Category: Progress

Fifth Wednesday: New Year’s Resolutions

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Happy New Year’s…Eve, Geekly Gang! The holiday happens to fall on the fifth Wednesday of December, and whenever a month has five Wednesdays, our writers share personal updates. So, today sounds like a great day for New Year’s Resolutions. Feel free to share your New Year’s Resolutions in the comments. I’ll get us started.

Kyra’s Resolutions

I may have spoiled some of my resolutions with a previous writing brain dump, so you may find some repeats here. I’ll try to keep this short.

1) Write something every week. First, this needs to be something outside Geekly. Yes. I write something every week–or at least most weeks–for the site, so this is personal writing like a short story or chapter in a novel. But this could be as little as a single word. I’m not putting a word count on this resolution. My idea is that one word usually leads to a sentence, which will lead to much more.

2) Work on a game every week. This could be playtesting, developing an existing design, or even designing a new game. Again, the simple act of working on a game every week should lead to more than a single design or development session.

3) The above images remind me that I need to be more consistent with posting brain dumps–at least one of each per month.

4) Read one book a month in a genre that I write or a genre I’m interested in writing. It’s always a good idea to stay current with what sells. And reading helps with one’s writing. Don’t worry about reading another person’s writing impacting your writing. You have your own unique perspective.

5) Read one writing craft book or publishing business book next year. 2025’s book was Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, and I barely got that one under the wire. Reading about the act of writing is crucial if one wants to write. And I could stand to learn more about the writing/publishing business.

6) Read at least one book next year in a genre I don’t intend to write. This past year, I read I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com. I don’t know if I’ll ever write a romantacy novel, but I’m glad I read this title. Kimberly Lemming did a great job balancing comedy, steamy romance, and social commentary. Kudos! And romantacy sells. I needed to read at least one book from the genre. I may read another one or two in 2026. Romance and fantasy are two of the best-selling genres. Put them together, and you get a powerful combination.

7) Play at least six board games with themes or mechanisms I don’t usually gravitate toward. This is the board game design equivalent of the previous resolution. Nuff said.

8) Get something published. This resolution is largely out of my control, but I’m not so sure. If I don’t share a publication in a literary journal or board game through a publisher in the next twelve months, I may post a short story or poem on JK Geekly by the end of 2026. Let me know if you’d be interested in this style of content. I’ll even offer this invitation to our other Geekly writers. I can’t wait to see what they have in store.

9) I have plenty of other personal goals, like staying active and volunteering more with Extra Life, but I’ll still primarily focus on writing and board game design with these resolutions. Case in point, I’ll be at ScroogeCon in Lincoln, NE, January 10, 2026, with Extra Life. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hi. I helped raise thousands of dollars for the Children’s Hospital in 2025 and hope to raise even more this upcoming year.

Looks like I’m flying solo this week. Season and Skye aren’t sharing any New Year’s Resolutions in this post. I guess that means they won’t fail at any resolutions by next Friday. They don’t have to sweat Quitter’s Day (January 9, 2026). Smart.

What are your New Year’s Resolutions, Geekly Gang? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading this past year, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a fantabulastical New Year’s Celebration.

Fifth Wednesday Personal Updates: October 2025

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Today is the rare fifth Wednesday of a month, so our writers will be sharing personal updates over the past few months. I’ll kick things off for this month’s Personal Updates.

Kyra’s Games

I’ve been sick (with the crud) over the past few weeks, but before getting sick, I was featured in a board game design panel at Nuke-Con early this month. While the panel went well, I’d like to expand on it for next year. Be on the look out for Nuke-Con 2026. I also playtested Rustbucket Riots and Whirligig Pets several times during this same convention.

Monthly Update: Whistlestop Pets Title Card

Whirligig Pets (formerly Whistlestop Pets–I need to change the above image) is ready for submission. I still need to find a better way to ramp up the tension in Rustbucket Riots. I think I found a way to tweak the enemy/time cards, so players experience a steadier upward ramp. Before this recent change, evening cards were brutal. I like the new balance, but higher player counts are where balance can get tricky. We’ll see if this new balance sticks.

I won’t go into too much detail with Rustbucket Riots. I already did some of that with this month’s Game Design Brain Dump. If you’re interested, you can see Rustbucket Riots’ origin.

