The Frustrations Of A Debt Free Journey

Hey Readers!

I hope that everyone’s Friday is going well. My day started out to be very stressful. I always try to talk positive on my blog, but I am also keeping it real, too. Being on a debt free jounrey is not easy for me. I’m currently reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad and it’s teaching me so much! I am grateful for the author, Richard. On the other hand, I have a plan on how to get out of debt, but on the other hand, it still seems impossible. Let me explain.

I’ve decided to start Baby Step 2 in the Dave Ramsey plan. BS2 is to pay ALL of your debt, My debt is currently at $211,000. I know I loose my breath everytime I think about the number. To prepare I have also been saving my money in an Emergency Fund so that way I can have a cushion. Let’s face it. $1000 is NOT ENOUGH for a starter emergency fund. My frustration is not just about the debt, but also about earning more income to pay it off. Which leads to the next frustrating thing.  Income. My current income is 38k. I’m looking for side hustles and even another job making more money.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaing at all. These student loan debts are just that mine. It just sucks that I’m not even working in ANY of the fields that I have degrees in. At least that would make me feel a little better.

Plan Of Action

How do I tackle such a big amount? Well, I’m going to pay as much as I can on my student loans while continuing to try to get more income as a writer. Writing is my passion and it’s what I want to do for a living. I also want to bring personal finance in the mix as well since I enjoy it so much. Being on this journey I am sacficing being an even more nomad or homebody so I can be able to say I’m debt free and help others and different organizations. My heart is in the right place. I just wish the income would follow suit. I know in time it will because there is a man named Jesus who said that he would give me the desires of my heart to make it happen. But, I have an AMAZING support system with Clever Girl Finance and my acocuntability partner, Stacey. They understand the struggle and how real it is. So, I’m taking a deep breath, pulling up my big girl panties and getting to work.

 

A Conversation With My Love

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Where have you been? ”

” I’ve been right here, you just don’t see me right now.”

” Oh. I guess you are right. I’m sorry about that.” I said.

” It’s okay. They don’t want you around me anymore I see.”

” Yea. My doctors think I need a break from you and your partner.”

” I heard. It’s okay. We will always be here when you are ready. We know how much you love us.”

” I really do. I miss you guys SO much, you have no idea!”

” Shhh, It’s fine really.”

” No, it’s not. I feel like I can’t win by using you. I pitch your words to companies, people and no one wants you.”

” That’s how it is sometimes. But, someone will want us one day.”

” I don’t know about that. I mean, someone thought that the feature film that starred you was woth $500 today. You are worth so much more than that.”

” Well, as long as you know my worth, it’s all that matters. Your worth is my worth, too.”

” Thanks. I just feel like a failure. We used to be so close and life is drifting us apart. I feel like I can’t win.”

” We have already won, others just have to see it. But, whatever you do, don’t give up on us completely. You are the key to getting our words out. Get it, key, words, lol.”

” Very funny.”

“You will be great and someone will want to represent us and show us off the world.”

” Thanks. But, who are you? We always have these talks, but what do I call you?”

” You like to call me your love, but I am your writing. I am what you think about doing most of the day when you work in the call center and can’t concentrate. I’m the reason you keep going at times because I am here for you. I won’t ever leave you.”

” I appreciate that.”

” No worries. Now, go rest your eyes and use me in your journal. We have lots to talk about there. I need to know what happened with the guy.”

” Guy? Oh no! Let’s not go there.”

” Okay fair enough. We won’t talk about him tonight, but just talk period. We have lots to catch up on.”

The END

 

 

Dear Writers

Dear Writers,

I know what you must be thinking, “ Who is this girl writing us with advice about writing?” Well, let me introduce myself, my name is Krystol. I’m 33 years old and I believe we have a few things in common. We love to write and probably read as well.  Our favorite thing to do on our spare time is to write and we feel weird when we are unable to. Am I right? So, I just wanted to give you some encouragement on this lonely journey that many of us take. You see, we are often misunderstood by our peers, family, and friends or just about anyone. I mean, most people think we can’t make a living at doing what we love. Eh, what do they know? But, what I know that YOU have a gift to share with the world. Okay, well maybe not the entire world at least not right away, but we have some things to get our chest.  I like to say that writing is the door to our heart. It’s where our stories lie and our words unite.  There are times when you don’t write a thing or life happens and our love is on the back burner. It’s okay, we are only human, born to make mistakes, (by the way that’s not my words, that is the group “ The Human League”, but you get my point. When we fall, because we will, we always do at some point in our lives, get back up and keep typing or writing ( if the notebook or journal is your thing).  No matter what way you prefer to write, continue to do it no matter what anyone says. If you are writing a novel, blog, or just something no one will ever read, don’t let other people stop you from putting the words down. Words are powerful when people tell us what not to pursue. But, you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone if they doubt you. We only get one life to live, so why not live it by doing what you love. I hope this can encourage you to keep writing following your dreams.

