Tag: “The Support Group Meets on Wednesday”

June Writing Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

Did I finally finish the first round of revisions on The Support Group Meets on Wednesday?

Yes. Yes I did.

It only took four months.

There was a time when that first round would have only taken me a month, but I fear those days are long gone. I am no longer as good as I once was.

But four weeks or four months, it’s still finished, which means this month I’ll be working on something new. Finally.

This month, I’m going in a completely new direction. I’m going to be working on a bunch of Rerun Junkie posts. It’s been ages since I’ve written one, and not for lack of ideas either. It’s because every time I think about doing one, I think about the research involved and it ends up getting shelved because other projects I’m working on take priority. Understandable, but the Rerun Junkie thing was once a passion project of mine and it’s kind of a downer to realize that it’s been shoved to the side due to reasons.

Let’s see what happens when I put my full focus (or what’s left of it) on this again.

Speaking of focus, zero in on Episode 5 of Murderville: The Coldest Case which goes live on May 12th. $1 an episode lets you read. $2 an episode gets you a sweet bonus every other month. Become a patron and catch up on an old murder and a new romance.

Episode 13 of Book ’em, Danno is out. Season one is done and season two is looming on the horizon. The show will take a brief hiatus in June. I’ll still be working on it, but look for Episode 14 and the start of season two to go live in July. Plenty of time for you to catch up and count for yourself how many times Steve McGarrett says “Book ’em, Danno.”

May Writing Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

Oh, hey, am I still revising The Support Group Meets on Wednesday? You bet I am.

Unfortunately, my hopes of getting it done last month weren’t realized. I fell about 30 pages short of finished (and it’s likely more because this part of the novel requires a lot of rewriting). Productivity has been hard to come by since the pandemic started here and I ended up being incredibly busy with library and podcasting projects during the last couple weeks of April. Which meant that revising took a bit of a backseat. I might have worked on it most days, but many of those days I only managed to get a few pages done.

Such is the way life is right now.

The goal is to finish revising it this month, which I should get do.

(Please, Universe, let me get it done.)

And if I happen to get it done before the month is out…I have no idea what I’m going to work on next. It’s not that I’m hurting for projects. One might say that I have too many waiting for something to happen. But, I can’t deny that right now motivation is in short supply.

I guess I’ll just play it by ear, as they say.

Good thing we have Murderville: The Coldest Case to keep us happy. Episode 5 goes live on May 12th. $1 an episode let’s you read. $2 an episode gets you a sweet bonus every other month. Become a patron and get some guaranteed entertainment.

And I always seem to have the motivation to produce episodes of Book ’em, Danno. Episode 13 covering the last episode of season 1 will go live at the end of the month, but in the meantime, check out episode 12, which covered “Not That Much Different” and “Six Kilos”. Steve undercover is a joy not to be missed.

April Writing Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

March was one hell of a year, huh? Yeah, it felt like it. I was already struggling with some mental health issues when the Rona came in full force and I found myself sanitizing every book that came into the library before we ended up having to close to the public due to shelter-in-place. That happened on March 17th and I’ve been at home since (with pay because our board loves us and looks after us), but perhaps unsurprisingly I haven’t been as productive as I’d like to have been. The stress right before we closed and right after the shelter-in-place used up most of my energy. It was a push for me to get episode 11 of Book ’em, Danno out on time and I really doubted that I’d get it done.

So, revisions on The Support Group Meets on Wednesday will continue. I have about one hundred pages of the manuscript left. Unfortunately, it’s also the section that will probably take the most re-writing. Ideally, I’d like to get the revisions done this month, but the way things have been going…

I’ll also be doing episode 12 of Book ’em, Danno. Back to the usual grind of covering two episodes, so it should be easier for me to get it done this month providing I don’t procrastinate. Stop laughing. Only one more episode and season 1 will be done. Wild, huh?

I know April is poetry month and I usually write a poem a day for it, but I think I’m going to take a break from it this year. You may all breathe a sigh of relief.

