Rooibos Chai

Progress Update 1/31/24

Added 2024-01-31 21:14:28 +0000 UTC

Hey everyone!

Just want to check in and let you know what I've been working on this month. My current focus is on Teenage Dirtbag, which I really dearly want to finish, but which has been lingering for a while and feels difficult to wrap up in a satisfying manner. In order to hopefully address some of the murky things that feel like they're getting in the way and blocking me on it, I went back to the start to reread and edit the beginning chapters.

This is really a story that I was working out as I went, and so several elements early on don't necessarily hold up or make a lot of sense in the bigger context, particularly related to how Noelle and Dustin act towards Josie at the very beginning. I want to keep the overall throughline and arc of everything as it is, but did some work to better have it all make sense and feel authentic, even taking into account later revelations in the back half of the story. It also allowed me to change around a couple of minor details that will come into play in the final end bits.

Right now, I'm working on writing a full extra scene in chapter 8 that's going to equate to maybe half a new chapter, and which introduces Josie's parents a little earlier (as that's another arc that needs smoothing out). I think then as I continue on, the editing work will get a lot lighter, other than a few exceptions. (I might tweak the other chapter with the stuff with Josie's dad a bit, too)

Once I get through this new chapter 8 though, I'll post the updated beginning chapters so you can see what I've done. Thank you for your patience with this whole project: when I stop and think how long it's been since I started this story, it makes me sad, in particular because I know a lot of people like it, and I really hate leaving you all hanging for so long. But because I care about it, I also want to do it right. All I can do is one step at a time, I guess.