 

All The Best,

Krystol

Who Are You?

Lately I have been thinking a lot about this. As I’m reading a current book titled, ”  The Hollywood Commandments A Spiritual Guide To Secular Success and watching a few of Evan Carmichael’s videos this has my mind pondering. Who am I? Sure, I am a girl, a writer, a daughter, an aunt and sister, but deep down who am I really? My grandmother once told me that a person in their 30’s should know who they are. Yet, I feel like I am still trying to find myself.  I was recently diagnosed with cirrhosis and it has me thinking a lot about life. Am I happy where my life is right now? The more I dwell I am not. i was watching this video that Evan Carmichael had on finding your purpose. One of the exercises that he mentioned was to make a list of things that you would do if you were a millionaire or only had one week to live. Of course the living part really caught attention.   If you don’t mind, I want to share my list with you guys. If money wasn’t an option and I was living on ” borrowed” time these are what would fulfill my life.

 

1. Become a New York Times Bestselling Author
2. Make one of my movies and have it on a network
3. See one of my Pilots on screen and even picked up
4. Write for TV
5. Live in a warm climate
6. Have the world enjoy my stories on and off screen.
7. Become a mother
8. Work as a Researcher

All of these things have one major thing in common. Can you SEE what it is? If you haven’t guessed it, it’s WRITING. It’s being a writer! Writing is something that I would do all day long and for free and still be happy. But, then I ask myself, why haven’t I been writing? The stress of everyday living has started to take the joy of just jotting things down and finishing projects away from me. I’m not happy with my job, it’s not brining me joy, I’m afraid of my health and dying. So many things that hold me back from really going after the dream. The fear is called THE DEVIL. He’s busy and I have to continue to not be here for it. Ignore  the voice in my head that tells me it won’t happen, it’s a long shot or  think if I will fail. Failure isn’t an option. I choose to live and not just exist, I chose life over death.

There are so many battles that people have in their lives, mostly with their self. We are human. It’s okay to be afraid, but we can’t give in to the fear. We must be risk takers. I was applying for a lot of jobs ( even though I’m starting a new one) where I am able to utilize my writing and research skills in some way, but not where my heart lies. Granted, I know the bills have to be paid and sometimes you have to do what you have to do and not want to do. But, where does that leave me? Sure, I can still write until I make it, I mean, that is what I plan to do. My goal is to not loose focus on the writing when life happens. Life clouds my judgement and it has really been getting to me lately. There are so many projects that I need to finish it’s not even funny. I had made a post on Facebook where I stated I was going to finish writing a film. I re-read what I wrote and then closed the computer. I keep asking myself, ” who are you?” I am a writer who will keep writing until her dreams come true no matter the obstacles. To my readers, who are you?

NanoWriMo, It’s A Wrap!

I know that you didn’t expect me to finish Nano so early. To be honest, I didn’t expect to finish either. But, let me first say that when Nov.1st came, I already had about 10 thousand words already on my project. I didn’t want to have slow days where I would slack off not write. So, you must be asking, how did you write 40k, in 10 days?  Here are some tips that helped me.

1. Make Friends – This might sound silly, but it really helped me. I joined a lot of Facebook writing groups and even found YouTubers who were doing Nano also. We made our videos where we talked about our projects. We followed each other on our own social medias and stayed in touch.
2. Word Sprints – I did a lot of word sprints via twitter, the nano-website and on other writer’s live streams on YouTube. This was fun because I wasn’t alone. We all had the same goal and that was to write. We talked about our stories and even got ideas from one another.
3. Set a goal- The first few days I was hitting the normal minimum target of 1,667 a day. Then I changed myself to write 2k a day then bumped it up to 5k a day. I know you must be thinking, “Krystol, you are crazy”, I thought I was. But, I had the extra time in the morning since I’m not working right now. I wrote 2,500 words in the morning and then 2,500 in the evening. Some of my writer friends working in the mornings and at night, so I would sprint with them before they went to work.
4. Read the e-mails from authors on NanoWrio- This kept me encouraged when I was just tired of writing some days. One that really spoke out to me was Dean Koontz. He gave us ( writers) advice on how not to accept no or follow other’s people rules. He gave the example of his agent not wanting to pitch a book that ending up selling millions of copies.

I know that it is still early in the month and some of you are still writing. I want to encourage you to keep going and not dwell on the word count, but to have fun writing the story. My story ended up being 50,089 words. I am going to publish it in about two weeks. I must say that I am very excited. I was going to wait until February, but I am going to put it out sooner. I hope that my subscribers purchase my psychological thriller and enjoy the read. Below is the cover and synopsis.

