Note: Apologies for the framing and lighting in this video. I filmed it around 9 at night on Sunday, and I ended up cutting off my head from the frame — and the whole thing filmed with me way off center so I had to crop and scale a lot. LOL. I’m learning, I promise!

 

General Writing

• Hello! Apologies for this update being delayed by a little over a week.  I had a rough August and trouble sleeping for two straight weeks which really messed with my productivity. I wanted to wait for my medication to kick in and get back on track before I sat down to think about what else I want to do in September.
• I haven’t been able to lock up a long-term teaching position yet this year, and both my school districts are closed for the month of September because neither passed the Covid building requirements.
• That means I’m home at least for September unless something changes. That’s good for the writing, lol. And don’t worry about me — I kind of half expected to be in this position and I started saving in May for it. I’ve got enough in my savings to get through November, and well — let’s just hope things look different then.
• As for the writing, I’m feeling pretty productive these days. As long as I listen to my brain and take days when I should and take breaks, it’s been pretty easy to just sit down and write when I want to write.

Site & Channel

Channel

•  I need to film new updates for Mad World and Fool Me Twice, I know. I had two videos made but I didn’t get a chance to edit them and they’re enough out of date that I want to update them.
• One of the things I do I want to finish is the Channel section on the site with each video having a page so I can be ready to do transcripts when I can get to them.

Site

• I’ve been working like crazy on the Facelift the last few weeks. I made an EPIC checklist that I still add things to but it has pretty much everything I want to do. This list is definitely more for me than you guys because it keeps my brain organized.
• One of the big projects I’m working is organizing my screencap collection by scene and date. The reason I want to do this is I want to make lots of graphics for my stories, but I tend to use the same screencaps over and over again.
• Plus — my screencaps have been in folders where there are thousands in one folder which Photoshop struggles to open effectively.
• This just makes my life so much easier and I’ll be able to get to the rest of the Alternate History overhaul faster. For example, the newest 2001 Flash Fiction, The Ghost in the Girl, has graphics because I had already organized 2001 by date and it was super easy to find them and use them.
• I re-launched my soap commentary blog with daily snark recaps and a weekly commentary column: Crimson Suds.

Story Updates

Mad World

Book 3

• Book 3 was completed on Saturday and posted at Patreon for my $5 and above supporters. It’s 25 chapters and around 156k words. I’m taking the week off to let it sit before beginning my final round of edits for typos, inconsistencies, and flow.
• I’m so happy with how this new material is coming together. When I separated Book 3 from the new Book 4, I had about 90k words — I’ve added 50k to this draft with a plan to add 10k more before I’m done.
• Patreon Release for $7 supporters is October 1. I’m trying very hard to get Patreon supporters a better preview — optimally, I’d like you guys to be a month ahead of release, but so far it hasn’t been possible.
• The general release is October 6 to let me catch any last typos and schedule all the chapters.

Book 4

•  I’m starting a light edit on Book 4 this week. Having finished Book 3, I want to plan the big structural changes in Book 4, so I can make sure Book 3 flows into it well while still feeling like its own narrative.
• Book 4 will go into full beta draft revisions in October. I’ll do the big round of edits — major additions of new scenes and new chapters in October, then the second round in November to polish it up.
• The general release is in December, probably December 8.
• If you read the first draft of both books (Patreon Supporters $3 and above), Book 3 ends with the wedding and Book 4 begins the day after.
• I don’t have a ton for you guys on Book 4 because I haven’t really played with it too much, but I have some really fun changes and expansion ideas. I’ll have more information for you in October’s video.

Flash Fiction

Revisions

• Thanks to a vote at Crimson Glass, Desperate Measures is the first Flash Fiction series that I’m revising into a novella/novel. At the moment, it’s around 55 scenes which puts it into novel word count territory.
• I’m not sure how long it will take to write it, but it’s definitely the flash fiction I need to rework the least — I’ll be able to clean up big pieces of scenes, but I’m also adding more teens, more context, and building in more Liason scenes.
• After DM is completed, I’ll have enough vote for the next revision. Because DM had such a huge win, I want anyone who voted for DM to have a chance to ask for the next revision.

New Series

• I’ve launched all of the new series, and so far, I’m feeling more confident. I’m taking an hour to write these entries so that they’re longer which hopefully makes up for not updating twice a week. I learned so much from the first round of fiction, and I’m hoping that I won’t need to do so much revising in this round if that makes sense. I’m trying to write these and plan these to minimize the editing needed to pull it into a mainstream story.
• In the video, I talked a bit more at length about Not Knowing When being set in 2002, and what I’m hoping to bring to it. I haven’t written this specific time period (October 2002) since 2002, so it’s fun to get back into it since my perspective has changed.
• For A King’s Command — I had some readers who were surprised that I was rewriting it. In fact, some of you seemed disappointed. I’m so sorry for any misunderstandings. The way I approach flash fiction has changed since I wrote the first version, and I had written myself into a corner with the old version. While I’m happy to revisit old ideas from earlier flash fictions, I will always be rewriting them.
• The 2001 rewrite has its first short story planned — I have 2-3 part story set after the Face of Deception photoshoot. I don’t know yet if it’ll be 2 parts or 3 because it depends on how long it takes to write it. This is the first story I’ve written set in this period of GH, mostly because I wasn’t actively watching and by the time I got into Liason, The Canvas writers had written about it so well I wasn’t sure what I could add. That being said, I’m more comfortable with my own voice and what I bring to a story, so I’m dipping my toe in.

Fool Me Twice

•  I’m working on chapter breakdown, and I’m really looking forward to writing this one starting in October. There’s so much great stuff that I’ve planned which makes me very happy that I took a minute and reset after last year.
• Moving the starting point to Jason’s return is really letting me work in the teens better as well as open up a more interesting revelation of Jason’s identity and set up other characters.
• I don’t know yet how long Book 1 will be, but I should know by the end of the week.
• I’m not that nervous about going into the first draft of this while working on a beta draft of Book 4. I’ve learned a lot about my process, and I’ve also learned to be very patient with myself in the first few weeks of an alpha draft. I don’t need to write a chapter every day — which was the pressure I was putting on myself back in April.