Hi everyone!

Hope everyone is keeping their head above water. Just whatever you do, stay safe, hopefully, the end is in sight. I definitely hope so.

Fanfic Updates:

Clinging to Hope: Update on progress

Just a quick thank you to all your PM's and reviews! I am beyond floored by the recent response. I can't thank you enough.

Chapter 12 - Posted.

Update on Chapter 13/14.

My PC fried itself, and while I've since replaced it, my work was on that hard drive. That's what's taking so long, I'm waiting for the tech guy to call me back so I can pick it up and recover that chapter. I could rewrite it from memory, but it would be a terrible comparison and I know I'd forget vital details etc.

Please don't worry though, the second I get it, fingers crossed that data is safe, it'll be posted that night. Then comes the November chapter, (I won't lie, I goofed off in December), and this months chapter. That means the aim is to post Chapter 12, 13 and 14 by the end of this month like it was supposed to be.

That's about a week, if all goes to plan. Again my apologies.

Wish me luck!

Progress 20th August 2022 - January

The initial outline covered the entirety of 'Day 4' and I've mapped out at least 17 scenes. I know more will pop up as I go, lol. (I'm not talking about bullet points; I meant long serious, drawn out details, or I would just keep forgetting!) I won't make you guys wait for all of that obviously, so I'm breaking it up into 4 chapters, each expected to cover my usual average of 10k per chapter. Some may be slightly under that, or even slightly over. I know that's much longer than what people normally post, but I find each chapter has its own theme and ends naturally by itself. This fanfic has a certain depth and richness and I think longer chapters suit it better? Maybe it's just me, haha!

I don't generally dictate when a chapter ends, except in the case of this chapter outline. It was going on forever, so I knew I would have to break it up. I'm doing this because if I tried to cram that amount of work into one chapter or even two, it would still feel rushed and end up taking forever to post. so, 4 chapters it is.

That's me up to date on the progress of Clinging To Hope.

Siamese Surprise: On hiatus.

All Other stories are currently one-shots that I consider complete. I will not be adding chapters to any of them.

A Little About My Writing Process

When I started, I am ashamed to say, I made several critical errors. I wrote what I thought people would want to read, (cough... yaoi...), despite not being as into it as I should have been, as well as not actually understanding much of the topic. I also held chapters hostage for reviews, but thanks to a very irate reviewer, I learned very quickly that was a no-go. My ability to edit was appalling and I didn't understand the flow, or pacing, or even structure beyond having a beginning, middle, and end.

As my writing evolved thanks to the patience of several early betas, I started to pick up on all those areas where I was seriously lacking, ad it drove me to an entirely different extreme. I became an utter perfectionist. I started to spend months and years on a single chapter, only to lose my reader base's interest and loyalty. I also overused the word limit a little, describing every nuance where it was unnecessary and interfering with the flow.

So, today, I still fall back heavily on outlining and planning. This is no longer a case of perfectionism, rather in the process of adding chapters, I kept tripping myself up with plot points. previously completed chapters were conflicting with where the story was ultimately headed, so I stopped actively adding chapters. I sat and worked on backstories, character arcs, subplots, and making the best outline I could based on what I knew about the story.

That's where I am right now. I know how the story (CtH) ends, I have identified the main plot, six subplots, and elements related to the main plot. I have character arcs mapped out, but these plans aren't rigid like they would have been in the past, now there's wiggle room. The plan for the overall story is very basic.

When I finish a chapter, I go straight back to the notes and ask, "what happens next?". There are a few elements I address. Logical follow-on events that address the previous points made, (not just the previous chapter), then you get elements of the main plot or subplots popping up. Ideally, you want to address things that have happened, there's nothing worse than reading something for an author to forget all about it and leave something hanging when it's not concluded. You also want progression, something new happening to continue to keep the reader's interest. These new points allow you to tick things off the list of events that haven't happened. Some events happen slowly over time, you get a lot of scenes out of a single bullet point from your notes because characters can sometimes take only so much emotion or information in any given instance.

When writing, you find simple points from a notebook do several things on the page when you're typing. New ideas can mutate a plot, this can be great (it was that thing you needed to elevate the scene) or it can be exasperating, (the scene was perfect in your head and now it wants to do something you don't like). Sometimes you know exactly what needs to happen in a scene, but either you have no motivation to actually write it down, or no matter how hard you try, it's painful and just not happening. This is very frustrating, and even, demoralising. When you need a scene completed in order to move on to the next scene or chapter, having these problems just stalls the entire story, keeps readers waiting, and puts pressure on the writer which can lead to rushing and an ultimately sloppy scene/chapter.

I also stopped typing perfect scenes from the first word of a new document. I aim for sixty percent quality, not a hundred. I write the whole chapter, or whole scenes, and then move on. Then, I reread, see the problems, and zip back in. I do that repeatedly until I can read the whole thing and sit back ultimately pleased by having addressed the previously mentioned points, while also showing progression. Then, I edit and spell check, sometimes I have to fact-check canon spelling or events. That's a finished chapter, and we're right back to square one with the next.

If I wrote off the seat of my pants, the story could start great, get saggy or go nowhere. I can't tolerate the thought of that, and while it's a speedy process, I don't like it and it doesn't work for me. All I can do is apologise for the waiting that I do cause my readers, by using the process that I have evolved which works for me. I have three children with many needs, and that takes most of my day. There are nights I'm so tired from doing that, I couldn't write anything legible to save my life.

Hopefully, you can see the process now, and understand where my time actually goes. I have resolved to write faster, and I'm actively devoting more time to the story. I want the chapters to come out faster, while still taking the time each chapter needs, but I don't want to waste anyone's time. Bear with me, and I will get the story done.

On a completely unrelated topic, I have some very good news... I just had my third child and I'm guaranteeing it'll also be the last, haha. Baby Erika was born on 26th October 2021!

A Little About Me

I'm a busy mother of three in my thirties. If I'm not cooking, I'm cleaning. If I'm not cleaning, I'm supervising kids that like to pick on each other all the time. If I'm not doing that, I'm working full-time from home for a customer service company on the health insurance renewal account. I live in Galway and my family lives in Limerick, which is about an hours travel for them. Only one of them has a car, so it's not often we get to see each other, but we do our best. I will also let you in on something I only found out in the last three years. My eldest is 6 now and over the course of the las two years, her behaviour at school has been atrocious, so we had her tested to rule out if there was anything up. It turns out she has ADHD just like her dad, and as they were testing her, I asked to be tested as well because going down the list of issues, I basically had all of them. It was very jarring to me to find out I had gone undiagnosed my whole life. I find it very hard to stay on topic and complete projects without getting constantly distracted by something in my life which is more immediate. I have begun to work on those, which is primarily why I started setting myself deadlines and sticking to them.

Please don't think I'm letting months go by without working on a chapter just because I'm lazy or something like that. I love the story I'm working on and I am working on it every chance I get. Some moments, I might jot down an idea, sometimes, I get a whole scene done, and sometimes I stare at a page trying to think of the right word. Sometimes I obsess over something a character said and I hate it, but can't think of anything better. Such is life, and I'm doing my best. I continue to thank you for your patience and support.

Fanfiction and Disney plus are among my only hobbies I still have time for, lol. I love Guns n Roses and I had a chance to see them live in Dublin on the 28th of June. I was 20 feet away from Slash and in total heaven. He is incredible live!!! I also love Nightwish, and was unable to travel to France to see them at Hellfest. It's still on my bucket list, so hoping to do that sometime in the near future.

Anywhoozers... I shall keep cracking on and wish you all the very best in life!