Habits Die Hard

Here we are, here we are, 5 days away from the audiobook launch of Habit. My psychological thriller is nearly complete and will be released March 17, 2024

The month draws on and it feels like a year of magnificent turbulence. I have confirmation from school, flight training starts May. Will I be ready?

Physically, yes. Financially, maybe. Psychologically? I’m thrilled. I can’t believe that I get to work, study and write all in one lifetime. Pretty soon I’ll be behind the control column, but these last few weeks I’ve been behind the mic.

Enjoy this sneak preview of Habit read to you by the author!

Escape Rooms in February

I haven’t walked under the sun in weeks, and unless the weather perks up, I likely won’t see blue skies anytime soon. I’ve been reminiscing on all the games I’ve been playing and it made me grateful. One of the joys of living in a rational society, is that regardless of the weather, we know how to make the most of our resources.

For example, my friends and I rolled thru an escape room in the middle of the city on a chilled Friday night just this week. Of all the things I’m grateful for in this century, games are way up there. I love that humans enjoy puzzles, riddles, and challenges enough to build elaborate tech and spaces we can explore. I love that my friends also enjoy getting locked in a room with only one way thru and nothing but our sanity at stake.

I also love that Dungeons and Dragons is so popular. Back in my day, none of my friends wanted to adventure in our minds. Now I can play online with my real friends from anywhere in the world. Last spring I joined from Malta at 0500 local time because DnD demands sacrifice and it’s worth every minute.

I’m impressed by the VR out there today too. I play Beat Saber and Duel Strike on Quest but I’ve seen some incredible horror and adventure games recently. Unfortunately, I get motion sickness from the heavy visor, so I am looking forward to upgrading, though I’m not sold on the snowboard goggles Meta has out now.

I’m just looking forward to playing outside again and I’m glad I’ve had any time at all for socialization and fun this winter. Working twelve hour shifts in hospital security has been a chore, but at least I have time to study when the patients are asleep.

How do you spend your days during cold weather?

I hope you get to play your favorite games, and as always,

Keep Writing!

-Kass

Poetry that Packs a Punch!

There’s been a bit of delay between releasing Songs From the Mountaintop and receiving feedback, & I was starting to think I’d made a mistake with my publisher. Then I saw a message on X and it turns out people have received their copies. A fan took the time to send me a photo of my book alongside his other precious reading material and my heart sang when I saw it.

As some of you know, I made a special dedication to my favorite philosopher, so to see my work next to hers made me cry. I am so proud to have this shot and I wrote a little thank you poem to Brunetti for anyone interested in sending me their own message on X

Just a reminder, you can still receive your copy of Songs FREE when you review the book on Amazon, or Barnes & Noble and as always,

Keep Writing!

-Kass

Work Work Work Work Work

Why do people hate their jobs? and Why can’t everyone find the career they love?

I have held a total of 22 positions in my lifetime and I plan on one more, this one for keeps. Something I have learned in every classroom, office, and clinic I’ve been employed at is that I can do anything and “be happy”. Being happy comes from somewhere deeper than having the perfect job, it comes from the inner love of good work.

Whether you’re looking to solve a world-wide problem or reach the lives of a handful of families, your outreach needs to come from your focus on doing your best and gauging the happiness it brings YOU.

In my lines of work, I never self-sabotaged, yet I’ve seen people do this everywhere. What I mean by self-sabotage is when, purposefully or not, an individual neglects their duty and their sanity at work.

By duty, I mean the things expected of a person to show competence: the obvious lengths one should go to at work. People sometimes believe that being an all-star is above and beyond, but duty is not an exception to one’s job.

The biggest lie I see people tell themselves is: I’ve done enough.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is a big difference between your duty to work and your duty to your own sanity. No one can work hard for a long time when they are unhappy. Unhappy meaning unfulfilled, or without long-term rewards based on one’s own preference and standard of living.

