quartermaine who’s back in town to attend her brother Jason’s wedding—to her other brother’s former wife.

When Carly Corinthos, five months pregnant, goes missing before the ceremony, Elizabeth’s husband is the primary suspect. Elizabeth is forced to confront some deadly truths about herself, the men in her life, her health—and even her own past.

Carly’s kidnapping is only the starting point. What happens when everything you thought you knew about yourself proves to be a lie?

FOR THE BROKEN GIRL
Set Spring 2006
Jason Morgan and Elizabeth Webber have always been friends, but it’s been a few years since they were close. That changes after Jason’s sister and Elizabeth’s best friends gets herself in deep with Sonny Corinthos, and Jason turns to Elizabeth for help. When supposedly reformed criminal Manny Ruiz gets a job at the hospital, Elizabeth looks to Jason for reassurance and protection. Their friendship is rekindled, but she’s married and he’s engaged. That’s where it starts and ends as far as they’re concerned.

A chance meeting at a spring carnival changes everything. A shot rings out, and Elizabeth’s cop husband loses his partner, and Jason’s fiancée suffers a potentially fatal injury. What happens next will destroy the futures they both thought they were building, and Elizabeth is left with more than her dreams shattered.

FALLEN FROM GRACE
Set Fall 2006
Almost on a whim, Robin Scorpio accepts Nikolas Cassadine’s offer of marriage and the chance to raise his son after the truth about the paternity is revealed. Elizabeth Spencer is rebuilding her life after her husband’s drug addiction nearly killed her son, while Jason Morgan goes to work at the WSB after a breakup with his fiancée. Patrick Drake attempts to recover his dignity after Robin leaves him for the Cassadine prince, while Emily Quartermaine doesn’t understand why everything had to chance so drastically. Lucky Spencer returns from rehab to start a private investigation firm with Sam McCall.

Eight people had their world turned upside down in the Summer of 2006. They rebuild it in surprising ways with surprising romances, affairs, and friendships. But nothing lasts forever in Port Charles.

BURN IN HEAVEN
Set Fall 2007
Sequel to A Few Words Too Many. Three years after Ric Lansing was dealt with and Faith Roscoe lit out of town, Elizabeth Morgan has moved on with her life. Now married to Jason with two children (Cady and Jake), Elizabeth is a hard-working nurse and co-president of the Stone Cates foundation. She has a healthy, thriving social life with a lot of friends and family. Sonny and Carly divorced, leaving her free to marry Jax and Sonny to enjoy a variety of relationships.

Faith Roscoe has never forgotten Sonny Corinthos, and her promise to destroy his life. When she finally decided to wreak her revenge, she teams up with another Corinthos enemy: Anthony Zacchara. Death, destruction, torture? These are only the beginning.

THESE SMALL HOURS
Set in Fall 2008.
After Kate Howard is shot at her wedding to Sonny Corinthos, her brokenhearted fiancé swears revenge on the man he holds responsible—the same man Sonny has blamed for every tragedy for over a year: Johnny Zacchara. Nurse Nadine Crowell has the misfortune of witnessing the violent shootout between the two men, and Johnny turns to a time-honored tradition in Port Charles to keep her quiet: marriage.

Jason Morgan agreed to take over Sonny’s organization, but his former boss isn’t going without a fight and the two butt heads over how to handle Kate’s shooting, the drugs in Port Charles, and the Zacchara family. Jason is also attempting to build a life with fiancée, Elizabeth Webber, and their two sons, after a car accident forces Jason to take their relationship public.

Between Sonny’s temper, Nadine’s penchant for getting into trouble, Anthony Zacchara’s insanity, and Claudia Zacchara’s fierce and deadly loyalty to her brother, the mob war in Port Charles is only getting started.

Hey! This would have been up a few days ago but my work schedule got all wonky. Thanks for the feedback so far. I hope you like this part.

Chapter 2

Hey! I put up another chapter of Smoke and Mirrors. I’m not going to kill myself trying to get two or three scenes for each chapter and making sure each chapter is like 5000 words long. I’ll write whatever gets written and there’s the chapter. Thanks for the feedback so far. I hope you guys like where it’s going.

Chapter One

I took a lot of this week off, mostly due to a cold that disrupted my plans. But I slept in a lot, relaxed. I didn’t even work on the third paper that I need to finish for this semester. I’m trying to recharge.

One of the reasons my longer stories take so long to get to you guys is I’m trying to complete them in advance and go through beta reading, which is not something I ever did when I was writing a decade ago. In fact, back then, I had three or four stories in progress at all times which was sometimes a good thing, sometimes not. I still tended to write more.

So I’m going to start posting a second story — one that I don’t schedule regular updates. You guys will get updates when I write them, which means it may be a while between chapters or they may come daily, depending on the muse. I’m trying to take some pressure off myself.

This is an alternate universe story, a reworking of the Homecoming series from the Workshop. I’ve posted the prologue of Smoke and Mirrors, and hopefully it’s something you guys like.

I also did some housekeeping — updated the By Title page, added some missing stuff to Short Stories and Recent Updates, etc. So the site is current again. I hope to be back writing more regularly.

In an effort to bring back Workshop Sundays, I bring you A Sign of Life, set in 1999. It’s an idea I’m workshopping and hoping to turn into a longer story.

I’m almost finished everything that needs to be done before I can really take a break. Teaching requirements are done, student teaching is over — I just need to write two papers. I can’t wait to really get back to writing!