Tag: updates

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 updates, Writing

Red Flags

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

After a busy week, Friday has finally come. Something interesting happened this week. As many of you know (or don’t know), I have a couple of stories up on wattpad. These stories were written for fun and I might even edit them enough to self-publish them. Crimson Queen is actually one of those stories that I wrote on Wattpad first. FYI a lot has changed from the original manuscript.

Anyways, so a couple of days ago (like two days ago), I received a private message from an editor from FicFun. I handle that situation already on wattpad. The message was basically a solicitation to have one of my stories on their website exclusively. There was a payment included and the message talked about a contract, etc.

Red Flags immediately went off in my head. Not only do I not like the story this editor wanted to display on the website (and it is against wattpad policies), but I had no interest in removing the story from wattpad. I like my fan base too much for that. I actually had never heard about FicFun before so I had to do some research on the website.

I looked through forums and even wattpad had nice threads for me to read through. All in all, I decided to report the message and just ignore it. While at this point, it would be nice to be paid for my writing, I didn’t like the terms that I read through. Plus, I’m not that desperate. I’m going to take this one step at a time. Perhaps if another offer comes my way and everything checks out, I might jump at the opportunity, but for now, I’m content with working on my craft and improving.

Posted in updates, Writing

At Long Last

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

This is a bit late but better late than never. Recently, life got in the way with moving furniture and getting the new place situated. However, today I like to say that everything has been moved with only the exception of a box spring for the bed. Other than that, we’re officially moved in.

This past week, I’ve been working on character development in Crimson Queen. I haven’t mentioned that story in a while but I have been working on it bit by bit. My focus, I’m ashamed to admit, has been all over the place since getting a new place. However, now that that is over and done with, I can focus more on what I like to do. For my female lead, Lucinda, specifically, I needed to change her personality a bit.

Previously, it was more geared toward rejecting ‘female’ tasks like sewing and all that but I realized that that outlook on life wasn’t working out. Instead, I changed her dreams, so to speak. Lucinda wants a family but she also wants to follow in her father’s footsteps of mastering the way of a sword. In this way, Lucinda became a more 3-D character as oppose to being a ‘cliche’.

I will still continue to tweak her a bit to stay true to her character but I think I’m on the right path. At least, I hope I am. Plus, since ending Camp NaNoWriMo earlier this year, I have the majority of the store already in the third arc. After some more revision, Crimson Queen should be finished soon. Fingers crossed.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

A Battle Between Ideas AKA Focusing AKA Balancing

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

As April comes winding down and Camp NaNoWriMo is on its last legs, I have begun thinking about my next writing project. Even as I work on Crimson Queen, my mind refuses to focus on it. Instead, it wants to write something else. It’s a battle between ideas and I don’t like it.

I want to stay ‘true’ to Crimson Queen because Camp NaNoWriMo is almost finished. May 1st is only three days away. I know this. My brain knows this and yet it refuses to even wait. It is between two writing projects. Both are fantasy ideas. Both have a plot to them and a world built. All that is left is to iron out minor details and to write them. However, let’s not forget all the other ideas I have in my drawer for a rainy day.

To make matters worse – maybe – I’m sending out query letters and starting ‘school’ again. This time it will be for a teaching certification which I’m really excited about.

A lot is going on right now. Perhaps it’s best to also include balancing somewhere in herr. With life happening e.g. moving to a different place, taking classes, and work, there’s not a lot of time left to write. It sometimes gets so overwhelming, my brain refuses to work.

While this doesn’t happen often to me, it has happened before.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

Dealing with Boredom

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

Earlier this week I sat down to write the daily 1,667 words needed to complete Camp NaNoWriMo and I didn’t want to. Just the thought of writing filled me with dread. I couldn’t really pinpoint the feeling.

It was then that I asked myself a question. Why didn’t I want to write? I was doing so well before. After a few moments of thinking to myself, I knew the answer. The story was boring. I was bored because the story felt boring to me. The characters were at a stand still. They were looking for clues but weren’t getting anywhere. I wasn’t getting anywhere.

I knew that I didn’t want to stop writing Crimson Queen. I’d told myself that I wanted to complete most of the story this month. If not most, then all. I didn’t want to change my goal completely.

Coming to terms with this, I looked back at all my plot and character notes. While some of it had changed, the intention and direction was still there. I still so much content left to write.

So, I finished the scene I started the day before. After doing this, I forced myself to move on to the next scene. I needed to move forward. And so I did. Saying this, I wasn’t always capable of skipping a scene and moving on to the next one. It took baby steps like summarising, leaving comments for myself to go back to, and even writing a different version of the scene all together. It was enough to get me to this point.

Once I had a ‘fresh’ start, I wasn’t bored anymore. I was excited. Writing the daily goal for that day didn’t take very long. My fingers ached by the end of it but I was done. Goal complete.

Looking back at it, I’ve come to realize how far I have come since starting out. Being able to skip scene is huge for me. I was the type of writer who had to get every word perfect. The scene had to be perfect. I could not and would not move on until it was. I remembered getting so fustrated and stressed out because the words weren’t coming out like they were suppose to. It got to a point where I stopped writing the story altogether for weeks on end and focused on something else.

I am very grateful that I am not that writer anymore. I have the strength to move forward and focus on the scenes I want to write. Sure, I still have to remind myself that I can always come back to something but that doesn’t always happen. Then I start asking myself, ‘would I regret not finishing this story?’ and the answer is ‘yes’ all the time. It’s the small things that keep me going and I know that I am not alone. I just can’t let my struggles stop me.