Category: updates

Posted in updates, Writing

Back from Vacation

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

It’s been about two weeks since my last post and boy, has it been busy.

The five hour drive back home wasn’t bad. The heat definitely didn’t make it any better. We went shopping the next day before going to the beach and a water park the next two days. Luckily, I didn’t get sunburned unlike my family. I’m sure they’re still peeling even now despite wearing sunscreen.

My cats were not happy with me when I picked them up. Of course, they changed their minds when it was time for dinner and I fed them. My first cat, Princess, drooled when I petted her and held her in general. I definitely felt guilty for leaving her with the sitter. My second cat, Olive, didn’t seem too upset with my absence, but she has definitely been very cuddly lately.

It wasn’t all fun and games, however. There’s some family drama going on that (thankfully), my immediate family isn’t involved in, but it still put a damper on things. We also had a death in the family, a cousin. Been supporting his family this past week. I didn’t know him very well and it’d been years since we last saw each other. Despite that, it hurts. All I can do is be there for his family and for his parents.

Everything affected my writing schedule, but I know it wasn’t because of laziness or procrastination. Unexpected things happen and we have to roll with the punches. Sometimes, they can be good. Sometimes, they can be bad. All we can do is keep moving forward.

Posted in updates, Writing

My Writing Schedule – An update

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Recently, I discovered a writing schedule for myself where three or four days out of the week would go towards editing/ rewriting chapters of one of the novels I was working on. The other days would be reserved for writing a new chapter for the second novel I’ve been working on. This only worked because I decided to limit myself to only focus on two novels. Having multiple projects at one time is not helpful to the completion of any projects. Plus, it helps that the projects are from the same novel series.

This past week, I’ve followed the writing schedule I set for myself and found two things that I’ve noticed.

First, while I usually aim to editing one chapter a day, it came to my attention that sometimes I want to do more. I had to remind myself that it was okay to work on two chapters a day instead. Limiting myself wasn’t the aim here.

Second, I’m having a little trouble with the writing portion of the week. I don’t necessarily have a word count for the day, and that hasn’t been an issue before. Mostly, I think it has to do with my plotting where I didn’t plan all the details and only focused on the major points. That can be taken care of easily.

Five hundred words or more is what I think is a good amount for the day. The novel I’m writing is an online novel so word count works differently. Three thousands words a chapter is pushing it for an online platform.

In general, I’d like to say that this writing schedule definitely works for me. Switching between editing and writing makes me feel a lot more productive. There are days where I don’t work as much as the others, but I don’t feel like I’m being lazy. Taking breaks is important too. Burning out or making this feel like a chore won’t be helpful in the long run.

Next week, I’ll be going on vacation. I haven’t decided if I’m going to take a break from writing and editing in general, but I’ll still take my laptop to do a little work just in case.

Posted in updates

Guess Who’s Back

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

So . . . .

It’s been a while since I last posted anything on here. Needless to say, a lot has happened. There were some seatbacks and detours but some of panned out.

I got married three months before COVID.

I became a teacher the following school year.

I adopted two cats (Princess and Olive).

Been teaching for two years now and it’s been keeping me so busy. Especially this past school year (just finished).

I’m still playing and running Dungeons & Dragons.

And lastly (?), I started streaming video games.

I haven’t stopped writing and I’ve tried sending out query letters before, but they weren’t chosen. Not giving up so I decided to try my hand at self-publishing (at least for one online work). My other works will (hopefully) be published traditionally.

Now that my summer break has started, I’ve really buckled down on writing more. I’m also hoping to post more on here as well.

That’s it for now. Sorry for any mistakes, typing on my phone isn’t the greatest. Thanks for stopping by.

Posted in updates, Writing

Catching Up

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

It’s been an exhausting two weeks and I finally got a breather.

This past week I had a family emergency put a stop on everything I had planned. Everyone is alright but the house isn’t and, well, it was a lot to take in. Still is but we’re managing. I’m trying to get everything back on track but, quite honestly, I don’t know where to start.

I do have some good news. Plans for the wedding are moving forward. My maid of honor has found the perfect color and I’m looking for wedding invitations now. I got offered a job that will help me continue on the path of becoming a teacher. I haven’t changed from what I want to do (be a full-time author that supports me) but, honestly, I don’t mind being a teacher as a day job. Eventually, I’d like to teach creative writing and I think it’s a good way to go.

Among other news, I did learn how to crochet and I have gotten decent at it, if I do say so myself. I’ve got about 10 or so small projects completed.

Though I am a few days behind, I do plan on participating in Camp NaNoWriMo for July but as I mentioned before, I’ll be focusing on revision. There is some stuff that I have to figure out with the website since the layout is different from actually writing but it shouldn’t be too bad.

Hopefully by next week, I’ve gotten back into the flow of things.

Wish me luck. Have a great weekend.

Posted in updates, Writing

The Journey so Far . . .

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

It’s been almost a month since I’ve posted anything after NaNoWriMo. Believer or not, I have been very busy. Just this week I took my TeXes Content exam.It was the most tiring exam I had ever taken. The mental exhaustion was all too real. However, I’m excited to say that I passed all portions of the exam. I’ve never been so surprised in my life. At least, that part is over with. A new journey begins.

After NaNoWriMo, I read through the study manual and studied on Certify Teacher. I had to cut back on some hobbies. We’ll see if it was worth it tonight when they post my scores. It’s a bit nerve wrecking but at the same time, I’m not anxious or nervous. I’m not going to freak out or anything.

Remember when I mentioned how I entered a Screenplay competition over at Sweek? Well, I wasn’t one of the finalists. I didn’t take it too hard but it would have been nice to be mentioned. It was a nice learning experience.

Other than studying for my exam, I have gotten a lot of things done with writing. Despite the fact that NaNoWriMo ended, I’m still working on the rewrite for TVPGTHS on wattpad. I’m turning it into a story that I actually like. There’s been some ups and downs with it.

I mentioned before that I have so much content to work with. At times, I have trouble deciding what to cut and what to keep. There have been some major edits of scenes and events but the core is still there. I remind myself that this is the rewrite and so it doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect but that’s not easy to believe. I tend to try and put the best version at the beginning and improve it through editing but I don’t think it has ever worked that way for me. It’s just too much pressure that I put on myself.

With the holidays around the corner, I hope to finish up the rest of the story. Getting sick didn’t exactly help with progress. But, is it really “being sick” if all I had was nasal congestion and no other symptoms? Regardless, it still didn’t feel great and progress was slow. At least now I can breathe better and stay asleep longer.

Overall, an exciting journey awaits me. A new chapter is opening and I can’t wait.