Category: updates

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.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, updates, Writing

A Good Feeling

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

It’s the seventh day of Nation Novel Writing Month and I have to say that, so far, I’m on schedule. There have been a few days where I wait until the last minute to type, underestimating how many hours is going to take me to get 1,667 words that day. 1.6k words doesn’t seem like a lot words but, trust me, when you’re sitting at your computer or sometimes on your phone, it is a lot. You type up three paragraphs and whole page even and then you check the word count. Not even close.

I’ve found that music tends to help me sometimes but that’s not always the case. There are times when I can’t have music on because I’m at work or it’s just not possible. Personally, I like to think of what I’m going to write during the day before I actually sit down and write. It’s more like day dreaming than anything.

With this method, I sort of play through the scenes of my head so I can have an idea of what’s going to happen in the story. There are times when I just sit down, read what I wrote before, and write because I need to finish the scene or I automatically know what’s going to happen next.

Thanks to this, I have finally finished the original story. Now, I can focus on the rewrite. Maybe I mentioned it before, but in case that I haven’t, I’ll say that I know where I want to go with the story. I know what needs to be changed in the rewrite. While I will use almost the same scenes and characters, I will be changing things up a bit. I have a good feeling about this month.

Posted in Dungeons&Dragons, updates, Writing

A Lot on My Plate

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

I’m happy to announce that I’m still breathing. It’s been a hectic week that hasn’t given me much time to post anything. The good news is that I finally started my classroom observations and that taken up so much of my time. It’s great to see teachers with Kindergartners and second graders. I’ve learned so much by just observing. Everyone has a different teaching style and there’s definitely strategies that I want to use.

Of course this was all after GateCon 2 where I spent all weekend (Wed. – Sun.) playing Dungeons & Dragons last week. This was for, uh, research purposes. Sometimes, the best dialogue is through role playing at the table. Plus, it’s so interesting to see other players role play so many different personalities. I’ve heard some of the best insults at the table too. It’s dialogue gold. Not to mention that I think I’ve had my fill of large social gatherings. This sort of excitement will keep me going for the next few months until the holidays.

Despite my busy schedule, I have had time to write. This is mostly done during work (don’t tell my boss) when I can. At this point, I probably have Google Docs open on all computers. So far, my co-workers don’t seem to mind. I’m just trying to make this all work somehow. This probably means that I have to get better at organizing and managing my time. But I think there’s hope for me yet.

Even though I’m getting my teaching certificate, I still haven’t given up on writing and I don’t think it will. Since I was a child, I’ve been interested in being a teacher. I didn’t discover my love of writing until much later. However, I realize that writing isn’t going to pay the bills anytime soon. Sure, I got a content editing job on the side and that’s super great but, in essence, it’s not enough. At least, it isn’t right now. I know that I have to do what I have to do.

My goal is still to become a published author. After that goal is accomplish, I just want to keep publishing and share my stories to whoever wants to read them. My wattpad story is coming along nicely and that’s almost finished. I’ve decided to rewrite it so that I can say that I like it as oppose to just being my fans. I’ll end up self-publishing this story I think. I won’t think about that until I’m closer to a finish product that I’m proud of.

For now, wish me luck. I have a lot of my plate.

 

 

Posted in Gamernation News, updates, Writing

D&D Article, Updates, and Writing

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

I am happy to announce that my article on dice superstitions has been posted on Gamernation News. You can check it out here. I’ve included pictures of my dice and those of my fellow players but most of them are my dice. It was fun collecting all the information and hearing all the quirks and superstitions out there.

Lately, there’s been a lot of writing going on. From lesson plans, articles, Camp NaNoWriMo, and posts, I can’t seem to catch my breath. Of course let’s not forget running my own D&D sessions. I’ve been so busy lately. Somehow, I’ve managed to have everything under control. Let’s hope it stays that way.

I have to say that staying busy and writing is a good feeling. I feel very productive. Although I’m a few hundred words behind my daily goal for Camp NaNoWriMo, I think I’m doing well. I haven’t run out of inspiration. The story seems to be writing itself. Plus, getting into the mentally that it doesn’t have to be perfect is really helping me. Honestly, I think that’s the hardest part about writing.

If I had to say anything that I was dissatisfied with is probably the time I sent my posts out. I usually try to get them out between 3 and 5 but lately that hasn’t been working out. I’ve had to cover weird shifts at work that doesn’t allow for all that. School hasn’t made it easy yet. I’ll try to keep to that timeframe next week.

While it’s been a short update, I’ll cut the post short. I have to finish typing up my daily word count for Camp NaNoWriMo. For those who are participating, how’s it going? Have you run out of steam or still going strong?

As always, good luck.

 

Posted in Methods, NaNoWriMo, Resources, updates, Writing

Scrapping for Ideas

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Over the weekend, I decided that I will be participating n July’s Camp NaNoWriMo. My reason for this is due to the fact that I haven’t been writing as much as I should. Using July’s Camp NaNoWriMo, I want to trick myself into writing more that I have been. This month, however, I won’t be aiming towards 50k words. Instead, I’ll be aiming towards 30k words this month. If, for whatever reason, I write more than 30k words than my goal was successful. With everything that is going on right now. I don’t have that much free time.

Saying this, I don’t really have anything planned for this month. I do have a few story ideas floating around and prepared but I’m not sure if those are novel ready. So, this poses the question: how am I going to reach 30k words or more without having a lot prepared.

First off, I’m going to wing it. I don’t normally do this because I typically have a sense of where the story is going to go. For this story in general, I have the basic idea for it but I don’t know where to go from the beginning. There’s a vague idea floating in my head but nothing is concrete.

Secondly, I’m going to write random scenes. I’m going to have my characters is conversations with others that could pertain to the plot. Maybe as I write these conversations, inspiration will strike and Camp NaNoWriMo will go smoothly. Fingers crossed. And, I never know. Inspiration might strike at random.

Next, I might actually do some plotting when I have the time. This won’t be too elaborate or too in depth but it might help. I don’t want to get stressed over writing 30k this month. So, while I will put effort into completing my goal, I don’t want to force myself to do it. When it’s forced, it’s not fun anymore and I always try to have fun when I write. I want to enjoy it.

Lastly, I might even go back to the original draft and steal ideas from that. The story I’m writing for this Camp NaNoWriMo, I worked on it a few years back. It never went anywhere because I didn’t like the direction it was going so, I basically stopped writing. This time around, I’m trying to revamp the story. I really liked the characters and the magic system I created for this world so I want to keep using. If worst come to worst, I might even think about combining ideas together. I’ve done that before and it has worked. It might work this time too.

Now, while I usually post world-building posts on Mondays, for this month, it might change or it might not. Depends on the day and what I have to do. I’ll try sticking to the schedule I set up because I think it was working really well with a few exceptions. If anything changes, I’ll announce it.

Thanks for reading and, for those participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, good luck. Don’t forget to share some tips. I’m going to need all the help I can get.