Chapter 8 !

Adventures in Country Music
I have been listening to a lot of country music playlists while putting together some scenes of UL3 and country music is so interesting. The top tracks are oddly male dominated and they're either of the bro-country variety about trucks, girls and partying or the more older school kind about...girls, family and 'mureica.

There are a lot of gems, but I have to share this one because I can't really work it into the serial. It's just so on the nose of that cloyingly sweet, family, patriarchal sense of some country music. I honestly don't know if I hate or love this song for being what it is but I thought I'd share it as sort of background music for this post:





 

Never Make Plans
So, I've kind of fallen off a cliff with my writing. I surpassed my outline and I'm just kind of free falling into the next couple of chapters that I'm writing. That said, these chapters are getting in the 5-8K length. I'm still trying to keep to my outline but it's getting tricky....


I Did A Thing
I've kind of run out of things to blog about for this last chapter so I guess I'll reveal that I did a thing a while ago. I was listening to my Discover Weekly playlist and I heard a song I liked so I put it in it's own playlist call...V3. I don't know what is means or what it will lead to but I do have something kind of scratched out. That is to day if there are things you want to see leave them in the comments and I'll think about it.

Raleigh Cameron
I'm not saying he is going to show up, but here is Raleigh's picspiration...except all bald.

 
Chapter 8
Rhett is back from Hawaii and he and Juliana settle into a life together, but Rhett is starting to feel claustorphobic about returning to a life in Freeport.

CHAPTER 8
PLAYLIST

-1- Dirt of Your Shoulder by Jay-Z
-2- Sound of Silence by Kinna Granis (I am in love with her voice)
-3-  Gravity by AJ Rafael and Gardiner Sisters 
-4- Half of Me by Rihanna

I Have A Confession...

You: Wow, Shawna it's been a while

Me: Yeah, I kind of have writer's block and lost my way and just can't finish a chapter--

You, shoving breadsticks into your purse: No chapters ? Okay, well sorry, but I gotta go--

Me: I mean I'm struggling with  chapter 14 &15 and we're only on chapter 9

You, slowly putting breadsticks back in basket: Um...Is there a new chapter today ?

Me: Of course there is !

You: So, how many chapters is in this thing anyway ? And why are you creating new playlists on your Spotify ? And how has Lile done basically two serials in the time it takes you to do one ?

Me, shoving cheddar bay biscuits into my purse: Sorry, I gotta go--

You: Wait, did you bring cheddar bay biscuits to an Olive Garden ?

*Me, shoving breadsticks into purse too and fleeing into the night*




CHAPTER 8
I had kind of mentioned that parts of Chapter 8 were from OHG and I was going to post some pieces of it, but it's actually not that interesting. This next chapter also has some parts from OHG, and I think those would be more interesting to post.

I think in the comments a lot of you were speculating about the health of Juliana and Rhett's relationship and I just wanted to clear a couple of things up.

1. Juliana is mentally ill and has been since UL2 and Rhett knows this so he is a little more protective of her, but more importantly....

2. Spoiler Alert: Rhett Clark is an asshole.  I noticed this while re-reading all of Rhett's POV in UL and UL2. Rhett was never really romantic lead material in the UL-verse, I think some of that romanticism of him may have just been from comments or something.  He cares about Juliana and isn't like MRA level of asshole, but he's...learning. Which is why he does things like get in a fight with his best friend. We will defintely explore some of this.

CHAPTER 9
Rhett secretly meets with Raleigh Cameron to see why Juliana didn't get any money from the UL settlement. He discovers Mr. Reese got 6,000 in settlement and  500,000 from selling his land, but never gave any to Juliana.

Juliana's Dad still refuses to visit or accept her marriage and she hasn't seen him in 6 months. She also hasn't told him she's pregnant. Now, she's headed to Hartford for a few days to repair their relationship and hopefully understand why her Dad has been hiding money from her.