One last important note I discovered during the con: I need to figure out the best way to teach this game. Rustbucket Riots has a lot of odd game mechanisms that many players find unfamiliar, and the spatial puzzle can be overwhelming. I know many of you haven’t played, but here’s a quick rundown on how a round plays:

1) Enemy Turn (Draw Time Cards Equal to Number of Players)
2) Players play one card from their hand
3) Roll and Lock Dice
4) Place Dice (on gears)
5) Spend Dice (by removing dice from gears)

I’ll begin with this and then get into the weeds as the game progresses. Maybe this will help. I hope to see some of you at the gaming table soon.

Storytelling

Kyra’s Writing

Similar to board game design, I posted a writing brain dump earlier this month. I’ll try not to recap too much of what I posted there. I’m still viewing my work in progress through a macro lens. Characters have merged. I combined some characters who could be considered fridged (the character’s sole purpose was to motivate the protagonist) with another character with a larger role. I’m finding character arcs for each major character, and I’ve found I don’t have as many characters as I did prior. This may be an easier editing pass than I first thought. Famous last words.

Novel in November (formerly National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo) begins in a handful of days, and I’ll be attending as many Omaha Writers’ League (OWL) events as I can. Above is a calendar of OWL events. All locations are in Omaha. Events are subject to change. (I believe November 11th is left blank in observance of Veterans’ Day.) If you’re in the local area, I look forward to seeing you at one of these events. I’ll be at many of these events, trying to make sense of my nonsense. There’s a reason I call my updates writing brain dumps.

That’s all I have for this month. Let’s see what Skye’s been doing.

Skye’s Update

I’ve done some interesting things over the past quarter. I became a member of my local library’s board-game community, attended Metropolitan Community College’s annual Inter-Tribal Powwow, and protested the protection of the United States’ founding ideals of “liberty and justice for all,” among other things.

My greatest achievement–in my opinion–in the past quarter was scheduling a date with my surgeon to undergo the final part of my medical transition. I’m scheduled for November of next year (2026), and words can’t describe my immense satisfaction. Advanced warning to y’all: I suspect I’ll be in recovery during that time next year. I’ll do my best to post, but I might be hopped-up on pain meds.

Overall, I would consider the past quarter (Aug-Oct) a productive one. Despite personal obligations, I’ve still enjoyed posting and offering my opinions on JKGeekly with the rest of the Geekly writers. Posting my thoughts online is one of my greatest joys, and I thank everyone for welcoming me into the Geekly Gang.

Here’s to another three months of Geek with y’all. Happy Halloween!

Storytelling

Season’s Update

Hi, Geekly Gang! It’s been a while since I gave an update. I’ve recently started a new full-time job, so I’ve been adjusting to my new schedule. I’ve also been sick with the crud this past week. It’s a good thing I’m writing this update, because my voice is shot. Blegh!

As for writing, I’ve tried to get a couple of pieces published, but no luck yet. They’re a couple of short flash fiction pieces. Maybe I’ll share them here someday. I’m going to keep submitting until I get some bites. Fingers crossed! I’ve also been enjoying writing monthly plushie reviews for you, Geekly Gang. If you have a favorite plushie, please let me know. I’m always down for new plushie recs.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. Those are our writers’ updates for the past few months. Feel free to share what you’ve been up to over the past month or three, Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Fifth Wednesday Personal Update: July 2025

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Happy fifth Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. Since it’s the fifth Wednesday of July, that means our writers will be sharing personal updates. I’ll get things started.

Kyra’s Writing

My writing and game design will sound similar this month. The two center around the same concept. I wrote a first draft of a novel based on one of my board games, Rustbucket Riots, and I’m in the throes of reverse outlining.

Reverse outlining is an important stage of writing/editing that I learned after multiple novels. During the reverse editing stage, I take note of what happens in each chapter/scene, looking at the novel from a macro level, rather than a micro level (like line editing). Reverse outlining allows me to see who the point of view (POV) character is for each chapter (if there’s more than one POV character for the novel). If a character has only one POV chapter, I may need to give them more chapters or consider omitting the chapter or using a different POV character. Jotting down what happens in each chapter makes it easier to see which chapters are pulling their weight (from a narrative perspective), which ones could do more, and which ones may not be needed.

