Chapter 12 is out HERE (Nifty) and HERE (Literotica)
WE DID IT! Welcome to the halfway point!
This week has actually been pretty rough - just trying to scrape together some motivation has been a massive challenge. I'm making an effort to start cycling through my editing faster, so that I have time to work on other things - but also so that I'll be ready to edit a full novel in one go.
That'll be important for the thing I'm planning on writing in November. (Yep, that is the much anticipated rewrite of Perfection is Overrated - and by 'much anticipated' I mean I've mentioned that I'm going to rewrite and no one has told me not to yet.)
But my caveman brain is NOT on board - more work, done faster? Seems like a bad deal to him. He just wants to crawl under a tree and sleep. Maybe chase wild animals. Maybe bash someone with a club. BUT ANYWAY...
Chapter 12 is the last chapter with a corresponding Another Day entry, so after this, we've fully exited 'rewrite' territory, and are officially into new ground. It's all already been written (which I feel like I talk about a lot, but not everyone will read every ramble of mine, so I feel it's important to keep mentioning) so there's definitely a plot in here that's unfolding (and the responses, as far as I can tell, are kind of where I want them to be for that to work.)
Finishing the whole thing is obviously massively important to me, because I want to provide myself with closure that 17-year-old me (who started writing this story) never got to have from finishing it. I was a pantser back then (writing term) and I'm a plotter (or maybe a plantser) now, so I definitely approached this rewrite differently than I did the original project. I knew what I wanted to do, and I structured my story to get me there.
But getting to this point - having done as much (or, let's be real, by word-count and care-of-craft, MUCH MORE) than young me, I've reached an important milestone. The first half of the story was for him - Young Bradley. But the part that comes now is for me - Old Bradley. I get to finish what he started, but I also get to have a full novel - which will be a pretty nice feeling.
Anyway, if you've read this far, thank you, and if you're one of the handful of people who reads my blog - I'm curious about you, and you sort of should say hi and tell me if you get anything out of this. (Because at the moment I'm writing these for me, but there seem to be a non-zero amount of you paying attention... which is cool, but intriguing!)
Notes on Differences: (OMY vs. AD)
Okay... So I'm not even going to go into an in-depth comparison (which will only bring me pain, and this is supposed to be a happy day) but the obvious thing here is this chapter in Another Day is sort of a morning-after vibe with Jay and Jared (which was Jamie's old name) and in One More Year it's also a morning after, but the only thing that happened is that Jay gave drunk Jamie a place to crash. But in terms of the chain of events in both stories, they're perfectly lined up - the day after Jamie drunkenly stumbles into Jay's room. So that's pretty great, no?
That whole situation felt a bit light on consent in an icky way, so I'm just happy to get rid of it. Also, Young Bradley had some weird imaginings - Jay drinking on his own? Pfft. I was too personally puritanical to have even touched alcohol at that point, so what we see there was some sort of weird, idealised fantasy about being a dark and tortured soul. Cheer the hell up, kid.
Also, after the Eric thing, I wanted to give Jay something nicer than a drunken mistake as a consolation prize. I'm not promising a happy ending for Jay and Jamie, but I just thought the way stuff happened between the two was better this time around. Two bros (not) in a hot-tub chilling (not) 5 feet apart because they're (not) not gay. (That's a meme, and if you don't get the reference, I'm sorry, but I was dying to work it in somewhere.)
If you've enjoyed these sections (for whatever reason) I do have bad news - Another Day is officially out of chapters at this point, so I won't be doing this anymore. I've enjoyed looking back at my old work (despite how cringe-inducing it can be sometimes) but it'll be nice to look forward.
Although, damn - this has been a pretty reliable crutch for giving these blog-posts some length when I otherwise don't have any, so I'm going to need to learn to go without it now. OH WELL.
Beta Readers:
Instead of tacking a lengthy appeal on the end of each blog post, I've actually made a page for this, so if you want to Beta Read, check it out HERE.
Thanks to my current Beta Readers. Especially Dora, who continues to persevere with me, and make time for me in her schedule.
Thanks so much if you've been reading this story! The plan continues, and I'll still be putting these out at a pace of one-a-week for the foreseeable future! Feel free to say hi in the comments, as always.
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