Posted on by Karissa

Create Stories

My career is in accounting. It took me four years to get my CPA license after graduating with my bachelor’s degree. The first year of that I was also getting my master’s degree while working full time. Accounting students that may be reading this: I do not recommend doing all three at once. Pick two. I used to be a tax accountant- did five tax seasons- and now I am a cast member. I create a story with numbers.

However, that is not the type of story I want to create. I started college as a creative writing major. I wrote a lot of fanfiction and a trilogy in high school. I want to be published. I want to write stories.

My goal this year is to create the stories I want to tell. But I’m treating it more seriously. I am reading books on writing. I am watching Brandon Sanderson’s lectures on YouTube. I even have a planner separate from my normal one to keep track of how much time I put into my writing. This blog included. It’s practice.

While my main goal is to finish the NaNoWriMo project I started in November, I also want to start creating more short stories. Ones that I can share here. I haven’t done that in some time, but I think it would be good for me. Exercise my brain and all that jazz. It should hopefully help with writer’s block as well when my main stories get to be difficult.

Speaking of NaNo, Camp NaNoWriMo starts next week! I have a modest goal of 20,000 words as it is a slightly busy time at work. I will be working on that 2019 NaNo project, and I hope you guys will join me! The people at NaNoWriMo are also doing a “Stay Home Wri Mo” right now. They are posting daily challenges and prompts on the Facebook page if anyone is interested.

Add me as a NaNo buddy: https://nanowrimo.org/participants/destinydalma. DestinyDalma is also my author name if you feel like reading cringey fanfiction on fanfiction.net that was written a decade or so ago. Tell me about your writing projects! We’re a large community, and I am excited to be a part of it.

Posted on by Karissa

NaNoWriMo 2019 Planning Update

I finally have a title! Golden Soul

One of my main characters’ name means empty light and I think that is the coolest.

While filling out a character sheet on Scrivener:

That’s right. The devil’s occupation is…. DEVILLING.
I cracked myself up with this one.

Right now the story is going to be set in Victorian era with a steampunk feel, but I may make it set in the future just so my MC has to have a music off in Hell with Elton John (I love Elton. It’s just a thing in my story that all musicians and script writers are in hell. ESPECIALLY the anyone who creates a musical. My devil is super into theatre.)

Just over a week before NaNoWriMo starts! If you are also taking the challenge, add me as a buddy: Destinydalma.

Posted on by Karissa

2018 Reading Progress

I like to think of myself as an avid reader. When I was younger, I practically lived at the library. Hell, I even got grounded from reading when my mom found me past midnight reading Goblet of Fire in my room on a school night. I was in fourth grade.

The past few years has seen a large decline in my habit. I barely reached my Goodreads challenge of 20 books last year, and I am only on book 11 of 30 for my current year challenge. It just seems like I am out of energy whenever I sit down to read or that I am forcing myself to read because I think I should.

Now, there have been a few books that get me back into that “OMG I LOVE READING” mood. Most of them are from the Star Wars expanded universe (pretty much anything having to do with Thrawn. He is one of the best characters ever.), but there has been a couple other books that caught me by surprise.

One was a book that caught my attention at Barnes and Noble because there was a comparison to Wheel of Time on the cover. It was A Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington, and the comparison has actually proven to be true. Most of the time those blurbs are there just to trap readers, and I have fallen prey to many a book I did not finish because of those little “if you like Harry Potter, you’ll love this!”

I am not a young adult book fan (for the most part).

Anyway, A Shadow of What Was Lost is the first book of a trilogy. It has magic. It has action and adventure. It has that “I really like this girl but my duty is to saving the world” plot line. The characters are intriguing and well written, and I found myself devouring it within a week. It was a great change of pace. I have the sequel right now, but I have been in a slump, so I am hoping my vacation next week will change that.

The other book that I have absolutely loved this year was Wall of Storms by Ken Liu. Now, this one started really slow, especially compared to the first in the series, but once it got going it was great. I am really glad I stuck it out, because everything came together perfectly and I am looking forward to a third novel, if there is to be one.

I hope that the rest of 2018 will include a return to feeling the joy of reading more consistently. I am thinking about getting a Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Unlimited to see if that will help (plus, all seven Harry Potter books are on unlimited which means my gorgeous, never read, hard back books will continue to look magical while I fulfill my need to reread the series).

Please, feel free to send me any recommendations for books and authors. I am always looking for new adventures. You can also add me on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/Karissabrust.