In previous novels, I made the mistake of line editing after writing the first draft. That doesn’t work–at least, not for me. The sunk cost fallacy (the tendency to continue an endeavor because of the time and effort spent on the project) is strong when a writer does this. Slapping together a crappy first draft and then taking a macro look at each chapter makes it easier to “kill one’s darlings.” If I haven’t spent hours editing a chapter, that chapter hasn’t reached the status of one of my darlings. It’s easier to make cuts.

Depending on when you’re reading this, I may be slashing through thousands of words in one keystroke. Can you hear the ink cry?

On a different note, I’m still querying agents. Fingers crossed.

Kyra’s Game Design

I received a ton of great feedback for Rustbucket Riots and Whirligig Pets. Both games are well on their way to being publishable.

I’m continuing to refine my other designs, and I’ll be at Comic Con Nebraska this weekend. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hi. I’ll be in the game room, demoing various designs that will include Rustbucket Riots and Whirligig Pets. I’ll even have JK Geekly badge ribbons.

Tangent: I joined a board game publication and pitching course, so hopefully, my board game pitches will improve in the coming months. Lol

That’s all I have for these past three months. Let’s check in with Skye.

Skye’s Update

Believe it or not, I do have a life. I know, I was surprised too. Not much has happened since the last time I did one of these, but there were a couple of things I wanted to mention.

First, I have a new job at my local movie theater. Y’all know how much I love movies, so this kind of job is right up my alley. There’s a more community-oriented culture at Marcus Theaters with several opportunities to learn and connect with the team, which I love. Of course, there’s also free movie tickets. This means that I can start covering recently released films on my personal blog, TGIMovies, in a more financially responsible way.

Second, I took this summer off from college. So far, I’ve been having a good time relaxing and dedicating my time toward things I love, such as my hobbies, my relationships, and this community. I’ve learned a lot about myself, spent time with those I care about, and started working towards my future. At this point in my life, I’m the most excited I’ve ever been about what’s to come. I’m glad I got to share it with y’all!

Thanks for reading about my experiences and for inviting me to this website. Though I don’t say it often, I’m greatly honored to be a part of this community, to experience geeky content with like-minded people, and to have a platform to offer my thoughts. I’ll see y’all next week with another “Whatcha.” Take care!

Kyra Kyle here again. Season doesn’t have an update for the past three months. She graduated from college with a Bachelor’s and continues to look for work in her field. Fingers crossed that she’ll find something soon. And feel free to share what you’ve been working on over the past three months. We’re all part of the Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Fifth Wednesday Personal Update

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Geekly plans to do individual personal updates on the fifth Wednesday of each month (not every month has a fifth Wednesday; this happens about once a quarter). This particular post is mine. Hey! How are you? I’ve been keeping busy for the last several months. With Geekly finding its groove, I’ve been able to switch to other endeavors.

Kyra’s Writing

My first novel is a part family epic, part fictionalized war memoir titled Crooked as a Dogwood. I continue to submit Crooked as a Dogwood to literary agents. I’m on a path to 100 rejections, and then I plan to submit to small publishers. In the meantime, I’m editing a second novel based on events after Rustbucket Riots, the title of one of my board games in progress. I may be submitting the Rustbucket Riots novel before I reach my 100 rejections for Crooked. And I’m not stopping there, I’m writing fiction, essays, and poetry most days. I have enough for a collection or two, and there’s a third novel in progress.

Hopefully, one of these titles will get picked up, and that could help out with the others. Even if it doesn’t, I’m enjoying the ride, just like the one with my board games.

Kyra’s Game Designs

As I mentioned a few times, I attended Protospiel Kansas City earlier this month. The convention was a good time. Spending time with like-minded people is always fun, but the newly established United States tariffs hung like a cloud over the con. I’ve mentioned the tariff’s negative effect on board game companies at length. Several small board game companies have banded together in a lawsuit against President Trump. And that’s what most people discussed during Protospiel. The future is uncertain.

But what is certain is that I’m going forward with small game designs (Whirligig Pets, Spill the Beans, No Jack, and Wildflowers) and one larger design, Rustbucket Riots. The four smaller designs should be ready to present before the end of summer, with Rustbucket Riots not far behind. I’d prefer to go with a publisher, especially with the uncertainty of tariffs, but Geekly could be in the publishing business (both books and games) in the not-so-distant future.