Chapter 9
Playlist

-1-  Watch Me by Paul McDonald and Nikki Reed
-2- Sweater Weather by Kina Granis
-3- Happy by VSQ
-4- Rosary by Troy

Courthouse Wedding Asthetic

Long Time No See
You guys I was having a TIME untangling chapter 12 and that's why I haven't been posting as much. I feel like I have more direction now and now I'm untangling the next chapter.





Courthouse Weddings
So, in the last chapter Juliana and Rhett get married in a courthouse because Rhett takes an assignment in Hawaii. Eric and I both come from fairly religions families, but I really wish we didn't because courthouse weddings look really cute !

By the way the bride in this last photo is a wedding planner and their wedding looked so trendy, they must be a lot of fun.

Wedding Dress Inspy

 Sweater Inspiration (but white w/ glitter)

And shoes

 













(This section was written a while ago but is still mostly true) 
In the Trenches with Chapter 12
So, I know these chapters have been kind of short, most of them are between 3,000-4,000 words, but I am currently slogging through chapter 12 right now and it is going to be atleast 6,000 - 8,000 words and I think 13 might be too. As the official Lile stan (come at me bro) I know how awesome long chapters can be !

Chapter 7 
Juliana moves to Freeport with Rhett and they began to plan a wedding. But when Rhett takes an assignment in Hawaii they have a quicky wedding in a courthouse ...*fadetoblack, fadetoblack, fadetoblack* two weeks later Juliana is pregnant and Rhett is off to Hawaii.

Chapter 7
Playlist
-1- Anchor by Novo Amor
-2- Right by You by Jason Nozuka
-3- Shine by Benjamin Francis Leftwitch
-4- Bumpin' The Night by Florida Georgia Line

Gold Stars !

 So, as I'm doing some re-reading of UL and UL2 for this serial it's been fun to kind of go back and see where Lile and I started doing our little inside jokes and gags. Like for instance the first mention of paradox line (the actual line itself) was in 2009!

Same Name Game
When I put away OHG I was convinced I would never pick it up again and I put it out of mind. Lo and behold I did such a good job of that I didn't realize I'd been re-using names. Here are the ones so far.

Zane / Zayn
In OHG/UL3 there is Marine Zane Brooks and in HMLIS there is Zayn, Corinne's roommates' boyfriend.

Hallie/Haley
So in OHG/UL3 it's pronounced Hal-e where as in V3 it's pronounced Hey-lee

Daniel
So Daniel is the name of Juliana's dad and Haley's brother-in-law

GOLD STARS
I had a lot of fun giving out gold stars so I am going to be giving out gold stars to any comments that catch on to something that is more subtext than text or if you get at some twist (not that there are any big twists). I'm not trying to gamify the comments, but it was so fun to do last post. I also may need to work on a cute gold star image....

Recap
41 days after the Memorial's Day cookout Rhett comes to Conneticut and asks Juliana to marry him. She says yes and moves to Louisiana to plan the wedding and help his mom open her salon. It's all going well until Rhett gets a two  month assignment in Hawaii. Afraid something may happen to him while he is away they decide to get married at the courthouse.  Now Juliana just needs to tell her Dad...

CHAPTER 6
Chapter 6
Playlist
-1- I Will Let You Go by Daniel Ahern
-2- Sweet Child Of Mine by Guns N Roses
-3- Yours by Ella Henderson
-4- Turn Me On by Nora Jones

Clark Family and Co Round Up

Ugh, so I stupidly just deleted this post, so let's try again....

Clark family picspiration roll call ! 

Cody Grady, 23
In both OHG and UL, Cody's last name is Turner but I am just now realizing this so...retcon !

Zane Brooks, 22

Ms. Jocelyn Clark, 46 

It's mostly about the hair.

Savannah Clark, 14

Deacon Clark, 41

Macy Sullivan, 27
She doesn't show up much, but I so clearly saw her as Marcia Cross

Chapter 3
I wrote about this in the A/N, but the idea for this chapter is what got me thinking about OHG. I don't know why I didn't write it, but I left it in as a throwaway line:

I was not happy when we had to part ways after his graduation party. He had to go back to Louisiana and I was stuck in Hartford. It seemed to be a bearable existence until he let me visit him Memorial’s Day  a few weeks later.