In Canada and North America as a whole, there is a culture of working for a living and I think most happy people understand this is the best way to live. Not everyone is good at the first or second or twenty second job they’ve worked, but over time, you should become adept and, if your focus is happiness and job-satisfaction, then not only will you do your job well, but you will have a positive attitude about the career and industry you chose.

Again, this is NOT a given. Liking to work takes a simple attitude change, which is, I WANT to do my best because I can and I CARE about the work I do because I’m the one doing it.

Don’t do what you hate, quit, and do something else. It is as simple as that, even if you don’t get the first job you wanted. If at first you don’t succeed, apply, apply again.

As always,

Keep Writing!

-Kass

Going Live

It’s a little nerve wracking to go out onto the world wide web with just your insights and a microphone. That’s why I’m challenging myself tho. I want to share valuable real-life experience as well as stories and poems and songs.

Just a quick note to first time visitors, this is a site to help connect on other platforms too. Follow my social links below and find me on your favorite feeds.

A special thanks to my long-time fans and friends, you keep me on target and motivated!

As always,

Keep writing!

-Kass

Paying for School

Tertiary education has become our rite of passage in many ways. Whereas various traditions mark adulthood with biological milestones, now we tend to acknowledge the struggle of intellectual milestones instead. Not to mention the fact that individuals worldwide don’t leave the nest right after their Quinceañera or Bar Mitzvah, but usually somewhere after school.

We leave when we can “fend for ourselves” and in this economy, that usually means after college or trade school. I began my studies in English. One year after graduating high school in Calgary, AB, I started what would be a four semester stint at Mount Royal University followed by two more with Athabasca.

My first novel, Habit, actually began as a study in class after a friend of mine tried to quit smoking through hypnosis. But that short story wouldn’t pay the bills, so I took on three jobs at one point just to keep comfortable.

In order to knock down debt, I recommend working long hours for good pay. I’ve always used student loans, but the key is to take big bites out of them whenever you can. As I head towards flight school in 2024, it looks like I’m going to have to work far more hours to afford my new dream.

Paying for education by finding your dream job is the same as paying with the usefulness of the knowledge you acquire. For example, even though I’ve had multiple high paying tutoring jobs and dozens of writing gigs, Writing is a saturated market. Now that AI can nearly match human writing, I’m even more happy I didn’t pay for more courses. Not when I’d learned the practical skills already. Now, I need to prioritize Staying Relevant.

That’s one point I wanted to make by writing this, you are going to pay for the education you deserve. If you buy a degree that doesn’t fulfill you because you took some bad advice or got distracted by a paycheck, you’ll suffer. If you buy one that brings you happiness and recompense, then you’re set. If you buy a degree where there is no market for your skills or you do not qualify for the career of your dreams, guess what? There’s still time.

Do right by yourself by researching, planning, and achieving your goals for education. You can look at me for inspiration. I’m 31, in ground school to become a commercial pilot.

I began this journey knowing I wanted to get paid to travel to beautiful places and I researched the types of contracts I could have. It looks like I’ll need to be a charter pilot, possibly with my own plane. I'll need to stay healthy and receive regular check ups to qualify for my yearly medical. I’ll need to study a certain number of hours on the ground, pass two written tests, then fly for 200 hours across the continent and pass even more tests. Then I need to work hard for 4000 hours before I can even look at a turbojet and voila, my dream begins.

I’ll still need to work diligently every day of my career to stay safe and reach my destination.

Remember, your plan begins where your dream does, but the dream dies when the plan does.

It’s so important to research, plan, and achieve your goals incrementally, not only so you can ensure you’re on track, but so you can learn how to take a vision and make it a reality step by step. School does that. It takes a set of knowledge and develops your understanding bit by byte.

If you value your education, pay for it. If you don’t, quit. I never regret finishing my English degree because I studied all the fiction, poetry, writing, and editing I desired. You can find out more about my University experience here.