So, I’ve been keeping busy. I have a roadmap for writing and game design, but it’s okay if plans change. I’m willing to go with the flow. That’s all I have for now. I’ll hand the post over to Season and Skye, so you can see what they’ve been doing.

Season

Hey, Geekly Gang! I hope everyone had a fantastic April. I’m graduating with my BFA in Creative Writing this May. Yay! I’ve been busy with classwork and work work. I work full time and, even though I have one class, my schedule’s been packed with my final portfolio, ordering my cap and gown, a capstone presentation, etc. Phew!

I’m taking a break from major projects for Geekly for a couple of months while I get everything sorted. I’ll still be working behind the scenes on the editing side of things during that time and I’ll be participating in Wednesday posts. Don’t worry. Video Game Cult Classics aren’t going away. I’ll keep up with them regularly once my schedule stabilizes.

That’s all I’ve got for this update. See you next time. What have you been doing, Skye?

Skye

Hello, Geekly Fam! I’ve come to tell you about what’s been going on in my life this past month. Wait, I have a life outside of blogging? Surprisingly, yes. Science still can’t explain it. Here are some noteworthy moments I can tell y’all about.

I had a life-changing medical procedure at the end of last month. Don’t worry. I’m not sick, I’m just trans. To be clear, this medical procedure isn’t the one you’re thinking about. That one comes later. Despite not being the epic leap forward I hoped for, I’m still delighted with how it turned out. For two weeks, I was bedroom-bound, but now I’m feeling better and more active.

In fact, I’m so active that I’ll be switching jobs. I’ll still be blogging, but my day job is changing. A Barnes & Noble opened this month closer to where I live. I was dissatisfied with my previous job and decided to seize the opportunity. Nothing has been decided yet, but I have been invited to an interview. I’m excited! Fingers crossed.

Those are the major developments. Hopefully, plenty of big things will happen over the next three months when we do another one of these updates. Thanks for reading, and I’ll try to give y’all all the juicy Skye goss I can. 😉

October Check In

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Hey, hey, folks! Just checking in with another personal update. It’s been a month since the last update. JK Geekly has been going strong this past month. We even have a couple of new writers for the site. Yay!

Marvel United Guides

We started a new guide series. This time we made one for Marvel United. I still plan to release a 3 Lists of 3 Board Games for my mom’s birthday. She would’ve been 74-years-old on November 4th, and Marvel United will feature in that post. The game has easy enough rules to learn and remember with a lot of little tweaks for each villain to make each one unique. And Mom loved the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I could’ve seen us recreating MCU moments through Marvel United.

Whistlestop Pets Logo

I’m still waiting to hear back from the tabletop game publishers about my submissions. We’re nearing the window of when I could hear back from them. Fingers crossed.

I continue to refine my other games. Some are getting closer toward being ready to submit. Others a little more stubborn.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) occurs next month. I don’t agree with a lot of what NaNoWriMo has done the past year or so. It’s been one scandal after another. But I will participate outside the confines of the site and organization. I belong to a couple of writing groups. If you’re in the southeast corner of Nebraska, feel free to say hi.

I may even hear from the literary agent looking over Crooked as a Dogwood during NaNoWriMo. A good rule of thumb is three-six months. Mid-November will be the three-month mark. Hopefully, I won’t have to wait until Valentines Day.

I’ll keep making new posts and busying myself with my next novel, while trying not to dwell on the multiple projects I have out for review. I appreciate everyone who has spent time and who does spend time reading these posts. Thank you!

That’s all I have for this month’s personal update. This may become a monthly thing. We’ll see.

I hope that wherever you are, you’re having a great day.

~ Kyra

Monthly Update: Whistlestop Pets Title Card

Monthly Check In

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Hey, hey, folks! Just checking in with another personal update. It’s been a month since the last update, and we’ve had weekly posts up until this point. I’ll have another post later today. Hopefully, that won’t be too many emails from me in a single day. 😊



I’m still waiting to hear back from the company who said they were interested in Spill the Beans. I discussed this game more in last month’s update. They had promised me that the contract would be finished by the end of August, and I haven’t received an official contract yet. I believe they had some issues with their upcoming Kickstarter; it was supposed to launch in June or July at the latest and hasn’t yet hit Kickstarter. Fingers crossed that everything is okay.



