Tag: writing

Writing–October Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

It’s getting into my writing busy season.

NaNoWriMo is coming up, which means I’ve got to start planning for it. The loose idea I’m kicking around right now is another Stanley novel called American Vampires. It would involve Stanley, Neda, and Nathan hunting down a trio of, well, American vampires that may or may not exist and may or may not be living by the unwritten vampire code (it’s all hearsay and Nathan’s the one doing most of the hearing and saying and since Stanley doesn’t trust Nathan, well…).

I’m also going to continue revising The World (Saving) Series. I finally got chapter one done after starting over. It’s still not great, but it’s a lot closer to what it needs to be and it’s good enough that I can move on.

Also on tap is more work on The Outskirts site. I need to, at the very least, get some bios up on some of the characters that inhabit the universe and try scratching out some ideas on some of their stories. I’m not expecting miracles when it comes to getting anything accomplished, but I need to get something done. It can’t just sit there.

And lastly (told you it was my busy season), I’ve got an idea for a memoir and I’m going to start jotting down some ideas for it. I have no idea if I’ll even write it, but it’s not going to hurt anything if I do some brainstorming on it. Who knows? If I decide not to do it, I’ll at least have something to come back to if I change my mind.

So, those are the writing projects on tap for October. I’ve got to get my butt out of low gear and into high.

Writing–Not Quite Ready For Primetime

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

Earlier this month I invited people to pay some money to purchase a book of my rejected short stories and then give me their honest feedback about why they thought I couldn’t get anyone to publish them. Thankfully, nobody took me up on the invitation.

Why am I thankful for that?

Because despite trying to make this self-published venture look as professional as possible, I still made a boneheaded mistake that would make me look like anything but professional.

In reviewing my file to prepare it to be acceptible to distribute on Amazon, I realized that I had messed up the numbers on the table of contents. Okay, maybe it’s not an earth shattering mistake, but it’s still a stupid one and one I’m really embarrassed about and thankful that I caught.

But I should have caught it sooner.

The mistake happened because I’d originally set-up the book with a different template. I decided to go with a different one and switched everything over, neglecting to change the page numbers on the table of contents.

Even better is that I actually have a physical copy of the book and have looked at several times, but never caught the mistake.

It’s possible no one would catch the mistake, but that’s not the point. The point is that it never should have gone out that way and the fault is all mine.

I was in too much of a hurry. There’s a ticking clock in my brain that’s always telling me how behind I am and that I need to hurry. The sooner I get this book out, the sooner I can promote it, the sooner I can get the word of mouth going, the sooner I can build a fanbase, the sooner I can…the sooner I can…

I got ahead of myself. I rushed and I paid the price. Thankfully, not a heavy one. I’m embarrassed, but not nearly as embarrassed as I would have been if more people had bought the book before I caught the mistake.

This incident once again reminds me that nothing good comes of me rushing through something and I’m at my most dangerous when I think I know what I’m doing.

Writing Wednesday–Writing Magazines

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I subscribe to two writing magazines: Writer’s Digest and The Writer. I love them both. Even when I was broke as a joke, I still found the money to renew my subscriptions.

I like reading them because they put me in a writing frame of mind. I don’t know why, but reading the articles gets my juices flowing. They make me want to write. More than once I’ve busted a slump by spending a day reading (or re-reading) issues.

It’s uncanny how at least one article in each issue pertains to something I’m dealing with in my writing world at that moment. If I’m thinking about writing about personal essays, the next issue might have an article about them. It’s like they know, man.

I’m terribly behind on my reading. I’ve got a stack of them on my dresser that I wasn’t able to get to while I was working my former day job. Slowly but surely, I’m catching up.

And as I catch up, I can feel the juices start to flow once again. It’s like rain after a drought. I’m feeling good.

Let’s hope some good stuff starts to grow.

Writing–My First (Self) Published Book!

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

Considering anyone can self-publish a book these days, this isn’t exactly something to crow about. But considering the issues I have that I outlined a few Wednesdays ago, I think it’s quite the step forward for me.

I decided to go through Lulu, as several of my friends have used their services with great satisfaction. After getting over the hurdle of signing up (it was a day long battle as I couldn’t get the cookie settings right on my laptop to get the registration to work; it was all solved after a frustrated tempertantrum, switching computers, and feeling like an idiot), I read through all of the instructions, learning how to properly format my document and all of that. My paranoia of getting things right and knowing what I was doing led me to watch the how-to tutorial five or six times just to reassure me.

I downloaded the template I wanted to use (actually, I downloaded two different ones because I wasn’t sure which would work better) and did some copy pasta to put my short story book together. It was actually pretty easy.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist editing everything one more time. All of the stories have been edited several times before, but the last thing I want to do is put out a sloppy product. I imagine, in inviting people to critique my work as I did, I’m going to get slammed over any grammar or spelling mistakes that managed to slip through. But for the most part, I wanted it to look as clean and professional as possible.

