Posted on by Karissa

Winds of Winter Release Date!

The quarantine has produced a miracle. At long last. George R.R. Martin has announced the release date of Winds of Winter. And it is… Unknown. It’s April’s Fool Day and even I am ashamed at how cruel this joke is. Apologies to readers everywhere.

I did reach 25 books read so far this year though! Let’s take a look:

  1. The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
  2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
  3. Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston
  4. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
  5. The Glass Scepter by Bekah Harris
  6. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
  7. Revan by Drew Karpyshyn
  8. First and Only by Dan Abnett
  9. The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno
  10. Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston
  11. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
  12. The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
  13. Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan
  14. House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
  15. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
  16. Ghostmaker by Dan Abnett
  17. Warrior of the Altaii by Robert Jordan
  18. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
  19. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
  20. Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
  21. Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
  22. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
  23. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
  24. Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
  25. Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

This year’s series re-read is Lord of the Rings. I will probably also reread The Hobbit and The Similarion as well. I am trying to keep it to one series a year, unless it is Wheel of Time. Those can get sprinkled in whenever as there are 14 of them (15 if you include New Spring).

There are so many good ones in this 25. I really cannot say which are my favorites.

Save the Cat! is my new writing companion. I am in love with the theory and outlining method. Every aspiring writer should read it. House of Salt and Sorrows and The Starless Sea are probably top five worthy. Both were fantastic reads.

There is a lot of fantasy on that list. It’s my main genre. I did manage to finish The Last Wish before watching The Witcher on Netflix. Love them both. All the Star Wars books are really good (there are 4 on this list), especially the ones about my girls Padme and Ashoka. Brandon Sanderson I love, but it takes me much longer to get through his books. They require a lot of concentration, but the worlds he creates are wild.

I can’t wait to see what the next 25 will be! I am currently reading 2 books with 1 or 2 more on my Kindle waiting to be downloaded. As always, any suggestions are appreciated!

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

Happy NaNo!

Go start yours!

National Novel Writing Month is here! 20 days. 50,000 words. Roughly 1,667 words a day. Time to ration the discount Halloween candy to get through the challenge.

My project this year is Golden Soul. I am also using the software Schrivener for the first time. So far I really like it. Go start your project by going to NaNoWriMo.org and announcing your novel! Then add me as a buddy: DestinyDalma.

Well, I have writing to get to. Good luck to all the novelists out there!

Posted on by Karissa

One Week In!

How’s your NaNoWriMo projects going? I am currently sitting at less than 3k words, but I have only had one day where I did not write anything. I also had my story idea change on Monday, so that has also had a factor in my word count. Actually, it almost feels like I’m writing this one backwards- starting at the end and going back through to see how the characters got there.

But, the main goal for me this year is just to write something. To have a habit of jotting anything story related down every day in between study sessions. I’m trending around 66% on my CPA exam with 3 weeks to go to get me to a 75%. It’s going to take some hard dedication, but I got this.

It’s not too late to start your project, even if you don’t want to get the 50K word goal like me. Just sign up at nanowrimo.org and start writing!

Posted on by Karissa · 1 Comment

It’s Go Time

It’s November first, which means I have 29 days until my last CPA exam AND NaNoWriMo has started.

Because of said final exam, I am not expecting to hit the 50,000 word mark this year. I will be happy if I manage to write anything at all. If you want to join me, sign up at nanowrimo.org and add DestinyDalma as a writing buddy.

I’m going to double down on my study habits this month as much as possible. That means I will be studying while the turkey is frying in 3 weeks. I want to be done with this exam, especially before all the new tax laws become testable. To everyone thinking about taking the exam- take REG now. It’s only going to get harder next year.

I’m still going to try to post two times a week to keep y’all updated on what’s going on. They may be short posts, but I promise I won’t forget about you.

Posted on by Karissa

Camp NaNoWriMo

Three days in and I have nothing. Thank goodness this not the big one. I still have a couple of months before November. At least Camp NaNo lets you pick your goals. I opted for 20,000 words for the month of July. It’s a little less than half of the full NaNoWriMo, but a few good days of writing should work.

My project this year is a rewrite of a series I wrote back in high school, and, believe me, it reads like a teenager wrote it. I am no Christopher Paolini. This is actually my third attempt at rewriting- I keep getting a couple chapters in and deciding I like things a lot better a different way so I have to start over. It’s frustrating, but I know it will make the project better in the end.

My author name on all NaNoWriMo sites is DestinyDalma. Feel free to add me as a buddy. While the CPA exam and other things mean my writing is on the back burner, I do try a little harder during the event months. I look forward to the day I can write more consistently as it has been a huge part of my life.

What are your Camp NaNoWriMo projects and goals?