Month: June 2023

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

Camp NaNoWriMo Prep – July 2023

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

I’m officially starting prep work for the upcoming Camp National Novel Writing Month. The novel I’m working on is currently a novella at 30k words. I’m planning on adding 60k words this July. That’s about 2k words daily. In order to do that, I’m going to need almost every planned out.

Luckily because I’ve already written the ‘main story’, it’s just a matter of adding intercepting stories and events to it. I’ve also added more characters but I’ll have to set up motivations/ wants for them and incorporate it into the story. I don’t want them to end up filling a page for the sake of the word count.

When I first wrote this novella, I hadn’t planned too much for the world. I got the basics of worldbuilding but I need to flesh it out more.

First I would need . . .

  • Lore/ Worldbuilding – at least the inner workings of certain organizations, etc. that will be necessary to the novel.
  • I need character motivations and how they will affect the story
  • Lastly, I would need to write down the plot points. This will help me add different characters into the story without making seem like they were added last minute.

Those are what I can think of right off the top of my head. I might think of more but at least I have a faint of idea of what to work on next week.

Posted in Writing

Rolling with the Punches

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Two weeks ago, I received news that shook my life. Since then, I’ve had to reapply for my job but I’ve ultimately decided to go someone else. That still meant having interviews and needless to say, it’s been stressful. I’ve gotten an offer but I’m waiting on two others to make a final decision.

There have been a few good things happening. I’ve started crocheting again and made ten new keychains. I think all the stress made me want to be a bit more crafty than before. I’ve received news back on my queries but I still don’t have an agent. There are a handful of agents I’m waiting for to open their queries again.

I’ve been focusing on rewriting a dark fantasy novella into a novel. A huge part of it is changing first person to third person and of course adding more world building than I had before. This might also be the novel I’ll be working on during Camp NaNoWriMo this July.

A part of me wants to stream my prep work for Camp NaNoWriMo on YouTube/ Twitch and invite others to plan with me. Even streaming my writing during the event is something that I’ve considered doing. It would definitely be a challenge, but it would also help me reach the daily word count. Plus, it could also help others to sit down and write.

Overall, there are tons of decisions that I need to make this upcoming week. One of those is where I’ll be working in August. Not to mention Camp NaNoWriMo is right around the corner, and I need to double down and decide how I will implement everything I want to do.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, updates

Summer Plans

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

A lot has happened during the first days of June. Huge news have shaken up my life in regards to work and that future is uncertain. However, I plan to focus on the good stuff like visiting family and my nephew (only a few months old), and enjoying my summer break.

Queries

First things first, unfortunately, my novel hasn’t been picked up by any agents. There are still that haven’t replied yet but that is not always a good thing. I have continued to research and find more agents that are a potential match to my novel and sent out queries. There are still a couple of them that are closed so it’s another waiting game.

Crochet

This is a little different but it was part of my new year goals to crochet more. I have to say that over the last two days, I’ve done exactly that. Now, I need to give my fingers and joints a rest. Maybe I’ll start selling my little critters in the future. I don’t particularly have space for all the knot critters I’m creating. But overall, it’s good to relax, and be able to finish a project in one sitting.

Camp NaNoWriMo

July is less than a month away and that means it’s time for Camp NaNoWriMo. While I still have to decide what project I’ll work on during that month, I do want to participate. I’m going to try something different this year.

I want to stream the prep work for the project AND the actual writing portion. Mostly it’ll be streams of me talking about how I plan or maybe the lack of planning. I think it’ll be fun to do.