I think I’ve achieved that.

Content is another story and one of the big reasons I published this book of short stories. I want feedback from readers on why they think these stories didn’t get published. I’m opening myself up to some harsh criticism and, I’m sure, some down right bashing. But they’ll have to buy the book (or download) to achieve that. And at least I’ll know that someone is reading it.

If you want to be one of the readers, you can purchase Rejected: Nine Stories I Couldn’t Get Published here or check out the Rejected page for more information.

Any kind words of feedback would be appreciated. Any mean words, too. I can take it.

Bring it on.

Writing–September Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I’ve only got two main things going on this month.

First, I need to get the book of short stories, hereby titled Rejected: Nine Stories I Couldn’t Get Published, published. I’ve already started with the formatting bit of the process and I hope to have it all said and done by the end of the week.

Next week, I’ll go into more detail about both the project and the process.

Second, (and you should know this by heart now) I’ve GOT to get The World (Saving) Series revised. I know I acknowledged a setback with the revisions last month (namely having to go back to the beginning because I missed a few key scenes), but haven’t made much progress since. I think I thought about opening it up and looking at it a couple of times, but that’s about as far as I made it. No excuses, but I do have plenty of explanations (full blame on me) if anyone is interested in hearing them.

Yeah, I thought not.

Writing–Getting Over My Self-Publishing Issues

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I’ve decided that part of my plan with moving on from my current day job and creating my own day job is to self-publish a book of my short stories.

Now let’s be clear on a few points. I do not think I’m going to get rich doing this. I don’t even think I’ll be able to pay my bills doing this. This is by no means going to make me famous (and really, I don’t want to be; I wouldn’t mind my work being famous, but not me) and thereby leading me to money.

However, I do think that I’ll be able to sell enough books (physical and eBook form) to contribute to paying my bills. I think I’ll sell enough books to get my name circulating a little more as a writer. I think it will give me the boost I’ve been looking for.

I also think this will help me accomplish two things when it comes to writing and my writing career.

First of all, this will force me to be reasonably critical of my work. You know how they say that you are your own worst critic? I take that to an extreme. I take that to a paranoid level. Nothing is good enough and with a lot of my submissions, it either gets to a fit of frustration or a deadline that makes me say it’s good enough and send it off. Now that I’m being the editor, I have to look at my stories with a little bit of a kinder, yet no less objective eye.

Secondly, this will give me a chance to be more proactive at marketing myself. My checking account will depend on it and paying my bills has always been a good motivator for me. Promoting has really become a big part of a writers job now and I need to get over whatever hang-ups I have with it (and I have enough to make a seperate post on). Between the book and making and selling my own jewelry, I think I’ll have plenty of opportunity to get better at self-promotion.

And if I can stay focused and objective enough to make my product good enough for promoting, I think I’ll be in business.

Times, They Are A-Changin’

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

The reason why Monday Megalomania is posting so late (if you notice, it usually posts early in the morning) is because I had to put my notice in at my day job first.

Yeah, you read that right. I’m quitting my day job.

There are a lot of contributing factors, the biggest two being I’ve got another opportunity that I think will work out better for me and I’m not cut out for cube life.

The new opportunity is coming from my friend DaLette. I admit that I’ve been looking for an out from the day job for a few months. The steady money is nice, but I resented how little time and energy it left me to write. I initially thought to find a new day job, something part time, possibly in retail. But pickens have not improved since the last time I was looking for a day job. I was feeling stuck and pretty miserable.

However, DaLette was looking into starting her own business and after some research decided she’d keep doing things the way she’d been doing as a freelance landscaper/decorator, wedding officiator, and self-published author. One hell of a mixed bag, right? But it works for her and that’s what she told me. If I wanted to get out, I needed to make my own day job and freelance my strengths.

It took a few weeks for me to understand exactly what she was getting at. My gig is writing and I haven’t been too successful at making money at it. I couldn’t really think of anything else I had a shot at doing that would pay my bills and my bills need to be paid. Remember I made a mess of my finances pursuing this writing dream without a regular income and I’ve yet to really recover.

But the seed was planted in my head and I started looking in my life for things I could do to freelance, so to speak. It took a little time, but it finally hit me. One thing I’ve always loved to do and always been pretty good at doing is making jewelry. Bracelets have always been my specialty, but I’ve done necklaces, too. It occured to me that between friends, relatives, and the Internet, I could make a little money doing it.

With this thought in my head, I decided why should I wait to have someone publish my short stories? Why can’t I just publish my own? If I’m going to be selling my goods, I should sell the goods I really want to be selling, right? Right (I’ll be doing a post about self-publishing on Wednesday).