I can’t remember the weekend but, I remember crying on the bus the whole way back home. I didn't want to leave.

Chapter 4 and 5
I wasn't originally going to do a double chapter post, but let's keep the story moving....


Recap
Just out of jail Juliana is waitressing at a restaurant and adjusting to life with her Dad in Connecticut. She gets an invite to Freeport, Louisiana to spend the weekend with Rhett Clark where she goes to a family BBQ and sees how he's moved on and meets his friends and family

Chapter 4
Playlist
-1- Distant Sures- by  The Cave Singers
-2- Fall  for You by Leela James
-3- Let it Go by James Bay


Chapter 5
-1-  Hear Your Heart by James Bay
-2-  Fast Car by Ray Montbleau

Picspirations: Nicholas Hoult in Good Lighting

Chapter 1
So, chapter 1 was written when I was about six chapters in. As I was doing research about halfway houses for other parts I ended up reading a lot of exposes and white papers ( I go down the craziest rabbit holes) that basically said Halfway houses--particularly Florida ones-- are horribly run, dangerous and don't work. I'd originally envisioned halfway houses as better than jail but when I realized that wasn't true I wanted to write a little bit of that. The thing about OHG is it completely ignores Juliana's experiences in jail.


On a happier note....I think it's picspiration time! Here's the thing about UL. It's almost impossible for me to find picspirations but I thoght I'd try to get as close as I can. I'll do more characters as we are introduced to them.

Juliana Reese, 21

 I imagine a young Rose McIver. Juliana's been through a lot so I mostly see her as Rose McIver in The Lovely Bones movie.

 Rhett Clark,  22

If I don't update soon just assume I'm looking up Nicholas Hoult pictures. Although he is one of those people who looks different depending on the lighting.

 

Now, this is how Hoult actually looked at 22

But in my head Rhett's a little more:

Oh, and I like this one because...Rhett has a 14-year-old sister and I like this pose for siblings.

  
Bonus picture

Daniel Reese, 66

Tessa Holiday, 42

I think that's all for now. I'll probably have more as we get into it.

Recap
Juliana struggled to survive in jails and halfway houses in Florida but now she's back in Connecticut with her Dad, Tessa and their daughter and working at a diner. She's  invited to a Memorials' Day party in Freeport, LA to see Rhett Clark. A boy she hasn't seen in three years...

(Okay, I lied about the double chapter thing. These chapters are longer than I thought)

Playlist
Chapter 3
-1- My Own by Whitaker
-2- Take Me There by  Rascal Flatts
-3- House Party by Sam Hunt
-4- Stay Alive by  Jose Gonzales
-5- Out of The Woods by Ryan Adams

Let's Go !

So, I've kind of been away longer than I planned and this post has been sitting in draft for a while so it's a little outdated. But  I've been working on UL and I have a lot of short chapters to get us started so let's go.... 




That Outline

I'm just learning the art of the outlines and a while ago Lile asked me to show a little bit of my outlines and since I can't show my UL outlines I thought I'd share some of my Vice outlines. The UL ones are a little bit more detailed, but you'll get the basic ideas. This is what the outline for the last few chapters of Compulsion looked like:

The colors represent the POVS...and the MK is for Maxwell's storyline and the AG is for Alan's storyline. Although...looking back on it I'm not sure why Maxwell's is MK and not KM.

I mentioned I have two outlines for UL. The second outline is more of a timeline because as I said we are going to be doing some time jumping.
 
United Light Chapter 1 & 2 
We are going to start off with quite a few double chapter posts because we have some shorties ! We are now going to step back in time to a few weeks after the events of UL2 where Juliana has been sentenced for stealing evidence out of a police car (for Sawyer when he was making meth) and prostitution / soliciting sex online when she was trying to make money to pay Caine.

Playlist
Chapter 1
Dreamers by Isbells

Chapter 2
-1- You've Got Time by The Wind and The Willows
-2- Sink or Swim by Lewis Waston