Category: Writing

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.

Posted in Writing

A Whirlwind

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

It’s been a whirlwind of events since my last post. I’ve definitely been kept busy every day.

Cats

To start off, both of my cats needed a vet visit. Turns out my oldest, Princess, had IBD (inflammatory Bowel Disease). Giving her medicine and changing her diet hasn’t been easy. It was by far the most expensive visit.

The second cat, Olive, started wheezing. I’m here thinking she might have a hairball and doesn’t know how to expel it. However, this continued for a few days and she started hiding. She had also started eating less so that was concerning. After the vet visit, it turns out she has asthma. Not sure how it suddenly appeared since it was the first time it happened. Needless to say, she also gained weight (1 lb.) so I think it’s time I play with her a bit more. Hopefully, that helps.

Training

Due to work, I had two days of training for new math curriculum. While it was very informative, I found myself falling asleep more often than not. It was good information but the presentation was a bit dry. At least, I wasn’t in the classroom for two days. Not only that, I have a week left before going on Spring Break.

Queries

The biggest thing since last post was possibly getting more rejections on my queries. So far, there’s been two waves of query letters sent out. On the second wave, I did tweak my query a bit to see if that helped.

There are three agents I’m waiting to hear back from so maybe there will be good news there. But I know I can’t wait forever. I’m planning on send out the third wave of queries next week.

I’m really liking how almost all the agents I’ve queried use Query Manager. I feel like it’s less stressful for me than sending an email. Plus, you also go back and look at your submission. Most of the time, I don’t because it makes me more nervous.

Writing

On a different note, I have finally figured out how to end the third and last book of the Vampire Prince series on Wattpad. For a long time, I struggled with how to finish up the book and somehow, it finally clicked. I sat at my desk and started planning the next few chapters and kept going until I got to the end.

Sadly, there are some scenes that I want to add but they won’t happen until further down the timeline. I’m thinking of adding extra chapters to the end of the story as a way to remedy that.

What’s more exciting is that I also thought up of a second series (maybe) that is set in the same world. I don’t have any plans for that series yet until I’m done with the first series. At least it’s good to know that I do have more series planned.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I feel like I’m making progressed. I started drawing (doodling) again and definitely writing more every day. I’m proud of myself.

Posted in Writing

Older and Wiser

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Since my last post, I’ve kept busy though not as much as I would like. I might have even overwhelmed myself with the amount of projects I’ve wanted to work on. As soon as I realized that, I took a step back from a few of them. Before, I’m not sure I would have been able to do that, but now, I have a better idea on how to take care of myself.

I’m still working on the sequel to Clan of Ash (the novel I’m trying to publish). Although I made progress on it, I’ve come to realize that I don’t like it very much. The way I written it doesn’t work with what I’m trying to do. Instead of starting from scratch, I’m still continuing it. I’ve made notes for myself on how to change the beginning once I start editing the draft.

It was difficult to continue to write. I think I’ve always restarted the draft because I didn’t like it. But now I know that I shouldn’t. I’m not sure how I managed to write anything in the past. Maybe it was a fear of rejection that kept me from unable to finish my drafts. I’m glad I’ve stepped away from that habit.

Needless to say, there has been some news on my query letters. It also the news I expected. My query letter has been rejected two more times. While I’m disappointed, I didn’t let it get to me. Rejection is expectation. That’s the mentally I’m adopting.

Saying this, I not disillusioned. I’ve been finding more agents to query for the second wave. That hasn’t been very easy. YA Paranormal is hard to find right now. While there is a romantic element, it’s not the forefront of the book so I don’t feel comfortable using YA Paranormal Romance. I feel like it would be misleading.

Good news though is that the website I use is undergoing maintenance and an update in four days from this post. While I’m still using twitter to search for agents in the meantime, I think waiting for the update might be a good idea. It will decreased, hopefully, the amount of time it takes to search for agents.

Until then, I’ll keep offering updates. All I can do is keep going.