Tag: Stateline

Unofficial NaNo 2024 Failure…Or Was It?

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

As I explained at the beginning of the month, I was prepared to do an unofficial NaNo for reasons, using it as an opportunity to put Stateline into its third form. Everything was on track to do the thing.

And then life went pear-shaped.

I’m not talking about the election fallout, though that did dampen my motivation somewhat. I was able to write through it back in 2016, though I admit my final first draft is one hell of a mess that I should revise, but don’t want to wade into because I know how much rewriting awaits me.

Anyway, no, this “make plans and God laughs” insult was leveled at me on a personal level. Eventually, I’ll get to the point where I can recap it, but until then, I need you to accept on blind faith that everything went to hell.

My initial reaction was to flail, to find a way to keep my word count up at all costs, forgo sleep and run myself into the ground to make it happen. That’s what good writers do. They persevere no matter what.

Blessedly, in the nick of time I remembered I’m not a good writer.

I also took a critical look at my motivations and circumstances. I had to ask myself why I was so intent on winning an unofficial NaNo, especially when I had nothing left to prove. I’d done twenty NaNos prior to this and won most of them. Without bragging, I can honestly say that I know how to write 50,000 words in a month and that I can do it. What do I gain by making myself write all of those words during an incredibly stressful period of my existence? More stress? When I already have too much? No thank you.

This led to a surprisingly mature and intelligent decision from myself. I know. I was shocked, too.

I decided that I was not going to write 1,700 words a day in order to ensure I wrote 50,000 words this month. Instead, I decided that I was going to write a manageable number of words every day this month. I thought it was going to be 500 words a day, and I managed that for a week, but then ended up reducing that to a minimum of 100 words a day. If I could write more than that, great. Otherwise, I wasn’t going to be beat myself up for slow progress.

So, I may not get 50,000 words written this month, but I will at least finish thirty days with some words written and I need to learn how to be happy with that when life decides to take it sideways.

In a curious, unexpected twist, there was also a poem-a-day challenge going on this month, which I decided to participate in because it would be easy to catch up if I missed a day or two. Once everything went tits up, I found that writing a poem to fit the day’s theme was a bright spot in all of the stress. It was something I looked forward to and made writing my words a lot easier.

It turns out that the challenges of November weren’t really of the writing kind at all.

Unofficial NaNo 2024

~ Kiki Writes ~ 1 Comment

As I mentioned previously, I’m still planning to write 50,000 words this month, but I’m not officially participating in NaNo.

This year’s project is called Stateline. And it’s actually been something I’ve been working on for over a decade (probably closer to two) in one form or another.

Stateline began its life as a short story that I wrote in my late 20’s. Three cousins -Julian, Silas, and Amelia- take a midnight trip to ditch the body of Julian’s neighbor and nemesis, Glen, across the the state line after Julian kills him in self-defense. This version of the story featured the protagonists being in their late 20’s and only scratched the surface of their issues, both with each other and with themselves.

In my 30’s, I reworked Stateline as a script. Or at least, a script treatment with only fifteen pages and a synopsis submitted to a contest, which placed fifth. This version aged the characters along with me, putting them in their 30’s and 40’s, creating more of an age difference and more of an affectionately antagonistic relationship between the cousins. The treatment also better defined the cousins’ issues and the bullying/harassment that led to Glen’s demise.

And now here I am in my 40’s, reworking Stateline as a novel. The characters are getting another age-up, putting them in their 40’s and 50’s, in part to keep them in line with me since that’s become something of a tradition now, but also because I find something intriguing and fun about middle-aged fuck-ups. Their issues have evolved and the trip to the state line has gotten longer. After all, bladders are different over 40.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this project translates to a novel form. I’m anticipating the first draft to be a short one, most likely finished in 30 days and not much beyond 50,000 words, but we’ll see. I may just surprise myself.

I think spending my November on a road trip with these three will be a good time.

June Writing Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ 2 Comments

Last month was fairly easy. All I had to do was revise Come to the Rocks and outline season 2 of Murderville. Which I did.

But that left me with time on my hands. Like two weeks worth of time on my hands. Which meant that I needed to find a way to occupy my time. So, I ended up revising “Take the 55 North” for the Simon & Schuster challenge on Prose and then revised and posted another, related story called “Items Left Behind”.

And then I proceeded to drive myself crazy trying to come up with something to enter into the Writer’s Digest Annual Contest. I ended up writing the first 15 pages of a new script called Stateline, which is a rewrite of a short story I did years ago and decided that was the winner. Okay, not winner, but the one that I felt had the best shot at earning my entry fee back.

And then I wrote a little short story that’s set in the Murderville universe that’s going to serve as the teaser for next season. But you’re going to have to wait (and pay) for that.

This month is all about writing Murderville season 2 and hopefully giving it a title.

And because that’s the only thing I have planned to do this month, you know what happens if I finish early.

It’ll look like May all over again.

The next episode of Murderville: The Last Joke, “Finding Chester R. Ewins”, goes live June 13th. Become a patron, catch up on the last five eps, and be all set to read the latest. Reminder that $2 patrons receive bonus content, so treat yourself!