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Posted in updates

The Journey Taken

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

As I’m halfway through my Masters program, I’ve thought about my journey to get here. Although it taken me awhile to get to this point, I’m glad to have come this far.

Working on my thesis project has been so much fun. I’m thankful for all the feedback and critique I’ve received from my peers and professors. Though I think to myself, ‘I should have started earlier,’ what matters is that I started.

I began writing many years ago and dreamed of becoming a full-time writer. Authors like Brian Jacques, Erin Hunter, and K.A. Applegate were my goals. I wanted to create amazing worlds, adventures, and characters but as we know, life throws us curveballs.

While I kept writing, I wasn’t publishing though not for the lack of trying. I recently had to put away a novel I’d been working on for a while due to rejections. There were a lot of rejections. It was difficult to remain optimistic. I know the time I spent querying wasn’t a waste of time. I learned a lot but I also knew it was time to move on.

These days I look back to when I first started writing my terrible fanfiction to now. Though I do regret taking so long to be published, I have to remind myself that this isn’t a content. It’s not a sprint but a marathon. I’m in a much better place than before – mentally, financially – you get the picture.

So, I’ll keep moving forward because at the end of the day, writing is what make me happy.

Posted in updates

2025 Update

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Life has been very unexpected since the last time I posted.

I’ve lost a dear friend, stared grad school, endured two very stressful school years, welcomed a new family member, and even moved to a new location. Every day has been filled with challenges.

My publishing journey still continues as that has been my main focus. Starting graduate school has been very exciting and kept me busy. I’ve learned a lot about my writing and myself. It has also helped me realize that it’s time to change careers but it won’t be too drastic. Instead of teaching primary, I want to teach higher education.

My goals for publication has somewhat changed. I tried publishing a certain manuscript awhile back and due to the many rejections, I decided to put it away and work on the next projects.

I’m still posting on Wattpad, however, I’m not very proud of that current work. I realized that it wasn’t ready to be published but I’ll finish posting it because it is a story I want to tell. It taught me a few things that I need to work on. I’ve been planning the next work I want to post on Wattpad as well.

Speaking of Wattpad, I have decided to move forward to self-publishing my original trilogy I had posted. While that had been my plan, I was very hesitant since I hadn’t made my changes in the original. I didn’t want it to be a direct copy and paste. Now, I’ve had plenty of time to think about how I can keep the original essence of the novel but make it new for newer and returning readers.

I’ve also been working on an original dark fantasy work. While it’s the first draft, I’m really enjoying how it’s turning out.

While there are many projects I’m tackling this summer, as well as my thesis, I’m looking forward to what the future may bring.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, self-publishing, updates, Writing

Camp NaNoWriMo & Everything Else

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

It’s been a week or so since I started Camp Nation Novel Writing Month. I’ve written 20k words so far. The goal is 60k words for this month. I’m trying to rewrite a 30k word novella into (at least) an 80k word YA dark fantasy novel.

A huge reason I’m doing this is to start my indie author journey. By that, I mean that I want to self-publish this novel. I haven’t gotten all the details straightened out just yet but it’s something I want to try out.

This past weekend I spent it researching different ways to go about doing this and I think I can start with a Kickstarter as a way to cover the expenses needed for self-publishing. I’ve seen other authors on the website as well. Now, there is a lot to do in general and despite the fact that I’m not done writing yet, I want to start thinking about it. I want to work towards that goal so whenever I feel like I can’t do this, I can remember my goal and gain new inspiration.

The more I thought about it, I might be better off publishing the story as an eBook first (when writing/editing, etc. is finished) and then try to have physical copies of the book. Maybe if I do it this way, there won’t be many risks of the Kickstarter failing because the book is out there.

Overall, I haven’t decided on a way to go about self-publishing just yet. I want to concentrate on writing first. However, I’m glad to have a goal in mind and I really want to make it happen.

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.