Now, however, I am willing to pay $85 000 to change educational direction in my thirties because best case scenario, I get fifty five years to fly. That is worth far more than what it costs to cruise the clouds.

I wish all of you the best in your endeavors and as always,

Keep Writing!

-Kass

Plans for Poems

I keep envisioning a means of making poetry more applicable to today’s world. The new century has really dusted off its stanzas, but there were a lot of dead skin cells from the Post Moderns. I’m glad that spoken word is picking up heat because there is still a layer of detachment from poetry and reality and we need more lyrics about life. Here is a piece I wrote on poetics in the 21st Century if you haven’t been keeping up with this era’s poets.

So far, the best poems I’ve seen online are four to six lines on a simple background with the author’s name at the bottom. They’re sleek, ageless and memorable. My pieces tend to be between 12 and 20 lines, tho, so I’m learning to trim. The point is, nowadays poets can take snippets to share across social media and I am going to prioritize that this year. Last year I put out about 10 or so pieces, in 2024 I’m going to triple that.

Apart from snippets, there are shorts to think of. Poetry is meant to be heard and I do love to read to an audience, so I will be more active on YouTube, Instagram, and I might even get reacquainted with TikTok.

That’s the plan for this year, of course I want to continue to share my poetry collection, Songs From the Mountaintop, which can still be yours free, when you review your copy on Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Thanks for your support and as always,

Keep Writing!

-Kass

Who is Kassandra & why does she have a website?

I’m a free-range author and poet, seeking adventure and a means of sharing my life and stories with the world. The stories we tell ourselves shape our understanding of reality and our minds. I’ve always cared for heroic tales with meaningful endings and characters I can depend on to make good choices and beat the odds. Some of my pieces are more mystical than my actual estimation of existence, but I enjoy fantasy. So much more room to play.

When I’m not typing, I take the time to explore this world and tread the beautiful lands and behold magnificent artifacts. I’ve been to Southern Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, and more recently, Frankfurt and Malta. I’ve road tripped across Canada and the States. I’ve trekked the back country of Idaho, Utah, BC and Alberta. My favorite things to discover are summits, tombs, and caves.

This year I’m in school to become a pilot, so I expect to spend even more time on the go. Luckily, my laptop is light and my ideas are weightless. I’m not sure who is interested in hearing about my flight journey, but I’ll post the fun and exciting bits.

I’m so happy to get to share my sense of life and means of being with the world. This website can contain more candid information about who I am and how I got here. For starters, writing doesn’t come “easily” to me. I pry words out from the mine of imagination, and the tomes of research. Sometimes, it’s like pulling teeth. I prize the revision process and often I improve poems and stories I’ve already published. It’s a great time to be a writer.

I’m in love with this era where I live fairly freely, but I am passionate about a future that costs me even less. To me, flight is the metaphor for living life to the fullest. Reaching heights above which, many people will never climb, I aim to witness this world and all its splendor and I’ll do it with my own two wings :)

As always,

Keep Writing!

-Kass

New Site Same Greatness

Hello and welcome to this part of the web where you can locate my work easily. I have a couple of projects to announce for the New Year as well as two books to promote. 

As some of you know, my first novel, Habit, is currently being edited for audio production. I plan to release the final project this month. This is not a story for the faint of heart, so if you’re only looking to support me, let me recommend my poetry collection, Songs From the Mountaintop. This is a set to remember and a book I plan to record through videos in 2024. 

Finally, you can catch my upcoming sci fi, Ogonin Trials, through Takamo Universe. My incredible publisher, R. Ritnour has been devoted to this piece for two years and it is a delight to be in the revision phase. Check back here late January for updates.

If you’ve reached this site seeking writing services, Welcome! I’m glad you’re taking your work seriously and I’m happy to support you with both novels and non-fiction.

If we haven’t met, I’m sure we will. I’ll be touring one day with books a’ plenty. Til then, stay real and as always,

Keep writing.

-Kass