Now, I’m a very money-minded person (that’s a post for another Monday, too). I have to crunch numbers in order to look at the financial reality of what I’m getting into and I admit, I wasn’t thrilled with what I looked at initially. But after some thought, I figured at the very least it would get me some extra cash.

I started moving forward with these new projects, plotting how to use word of mouth and the Internet to my advantage. I like having a plan. It gives me goals. It gives me something to work toward. It makes me feel like I have some control.

And then DaLette stopped by.

Her freelancing has been going well. So well, in fact, that she needs some help. I offered to be that help before. I can be that help now. I’m going to be that help.

I figure that between my ventures and the work DaLette can offer me, I can keep my head above water in terms of paying the bills and have time to get back to seriously working on writing. It’s going to be tough and it’s going to be work, but it’s going to be work at something I WANT to do and I LIKE to do.

Yeah, that brings me to the second factor. I didn’t really like my job. Maybe about a month into the gig I realized that I didn’t like it, but couldn’t figure out why. There was no reason that I could put my finger on other than I’d rather have been writing. However, I felt that even though I didn’t like it, I could tough it out for a while for the sake of the paycheck. I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t a bad job.

In the past few months, that’s changed. The job has changed. I’m not happy with the change and I’m not happy with some other things that I won’t get into out of respect for the people that still work there. I’ve got some hang-ups with the way some things are done and some things are handled and there’s no reason for me to hang around in that environment and make things worse.

So, I’m getting out. After Labor Day, I will be free.

And back to working 7 days a week for whatever scratch I can make.

Writing–August Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ 1 Comment

You remember how I said that when revising long projects that I liked to go through the whole thing in one go and not go back until I was finished and how I was feeling the urge with The World (Saving) Series because it was taking me so long to finish?

Yeah, well, in starting Chapter 12 revisions, I realized there’s a couple of big scenes that are missing and if I’m going to get this chapter to work, I have to go back and work them into the previous chapters.

In short, Karma dropkicked me right in the butt.

So August will be spent doing revisions/rewrites on stuff I’ve already revised/rewritten in the hopes that I can move forward.

The likelihood of me being done with these revisions by the time NaNoWriMo rolls around just keeps getting slimmer and slimmer.

I’m not very good at this balancing act.

Writing–Conquering Chapter 11

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

It is with great relief that I can announce that I finally finished the revisions on chapter 11 of The World (Saving) Series. This would hardly be worth note if I hadn’t been stuck on it for two months (or longer).

It’s a small (very small) victory of sorts. It’s progress where there hasn’t been any for a while. It’s a small step back on the right track.

It makes me feel like a writer again, something I haven’t been feeling very much like lately. With the stress of the day job eating up my energy, and my committment to blogging both here and at Two Foulweather Fans, it feels I don’t have enough brain cells and minutes left to be creative. The writer’s doubt really settled in.

Finally getting through chapter 11 (as rough as it still is, the necessary story changes have been made and that was my main goal) relieved a little of that doubt and reminded me that I am a writer and that I can do this. It reminded me that I WANT to do this. That I want to put myself in the position to write full-time again and the only way I can do that is by writing part-time now and getting this book done.

I’m not saying that this book will make me a millionaire (wouldn’t that be nice), but I do know that I can’t even begin to sell it if it isn’t finished.

And I’m determined to get it finished.

Chapter 11 done. Bring on chapter 12.

Writing–The Other Projects

~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

The World (Saving) Series isn’t my only novel project I’ve got in existence. Due to some successful go rounds at NaNoWriMo as well as a pretty productive period during a six month period one year, I’ve actually got a few in various stages.

When I wrote the first one, now titled Spirited in Spite, I didn’t realize that I was creating a universe. It wasn’t until I wrote (and then lost in the Great Crash) A Simple Matter of Mind Control that I was on to something. By the time I finished the first draft of A Tale of Two Lady Killers, the concept of this universe solidified itself. It wasn’t until The World (Saving) Series that I gave this universe a name, The ‘Skirts, and decided all of the pieces fit. All of the main characters are “on the outskirts of normal”, as one of the characters explains. They all have some sort of paranormal attribute. To me it makes sense and I hope I can make it work.

As I mentioned, they’re all in various stages. Spirited in Spite is waiting to be rewritten (I’ve already done a few chapters and made notes on the rest). A Simple Matter of Mind Control, first draft lost to the Great Crash, is outlined and waiting to be written again, the changes I was planning to make already incoporated into the new outline. A Tale of Two Lady Killers has already had one round of revisions/rewrites.

And we all know where The World (Saving) Series is.

I’m hoping…no, intending…to get back to all of these projects and make something readable out of them. I think they all hold the potential to be good stories and I want to see them through to the end.

Not only would I like to get these stories told, but they also provide me with the opportunity to get into the habit of finishing things.

But that’s another blog post for another day.