Dreamer's Sanctuary

Sadly, summer is winding down, and so is Heroic Measures.  Chapter 9 is up!  When I outlined this story, I thought this chapter would be the most boring one to write because it’s the least dramatic one since the crash, and you all know I prefer writing drama… but lo and behold, I think this may be my favorite chapter of the whole story!  I hope you’ll enjoy it, too.  Thanks, as always, for your feedback!

I hope so ’cause it’s Thursday, and that means more Heroic Measures!  Chapter 8 is up, and you’re finally going to get an update on Howie and the other guys. Enjoy!

Now that it’s August, I’m getting into back to school mode, which means my productive writing summer is sadly winding down.  The good news is that I finished Heroic Measures back in June, so it doesn’t matter that I’m not writing right now!  The weekly updates will continue until the last chapter is posted.  There are just three more after this one!

By the way, I am still dealing with spam issues on the site.  If anyone has trouble leaving a comment or registering an account, please let me know.  I’m trying to find a good plugin that will block/delete the spambots without accidentally blocking/deleting real readers! I apologize if you’ve had any trouble. Thanks, as always, for reading and leaving feedback! I hope you know how much it means to me. Your comments are the light I look forward to the midst of these dark and scary times. I hope my stories are a good reminder that things could always be worse, LOL.

Thanks so much for the love for Heroic Measures!  I look forward to Thursday nights because of you fantastic readers.  It’s not much fun to post fanfic when it doesn’t get any kind of feedback.  Thanks for reading, taking time to comment, and not letting me scare you away with my gross TMI details. 😛

Chapter 7 is up!  This is the chapter that sparked my end-of-story writing streak this summer and got me to finally finish this novella after working on it off and on for eight years. It was a fun one to write, and hopefully you’ll enjoy reading it.

Before I go, I want to put in a quick plug.  Taylor from the Backstreet’s Back Podcast started a new Twitter page called The Perfect Fans to spotlight the creative side of the fandom:  fan fiction, fan art, music, and more. We have a ton of talent in our fandom, and this is a great way to lift each other up at a time when so many people would rather tear each other down. Click the link to check it out, follow her page, and send her a DM if you are interested in having your work featured.

Thank you so much to everyone who took time to read the monster of a chapter I posted last week and give feedback, whether it was here, AO3, Twitter, or wherever.  I really appreciate it!

We’re halfway through through Heroic Measures!  Just when one cliffhanger was resolved, I left you off with another one.  So much fun! 😉  You’ll find out more in Chapter 6, which has been posted.

This chapter wins the award for the most awkward, cringe-worthy one I wrote in this story.  I will warn you, the first scene gets kinda gross.  I went back and forth with myself about whether or not to include certain details, but at the end of the day, I decided to go for realism and not gloss over the parts that made me uncomfortable.  If it makes you uncomfortable too, it’s supposed to – imagine how the characters feel.  (Sorry, AJ.)  Also, kudos to the real healthcare workers who do this kind of stuff every day.  Researching/reading/writing about it is one thing; actually doing it is another!  There is a reason I didn’t choose a career in medicine, even though I considered it.  You have my utmost respect!

On a different note, those of you who are longtime ER fans like me may have already recognized the influence my favorite episode, “Hell and High Water,” had on this story.  For those who aren’t as familiar with the show, I want to say this:  if you only ever watch one episode of ER, make it that one.  Season 2, Episode 7.  It’s a shining moment for George Clooney’s character, Dr. Ross, and an all-around riveting episode.  The details are different, but Brian and Nick’s storyline was definitely inspired by elements of that episode.

Last thing:  I have been inundated with spam accounts registering on the site lately, so I installed some new plugins and cleaned house by manually deleting hundreds of spam users.  I hope I didn’t accidentally delete any real visitors, but if I did, I apologize.  Please register again if you want to use your site account to leave a comment on any post or chapter.  If I recognized your name as one of the awesome readers who does leave feedback, or if you had a reference to BSB in your username or email, I didn’t delete you.

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Thanks so much for the support on Twitter for my last post.  I love Brian, and I hate conflict and confrontation, so it was difficult for me to speak out against his wife.  As soon as I clicked the publish button, I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of him possibly seeing my post.  I typically try to fly under the radar, but as I’ve seen many people say, “Silence is compliance.”  After days of feeling conflicted over this, I couldn’t stay quiet anymore. In the past couple days, Leighanne has made her Facebook page private and protected her tweets, which at least makes it so only her friends and followers will see her posts. She has also expressed a willingness to have a conversation with some of the fans who respectfully called her out, saying it’s something she’s been discussing with Brian. I consider this a small victory for the BSB Army.

Speaking of Brian…  A few of my fellow Brian girls were talking on Twitter this week about how we wish Brian had a fan club, so we decided to start an unofficial one of our own in the form of a forum for Brian fans.  If you would like to join us in drama-free discussion about all things Brian, head over to the Brian Littrell Fan Forum!

And finally, for those who have been reading Heroic Measures, you’re finally gonna get some answers about Brian.  I know I left you hanging last week, still wondering about his fate.  Hopefully Chapter 5, which is up now, will help make up for that!  This is the first chapter I wrote during quarantine, and it’s more than triple the length of any of the previous chapters, so it’s like you’re getting three chapters for the price of one.

This is the perfect point in the story for me to give a shoutout to the writers of ER.  Writing this story was a lot harder than I thought it would be because of the level of research it took to get things “right.”  I put that word in quotes because I’m sure it’s not perfect, and neither is ER, but as far as TV medical dramas go, that show comes pretty damn close.  I’ve read articles and watched videos with real doctors reviewing the various hospital shows on their realism, and they always rank ER near the top.  As I researched for this chapter in particular, I made a point of looking up what was considered best practice in 1995 because I know the guidelines have changed since then.  Reading journal articles from the early nineties and then watching ER episodes made around that same time, I was able to appreciate just how right the show got it most of the time.   And not only did they nail the medical info, but the way they wove it so seamlessly into the action of each scene was masterful.  I tried my best to emulate them, but it was definitely not as easy as the ER writers always made it look.  Kudos to them!