Category: updates

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.

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.