I won’t hear back from publishers for another couple of months for the other game I submitted Whistlestop Pets. From what I’ve seen and heard, it takes about three months or more for a game publisher to respond to an email query. There isn’t a standard, so it could be a longer wait.

Speaking of waits, I also heard back from a literary agent for my novel Crooked as a Dogwood last month. The agent asked for a full manuscript. Yay! But it will also take an additional couple of months for a response. It takes time to read a full novel and even longer to figure out if it’s something an agent would like to take on. Fingers crossed for some good news in a couple of months.

So, it looks like I’ll have to busy myself with projects, so I don’t dwell on all of that waiting. Eek!

As a result, I’ve pursued other projects. Let’s begin with tabletop games. There a few games that far away from discussing here, but one stands above the rest: Pick Your Poison.



The phrase “Pick Your Poison” comes from the Prohibition era. Not only did prohibition ban alcohol, they added literal poison (like thallium and strychnine) to household products like after shave and the like (this is also called denaturing alcohol) in order to dissuade people from switching to drinking those household products. So, when a bartender at a speakeasy would say, pick your poison, they knew they were serving their customers poison.

In the game Pick Your Poison, you play as a public figure in the final year of Prohibition, and you dictate how much poison is in those household products. For prohibition to succeed, one needs to kill enough citizens…but not too many or you’ll incur the public’s wrath. Players add or subtract marbles from test tubes that will show how many people die from denatured alcohol each round (which is every two months).



If your role card is face down, you win the game if Prohibition has a positive public opinion at the end of a year. If your role card faces up, you win the game if Prohibition has a negative public opinion. Pick Your Poison is a semi-cooperative game for 3-6 players.

I’m ironing out the details but intend to submit Pick Your Poison to next year’s Zenobia Award. It’s a contest for designers belonging to underrepresented groups. The games must be based on history. I think Pick Your Poison fits that bill.



In terms of writing (not related to Geekly), I continue to work on the unnamed novel that’s based in the same universe as Whistlestop Pets and two other games in the offing. I should have a working draft by the end of the year. NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month) is in November, and I typically participate each year with the Omaha chapter. I encourage others to reach out to their local NaNoWriMo groups if they’d like to write a novel. You could make new friends. And I’ve noticed that my group holds people accountable. They’re focusing on getting people published.

And of course, Geekly has been another escape from remembering that I have multiple projects out for review. I appreciate everyone who has spent time and who does spend time reading these posts. Thank you!

That’s all I have for this month’s personal update. This may become a monthly thing. We’ll see.

I hope that wherever you are, you’re having a great day.

~ Kyra

Holiday Shuffle

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Your uncle Geekly’s going on hiatus over the next couple weeks for the holidays and the end of the year, but he’ll be back on Sunday, January 6, 2019.

2019? Are we almost two decades removed from the Y2K scare? Yikes!

Happy New Year, everyone. We hope you’re well. Until next we meet, be nice to each other and stay geeky.

 

Back in the Saddle

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

And we’re back. I’d like to say that I was very productive over the past week and a half, but I was busy stuffing my face with stuffing–and other food.

For those of you who live in the United States, happy belated Thanksgiving. For those of you who don’t live in a country that pardons a turkey this time of year, happy Sunday in late November.

Kyle’s Writing

I did manage to crawl out of my food hangover and write another short story or two, edit another two or three, and submit several things over the holiday. I’m awaiting my rejections any day now. Some of the journals I submitted to stated that they try to get back in a week or two, so my email should be blowing up real soon. Reject-a-mon: Gotta catch ’em all.

Kyle’s Game Designs

I wrote a rule book for another small game, ironed out some details of a much larger, story-driven game, and “Wildflowers” made it to a game expo last week, courtesy of my board game agent. From what I hear, 5 publishers are interested in it, and I should hear something in the next week. Seriously, my email should be blowing up. Gotta catch ’em all.

That’s all I have for this week. We’ll be back tomorrow and most of the tomorrows this next week with some new content. Be kind to each other and stay geeky.

On Hiatus

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Your uncle Geekly’s going on hiatus over the next week for Thanksgiving, but I’ll be back on Sunday, November 25th.

If you live in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving. If you live somewhere else in the world, Happy fourth Thursday in November.

We hope you’re all doing well, and we’ll see you next week. Until then, be nice to each other and stay geeky.