Synopsis:

Artie Leigh was never the popular guy. He was teased mercilessly for being different. It wasn’t until he made a YouTube channel that he found his place. Artie stumbled upon a channel by a girl named Kaylee St. James and subscribed. They became internet friends, and she made him a moderator for her channel. Kaylee was only interested in running her channel professionally, but Artie saw her as something more, something special. Artie was determined to win her heart and use his charm. Things were looking up for Artie. He had a place that he belonged and made friends in the online community. Artie had an opportunity to go to a meet and greet in London where he could finally meet Kaylee and her subscribers. But something unexpected happened on the trip that drove Artie a little over the edge. Will he be able to make Kaylee see his true feelings for her, or will she refuse him and kick him out of her life, forever?

 

NanoWriMo Prep, Are you ready?

I’ve come to look forward to this challenge every year no matter what I have going on in my life. This is my way to complete a task and de-stress from life. My life is not the best, but it is not the worst, either. Any way, I am ready to write. I will work on an erotic novel. You guys have seen the cover before, but I will post it again at the end of this post. I am so excited to complete yet another book. This one will be self-published.

Lately, as I have been doing my research and reading writing books, I notice that self-published is the way to go in terms of money, but traditional publishing is better in terms of your work being marketed properly. I must admit, my marketing skills are NO good. Besides you guys, acquaintances, friends and family, I do not know who to pitch to. Okay, let me get back on board here. NanoWriMo! Nano, is a way to get that book completed that you had stashed away from many years. It’s a way for you to achieve that dream of writing a novel. Of course, you determine if you want the world to read it, but the writing part will be done nonetheless.

If you are interested in being a writing buddy, I am KDP Krissy. I’d love to connect with you! We can do writing sprints and talk about our works. I really enjoy making writer friends and I want to do that more. As a writer it is such a lonely world and I feel alone. Others don’t understand because it is not their dream to be successful with words. I would love to hear from you.

My Writing Project For NanoWriMo2017

Want A Paid Writing Gig?

My fellow writers! I have a GEM for you! I know how we writers want to make a living writing or at least be appreciated for what we have to bring to the table, right? I came across this online paid magazine by networking right here on wordpress. I started to read other’s blogs and BOOM there it was! Yes, I am talking about this banner right here:

This is totally legit! I even signed a contract and met other writers for the magazine as well. This is a new magazine and I must say that I very excited to accept the position of a columnist! My areas of expertise will be for Bookish News and Reviews, Writer’s Life and Fashion & Beauty sections. I could not be more proud to be a part of a great magazine. If you have more questions please do hesitate to email the editor at EDITOR@CONSCIOUSTALKMAG.COM.

My Thoughts:

If you look back on my  What’s On Your Writer’s Bucket List?  back in 2013, I stated that I wanted to write for a company. I did not specify what type of company because it could be anything. I have been a contributing writer for a few magazines, but never having my own column(s). This opportunity is so exciting for me. You have no idea. I want all of my writer friends to join in on this venture with me if you are interested and have the time.

Procrastination

Happy Monday! I know please do not sound so grim. It will not be that bad today. We are all going to have a good day, right? Right! I wanted to touch on procrastination. We all do it and as we do it, we wish that it was not a thing. For any writer it is hard to keep on track sometimes. We may have something going on in our lives where writing seems impossible. I have been there and I know that life happens.

How do we not procrastinate? Well, I have a couple of things that have helped me. Sometimes we have to do things that are out of our norm or things we would usually do. There will be trial and error, but figuring out what works for you.

• Keeping A Schedule  – This can work many ways. You can keep a calendar and put different things that you write on different days. For example, on Monday, write a blog, Tuesday, write three chapters of a novel, on Wednesday work on journaling. Having a calendar can be beneficial. But, if you are like me, this does not work. It will work for a few days and then that is it.
• Writing Daily  –  It’s a little similar to keep a schedule, but not really. Writing daily can be for the same project. If you are writing a novel or a screenplay, you may write every day until the project is finished. This can be more of a habit because on the days you do not write, you will feel weird when you have not written anything.
• Writing Partner  – I have had many writing partners or buddies through out of writing career. They are there to hold you accountable with your writing. Your partner may suggest sprints or even put you on a writing schedule to make sure that you are keeping busy. I have an accountability partner, her name is Jennifer. She is a great friend. We met in a writing group on Facebook and have been rocking out together since. I have read her work and vice versa.
• Writing Prompts  – I know we have those days when we are not really into our projects. It is okay. We are human and have those days at times. What works best for me is to still write by utilizing a writing prompt. Sometimes I will blog it or write in my writing journal.