And while you’re relieved, why don’t you check out episode 4 of Murderville: The Coldest Case, which will go live on the 14th? $1 an episode lets you read, $2 an episode gets you a sweet bonus every other month. Like this month on the 28th. So become a patron and get your jollies.

Don’t forget to check out episode 11 of Book ’em, Danno. It covers three episodes, a regular episode and a two-parter. A longer episode, but since we’re all safe inside, you’ve got time to indulge. Feel free to like, heart, favorite, subscribe, share, and otherwise show a little love to my little show. I do appreciate it.

March Writing Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I regret to inform you that my March writing projects are the same as February’s. I will continue to revise The Support Group Meets on Wednesday because my days of revising a novel-length manuscript in a month are pretty much over. I got addicted to the self-care practice of not driving myself crazy and stressing myself out over trying to finish something that I could take my time with. I can take my time with this. It’ll be okay.

I do admit that it’s starting to weigh on me that I haven’t published something, traditionally or self, in quite a while. There’s this growing niggle about it in the back of my brain. There was a time when I was putting out at least one new title a year. Now, I think the last time I published anything was back in 2018 when Come to the Rocks came out (edit: I totally forgot that Take a Bite came out after that…dumbass me). Sure, Murderville continues, but does that count? Not really.

I think part of my trouble is that I’m still struggling to find an ideal writing/day job/podcasting balance, so my output of anything hasn’t been nearly what I would like. I haven’t mastered the shifting priority status required to get it all done efficiently.

I imagine that I will eventually fall to the pressure to produce once again. But until I succumb, I’ll enjoy being able to work without that self-imposed stress.

Speaking of Murderville, which isn’t at all stressful, episode three of The Coldest Case goes live on March 10. Don’t miss out! Become a patron! $1 an episode let’s you read and $2 an episode gets you a sweet, sweet bonus every other month.

Also, the latest episode of Book ’em, Danno went live just a couple of days ago. Be sure to give that a listen and give some love to not only me and the show, but also my super awesome guest, Dan Budnik. After all, there wouldn’t be a podcast dedicated to me rambling on about a fifty year old show without him. Which reminds me, episode 11 should be out before the end of the month. So, stay tuned.

February Writing Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I took it easy in January, only outlining a couple of non-fiction projects and working on episode 9 of Book ’em, Danno. Fun fact about that. If you give me all the time in the world to do a podcast ep, I’ll still be flailing to finish editing it the night before my self-imposed deadline. Go figure.

The two non-fiction projects are outlined, one a little better than the other, but at the very least they both have a coherent form to them so in the event I actually decide to work on them, I have a solid starting place for both.

But I won’t be starting them this month. Instead, I’ll be revising The Support Group Meets on Wednesday. When I looked over the projects list for the year, that’s the one that really jumped out at me. After resting for a couple of months, it’s primed to be revised and I’m really looking forward to getting back into that world. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to say that.

It’s also been a while since I’ve been able to say that the second episode of a season of Murderville will be going live, but that will be happening this month, too. Episode 2 of Murderville: The Coldest Case will go live on February 10th. It’s only $1 an episode to read. $2 an episode gets you a sweet bonus every other month, like the one happening on February 24th. So don’t hesitate to become a patron.

Episode 9 of Book ’em, Danno went live on January 24th. An out-of-the-norm episode that covered season one’s “Face of the Dragon” and the pilot episode of the 2010 reboot. Why? Well, special things are happening for the next episode, which should go live at the end of this month. In the meantime, listen, review, rate, fave, star, heart, share, and enjoy on Soundcloud and iTunes.

NaNoWriMo 2019 Winner!

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I hit 50,000 words on November 17th and finished the first draft of The Support Group Meets on Wednesday on November 21st. Final word count was about 54,000 words, which isn’t too bad. I’m already thinking of revisions. Of course, I’m going to sit on it for a while before I go down that road. No telling what some time and a fresh read will bring.

Most days, the words came pretty easily. The hang-ups were usually me getting started or not getting distracted by social media. I think all but one day I was able to get my word count in before my day job shift started. I was lucky. The story flowed really well. Any issues I had were me getting in my own way, like always.

