The Get to Know Me Tag: Writer’s Edition

Happy Wednesday, friends!

I’ve seen this tag going around the blogosphere the past month and thought it would be a fun way for you all to get to know me a little better (especially since there are a few new faces around here!). I’d love to hear your answers to these questions in the comments!

Rules are up first!

The Rules:

• Link back to the person who created the tag, Savannah Grace
• Thank the person who tagged you (Thank you, Bella!)
• Share the tag graphic (up above!)
• Tag 11 bloggers

And now for the questions!

Visual stats and appearance

(Pen) Name: Kristianne Hassman is both my real and my pen name! When I was younger I thought it would be fun to have a pen name (Flora M. Hanson and Jasmine Pucket were two names in the running 😂), but as I got older, I realized that I didn’t want the complication of going with a name that wasn’t mine.

Nicknames: Kristi, Kay, Kiki (only if you’re my little brother 😉) Most of the time, I prefer to be called by my full name though.

Birthday: It’s in March! (I won’t give the exact date though. I can’t reveal all my secrets, you know. Where’s the fun in that?)

Hair color and length: My hair color is blonde brown. I used to bemoan the fact that it looked like dirty dishwater, but now I actually appreciate the natural highlights it gives my hair. It’s quite curly and goes a little past my shoulders.

Eye color: Blue green

Braces/piercings/tattoos: I had braces for two years from the time I was 13 until 15, and I have two earring piercings. I’ve never had a tattoo and don’t plan on ever having one, haha!

Righty or lefty: Proud lefty! I’m the only one in my family.

Ethnicity: Generically, I’m Caucasian. I have German blood on my dad’s side and some Welsh and North American Indian on my mom’s (It’s so small though that I’m not sure it counts).

Firsts

First novel written: I’ll have to go aaaall the way back to when I was ten years old and wrote a (very short) novel called The Immigrant’s Life about a Russian family who moved out West from New York City. It ended up being a grand total of 15,000 words (so more of a novella than a novel), but ten-year-old me was so proud of myself for finishing it.

First novel completed: I’ll count The Immigrant’s Life even though it’s technically not long enough to be a full-length novel!

Award for writing: None so far.

First publication: Back in January of 2019, I self-published a collection of short stories on Amazon about children who met Jesus. It’s not my best work and I’ve since taken it down since it doesn’t reflect the genre and style I write now. But it was a great learning experience–I realized just how much work goes into self-publishing!

Conference: I attended the One Year Adventure Novel Workshop virtually in 2020. My dream is to attend Realm Makers someday!

Query/Pitch: Unfortunately, I haven’t queried or pitched anything yet. I’m honestly a little terrified at the thought, haha! But I hope to have something ready enough to pitch within the next year or two.

Favorites

Novel (that you wrote): This one’s easy! My favorite so far is the medieval fantasy story I started about five years ago, The Princess’s Daughter. It’s about a princess who is exiled from her country at a young age, grows up on a tropical island, and then has to return years later to rule her country. I resonate so deeply with this character and story because I wove many of my own experiences as a missionary kid into it. I know the struggles of growing up between two worlds, of trying to adjust to a country that’s supposed to be your home country, but feels more foreign than your overseas home. Even though I haven’t finished this story yet and it needs a lot of work before it can see the light of day, that story will always have a special place in my heart. I hope to someday be able to publish it and share it with others!

Genre: Currently, historical fiction and fantasy are my favorites to write. I’d love to try my hand at a dystopian someday too! As far as reading, I read a lot of historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and nonfiction books, especially ones about Christians ministering in difficult places.

Author: WHY?? We need to make this question illegal! Seriously, I seem to find five new favorite authors every month. As far as fantasy though, my all-time favorite author is Nadine Brandes. Her stories have such richness and depth and soul to them that I strive to emulate in my own writing. I’ve also recently fallen in love with Mesu Andrews’ biblical fiction books. Her characters just leap off the page!

Writing Music: Classical music is always my go-to. It’s so timeless and unlike other music, I can listen to it over and over again. Plus, there’s such a wide variety that I’m never at a loss for music to fit the occasion!