These are just a few things that you can do to not procrastinate. Will you follow these examples and never procrastinate again? Of course not. I will not even follow these all the time, but it is nice to do when you are feeling like you are in a writing slump. Let’s talk in the comments, what do you do to not procrastinate?

Writing Prompt

Happy Sunday! Grab your hot beverage and get ready to experience something great with me. I know you maybe saying, ” Krystol, what are you up to now?” I smile devilishly and fold my hands together. Okay, it is not too crazy, but I want all of my writers that are subscribed to my channel, to participate in a writing prompt with me. Let’s get started!

Writing goals to me are checklists of things that you plan on doing in a current story or with other writing avenues. I have many writing goals and I have to learn to take them one goal at a time instead of trying to do everything at once. This is no bueno! Do not attempt to achieve goals that way. I am still a work in progress. But, with that being said, let us write out our goals. If you are comfortable, write yours in the comments or you can even do it in a journal. I have a writing journal that is specifically for writing ideas and books.

1. Obtain a full-time writing job – This one may not seem out of the ordinary since I talk about this often on my blog. I want to write full-time for a living whether it is with a company, Magazine, Journalism, or even a TV show. I would even write screenplays for a living if the pay was right. Now, I know that writers mostly get the short end of the stick when it comes to payment whether you are a freelance writer or writing full-time with a company. My advice, stand your ground and try and to get almost what you deserve.
2. New Your Times Best Sellers List – This has always been a dream of mine. I mean, who does not want NYTBS at the end of their name. I still want to write as many books as I can in order to make that happen.
3. Agent – I NEED an agent like yesterday! My writing is so diverse ranging from books, screenplays, TV pilots and more. The sky is the limit for what I to do with my writing. I want to get a book deal and sign with a great agent. This will happen.
4. Big Screen – I want to see my name on the big screen of something that the entire world will see. Just to see written by ” Krystol Diggs” on a major platform is such an honor to me. I can not wait until that goal is achieved. I hope that it happens before I am thirty five years old. Time is ticking.
5. Coach – I would love to be a writing coach for new writers. This means setting up their goals for themselves, giving advice, and even counseling them to excel with their writing.

I ask all the writers who are reading this and not just liking this blog, what are your writing goals?

Why Is Developing Your Story Hard?

Writers, if this picture above is you when developing a story, I totally get it! It does not matter if you have an outline, are going by Act’s or just writing from an idea, the development can always be a tricky. But, there are somethings to consider when getting into the ” meat” of your story.

1. Stretching It Out  –  Often times we are writers are so good with showing our story instead of telling. When you show or just explain what it going on, that makes it hard for the reader to really visualize what you are saying. For example, ” Mike went to the store and got us a milkshake. I told him to get me a strawberry milkshake and he got a chocolate one while I waited for him.” This is an example of telling. Now, let’s tell that same story.

Mike and I sat at the booth before he headed up  to the counter. There were other families and couples enjoying their food, milkshakes and ice-creams.

” Sam, what kind of milkshake do you want?”  Mike asked.

Still looking back and forth and the menu, I finally decided.

” Mm, I think that I am going to have the strawberry milkshake.”

Mike smiles.

” That sounds good, Sam, but I am going to get a chocolate one.”

Mike looks at the long line as he turns around and stares at the crowd.

” I am going to wait until the line dies down, okay?”

” Whatever works.”

Waiting for the line to go down, Mike and I still talked about our classes as we sipped on ice water that was brought to us.

Okay, now do you see the different between showing and telling? This has been stretched out and embellished. We are able to see exactly what is going on ( well at least we can picture it.”  This also gives you a longer word count as well!

2. Character Development  – This is a problem area for some writers. When it comes to developing your characters, you really have to make them a real person. Check out my blog on character profiles. In my opinion when writing any book, I feel that all main characters need to have a background story. Where did they come from? What was their childhood like? How were their parents? Sometimes you can even take it a step further and tap into their parents background. This can give the reader some justification as to how or why main character is the way that he/she is. This can be come by doing a ” flashback”  or having another person’s point of view come present and they are telling their side.

3.  Lastly, another reason that your story can be hard when it comes to development is because it is all over the place. You have so many characters and everyone is doing their own thing. Whether you have an outline to look at or not, you can just be writing to write. This is called freelancing. Just jotting things down and not have a place for them to call home. When this happens, take a step back and get some clarity. Ask yourself, ” What story am I really trying to tell?” Your story can be so good that it starts to tell itself and shift in directions that it is not on an outline. This is why I do not use an outline. I let the story speak for itself. But, I know that there are some writers who MUST  have a guide or something to look off of. Even if your mind is going a mile a minute, just remember that every story has a beginning, middle and an end.

Thanks so much for taking the time out to read this blog for today. I hope that it helps you with your development of your story. Now, GO WRITE! That is an order.