One thing I’ve noticed in the last few NaNos in which I’m writing an actual novel and not a couple of novellas is that the first drafts are getting better. I’ve got a better understand of the story, even if I don’t have the most exact outline. My first wins were due to very specific outlines that I followed. Those manuscripts usually needed a lot of revision, but that bit of hand holding helped me get the confidence I needed to know I could get the job done. They gave me the base to build on to do a better job of crafting a first draft. They helped me get a better feel for what the story is and how to get it down on the page.

There are still things I struggle with. I have yet to successfully execute a B-plot in a first draft. And even after all of these years, description is something that usually happens in the revisions. I put some key things in during the first draft, but never enough. Some people put too much; I’ve always been the opposite.

The challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days is no longer a challenge for me. It hasn’t been for a while. Now the challenge of each NaNo is small and more specific. It involves challenging myself to do better, to write a better first draft, to work on my writing weaknesses.

Hopefully…someday…it’ll pay off.

November Writing Projects–This Year’s NaNo

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

It is once again that time of year in which I torture myself by writing 50,000+ words in 30 days. This year I’m going back to writing a novel.

This year’s NaNo project is The Support Group Meets on Wednesday. I’ve already written it as a short story (which is really just like a bad first chapter) and it was my entry in the script writing contest last year. So I’ve already got a synopsis and the first fifteen pages of a script for it. And maybe one day I’ll get around to finishing that script.

But in the meantime, I really do want to get this idea out in its entirety in some form (really, it would make a good script or novel) and I think it will be make a good NaNo project. I like the idea, I’m interested in it, and I think it’s hearty enough to get me to 50,000 words without much trouble.

Provided I can be productive, of course.

If all works out like usual and I’m done before Thanksgiving, I’ll get back to revising (Vampires) Made in America. I didn’t finish it last month (I didn’t think I would), but I’ve only got less than 100 pages left to revise.

I probably won’t get it finished before the end of this month, either.

Maybe before the end of the year.

The official promo for Season 4 of Murderville goes live for patrons this month. So become a patron and don’t miss out on the next Munsterville mystery and who will be solving it starting January 2020.

Episodes 5 and 6 of Book ’em, Danno went live last month. I’ll do my best to get another episode out this month, but since I got behind and never really caught up and now it’s NaNo, I can make no promises. Didn’t I warn you about this? I believe I did.

April Writing Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

Last month I wrapped up the first round of revisions on The End of the (Werewolf) Curse and wrote the first draft of a short story called “The Support Group Meets on Wednesday”, as well as continued writing my one page a day for my experiment.

What I did not do was submit any short stories.

It’s the same ol’, same ol’. I look at what I have ready to submit and then I look at the markets that I find that are taking submissions and things don’t match up. At the very end of the month, I did find one story that kind of matched with one market, but I ended up re-writing the story to make it match better. So, I’ll submit it this month. And I’ll hopefully be able to submit another story or two to other places.

It also looks like I’ll be continuing my agent search with (Vampires) Made in America.

I’m not exactly sure, as I stare at my To Do List of Doom, what I want to work on this month. I think that’s a sign that I need to switch gears a bit.

Since April is National Poetry Month, I’m going to attempt to write a poem every day. I’ve done this before and I enjoyed myself. I have so many poem fragments around, I feel like this will be a good way to turn them into something while also shaking things up a bit.

I may also work on some non-fiction. I’ve got some possible projects that I’ve been speculating on and now might be the time to take a harder look at them.

Maybe I’ll work on a script since I have so many of them in various stages, too.

This month is my oyster, really.

Speaking of sea things…

Come to the Rocks is set to be released by NineStar Press on April 16th! Pre-order it and you get three days early. So order today! It’s like set it and forget it and then you get a surprise that will have your future self thanking your past self. Trust me.

Episode four of Murderville: The End Of goes live on April 10th. Become a patron for only $1 an episode. $2 patrons will get a bonus on April 24th. It’s never too late to get in on a killer good time.