Time to Write: Mid to late morning is the best writing time for me when my brain is wide awake. But I also write well in the afternoons. Occasionally, I can do evenings, but only if I’m fired up and in the zone.

Writing Snack/Drink: I don’t normally eat while I write (it’s too distracting), but sometimes I’ll have a cup of coffee or tea. Cinnamon black tea or green matcha tea have been a few of my favorites lately.

Movie: Again, how do I choose just one? I could watch the Jane Austen movies over and over again. Little Women (2019) is also a favorite.

Writing Memory: Ooh, this is a good question! Let’s be honest–my long-term memory isn’t that good, so I’ll go with one of my favorite writing memories from the other day when I was working on a short story. I had really struggled with getting the story to work, even after the second draft, and was feeling discouraged about it. But as I finished the third draft, I felt this amazing thrill that it was good. That God had given me the words I needed to achieve my goal with the story. It was such an encouragement to me to never give up because you never know when your breakthrough might be around the next corner.

Childhood Book: Some of the first books that made me fall in love with storytelling were the Bracken Trilogy books by Jeri Massi. They’re super old, but they inspired me to write medieval fantasy about brave princesses having to do hard things (that’s probably where some of the inspiration for The Princess’s Daughter came from!).

Currently

Reading: I’m currently only reading one book (Isn’t that shocking?), Mozart: The Reign of Love by Jan Swafford. It’s an 800-page biography, so it’s going to keep me busy for a while, but I’m enjoying the in-depth look at Mozart’s life and musical genius. Plus, I’m learning so much about musical forms and structure, which has expanded my love for music even more!

Writing: I can only work on one project at a time, so I’m plugging away at the first draft of my historical fiction book, The Violinist’s Daughter. So far, I’ve only completed two chapters, but my goal is to get at least three more in before the end of June.

Listening To: Lately, I’ve been listening to the soundtrack from Love Story (if you haven’t listened to it before, you need to–it’s divine.), classical music playlists, and some piano arrangements by Charles Szczepanek.

Watching: This past weekend, I watched a sweet horse movie called Dreamer and a fascinating documentary about the evolution of movie scores called Score. I would highly recommend it if you’re into music!

Learning: Oh wow, so much. Where do I begin? One lesson that’s stuck out to me lately is that of waiting on the Lord. Without going into all the details, lately I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that my timeline and solutions don’t always look like God’s, and even when it feels like nothing is going the way it’s supposed to, God is still in control. He will come through for me, even if it’s not in the way I imagined. A book that’s really encouraged me in this area is It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa Terkeurst. If you’re going through disappointment or a season of waiting, I would highly recommend you read it.

Future

Want to be Published: Absolutely! My dream is to be traditionally published someday, and I’m pursuing that through the Author Conservatory! I’d love to be published with publishing houses like Enclave, Thomas Nelson, or Bethany House.

Indie or Traditional: I think both have their place and both are great options! While I want to primarily pursue traditional, I’d love to try indie publishing sometime–I’ll probably end up doing some hybrid form of traditional and indie (like what Roseanna M. White does).

Wildest Goal: My wildest dream? To work with an international Christian publication, such as Voice of the Martyrs, and get to travel and write stories on brave Christians shining for Jesus around the world. My dream is to be able to use my gifts to serve other believers, especially in persecuted countries, while being able to support my family.

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Tags:

• Katja at Little Blossoms for Jesus
• Kayti at Sisters Three
• Breanne at Writing, Flying, Free
• Kellyn Roth
• Kate at Once Upon An Ordinary
• R.M. Archer at Scribes & Archers
• Jen at Living Outside the Lines
• Lauryn at Pro Story Builders
• Charis Rae
• Eliana at Eliana the Writer
• Amie Anne
• And anyone else who would like to do it! (Yes, I’m giving you permission to steal it 😉)

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It was so much fun to dig up some of my earliest writing and reflect on how far I’ve come in the past few years! How would you answer these questions? What are you currently reading/watching/listening to? I’d love to know where you’re currently at in your writing journey!