I probably won’t be around for a while. Maybe a week, maybe more. I don’t know. I don’t really know where my head is right now.

I’ve written about my grandmother and her struggle with Alzheimer’s. Aside from my parents, my grandmother was probably the most supportive person in my life. Anything I ever wanted to do, she told me I could do. When I wanted to start working as a substitute and I didn’t have the money for background checks and fingerprints, she gave it to me. She was just always there for me, so the last few months as her Alzheimer’s got worse was horrible.

She passed away yesterday morning.

I don’t even have the luxury of being able to stop and process. I’m finishing up my semester, I have student teaching to finish, papers to write. Assignments. I have to go to work tomorrow. I have two observations left or I can’t get my license. This probably won’t even hit me until we celebrate Mother’s Day and she’s not there. My birthday next month, and her not being there. My nephew’s birthday. My niece’s. Christmas. God. All the moments she was a part of, and we didn’t know it would be the last time.

So I just wanted to say I’m disappearing for a while. It might just be a few days, I just don’t know. I didn’t want to disappear without saying something.

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Apologies for the lack of a chapter this week. This semester has just been beyond exhausting, and my beta, Cora, is also dealing with a lot at her job. We’re both creatively exhausted, which has slowed the process. I have about seven more chapters finished and maybe five or six left to write.

My question for you guys is would you rather that I just hold off coming back to post until I’ve finished those last five chapters and all the chapters are through the beta? Or do you mind the chapters coming irregularly? Let me know by commenting.

Another note: Fool Me Twice is now out of workshop. I’ve worked out the kinks in the general plot, so now I’m going into outline mode. I figured out how to merge the two stories I had and basically turn Jason’s return into a much better storyline that uses the entire canvas more effectively.  I have to update various parts of the website to reflect that change. I’ll keep you guys posted.

The light is at the end of the tunnel. I finish student teaching on May 4. My semester is over May 7, and after that I’m just doing my regular jobs which gives me more time for writing. I reallllly miss writing. If I can get my paper done this week, I’m hoping to use some of my extra time next week for it.

Anyway, let me know how you guys want to handle the last twelve chapters of Bittersweet.

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Thanks for your patience guys with our mini hiatus. I’m hoping we can keep to the once a week schedule going forward, but hey, if I don’t promise it, it doesn’t end up being a lie. And at least I posted a short story for you during the hiatus 🙂

Posting this early because at this point, most people will read it tomorrow anyway.

Bittersweet, Chapter 22

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I was really disappointed in the GH anniversary episode. The flashbacks were nice, but they didn’t feel all that connected to what was happening on the screen. It felt like random people put in the room. Also, Elizabeth didn’t get nearly the kind of prominence a character like her deserves. So I rewrote the episode, and yeah, it’s heavy on Elizabeth and Jason. That’s who I am as a writer, and it’s also where I think they should be. They’re two hugely popular legacy characters with a deep history and connections to basically everyone on the show. They’ve also barely shared any screen time in the six months Steve has been back.

So this doesn’t use all the vets the show did, but I still tried to do the same stories. Writing Mike’s scenes was hard. My grandmother is dealing with dementia, so I wrote his conversations to mirror the way my grandmother slips in and out. And the regret and worry I feel for me and family. I hope you like this.

The Years Go By

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Hey! So I got really sick this week and have spent the last day in bed, hacking up a lung. I’m also working on my edTPA application, which is this insane testing thing I have to do for my teaching certification. It’s an obnoxious experience but I spent $300 so failure is not an option.  Cora also got a great opportunity at work, and all of this has put us behind in the beta process, so we’re taking a break.  I’ll be back the first week in April.

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It’s Angelina’s birthday, so I decided to give her a birthday gift and give her Bittersweet a day early. I don’t really have much to add today — I’m on spring break, taking it easy, recharging the muse, trying to get some things organized because I’m home at night.

Hope you like it!

Bittersweet, Chapter 21 

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I’m not watching these days, but I’m paying attention through recaps and clips. I don’t have the time and energy to deal with this show as a whole right now. So on Twitter, when Elizabeth overheard Jason and Sam, everyone started to speculate how Elizabeth would deal with that information, and I saw someone (apologies, I didn’t catch the handle) mention Carly wanting to know this info.

So…I wrote the scene. In about a half hour. It’s set as an actual scene, with dialogue tags and whatnot. It picks up from Friday’s episode.

Dirty Work

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I’m posting early for a couple of reasons. One, I’ve been looking forward to getting this section of the story to you guys for ages. I had to do a lot of things to get all the pieces in the row to make these final ten chapters or so gel together. When I was first playing around with the idea of rewriting 2002, I only knew that I wanted to do more with Gia and Courtney, give Liz more of a character rebuild than she got post wedding, and that Carly’s faked death would be drawn out more and rolled into the larger umbrella story.

And then, as I plotted, I started to think about what Carly’s return would look like. I can still remember subbing at a horrible school, scribbling in my notebook over the break, trying to figure out what Zander’s story would be and how Carly would fit into Alcazar’s story. How to take the beats of 2002 and rework them into something was ultimately more satisfying with long-term effects and more in character.

So I’m posting tonight because I really want to see if you guys can see where we’re going from here, and I want to know what you guys think.

Two, I’m posting early because we’re getting a storm, and my school district hasn’t closed — they’ve just shortened the day so we’re still dragging our asses into class for half hour periods and I’ll be cleaning my car off twice, and with my luck, my second job won’t cancel so my day will be a complete pain. I didn’t want to forget.

And finally, in late December, I posted kind of cryptically about having gotten to Chapter 26 and just…feeling stalled about a story decision. The only way to fix it was to go back and massively rework 20-25. I did it, and I feel really good about it because I think I got to some really interesting things with all the relationships. This is the first chapter with that change. The final scene is completely different. Once we get to the end of the story, I’ll go back and post the cut material. Like the custody stuff, none of it is bad, but it felt out of character. It just meant that I didn’t get to finish the final chapters before I started student teaching and that has definitely killed the momentum.

Still, it’s not how fast I post, it’s how good the story is. If it’s good, you guys have proven to me you’ll stick around, and I think my best is what I’ve promised you.

So, here’s Chapter Twenty of Bittersweet.

Oh….and as a treat for you guys being so massively supportive — I’m posting stuff from Mad World. I’ve got three full chapters done of the rewrite and I…love it. I can’t wait to get back to it. So I’m posting a few cut scenes from it.

Mad World Excerpts

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First time in weeks that Bittersweet is going to be updated on time. Super exhausted, so no witty chatting here. I’ll be back this weekend (I think) with something.

Chapter Nineteen

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