NanoWrimo – Katie Aguilera

2020 is nearly over, and as we all know, it has been A YEAR. There isn’t much I can say about it that hasn’t been said hundreds of times already. Y’all been living it too. So, I’ll just say, here’s hoping 2021 goes a little easier on us.

In the lead up to 2020 the theme of clarity was a thing. It was an optimistic reference to 20/20 vision and the hope for a clear view of the future ahead. But 2020 turned into chaos, confusion, heartbreak, political division, and all kinds of opacity about what the future holds.

However, in a strange way, the pandemic shutdown of everything did give me some clarity on life and goals and the things I truly want to focus on. The things that will make 2021 a happier, more successful year for me personally. At least, I hope.

As long as I’ve been able to form letters and string together words, I’ve been writing. But there was a long chunk of time where I was busy living and the only writing I did was for school, work (incident reports, ugh) and personal journaling. That changed November of 2010, when my sisters talked me into trying National Novel Writing Month.

I was reluctant to say the least. 50,000 words in a month? With toddlers to keep alive and a tiny business to run? That’s crazy. So, I decided the easiest way to succeed was to write a fictionalized version of parts of my own life. I was right, it worked. I wrote just over 50,000 words. I finished NanoWrimo with a story that has a beginning and an end—and tons of NanoWrimo filler.

I attempted NanoWrimo again in 2012 and that’s when the seed was germinated for the story that has become The Compass Legacy series. It has since evolved into something vastly different from how it sprouted, and it is the primary focus of my writing. But it is a complex story involving many characters and decades of back stories. It proved difficult to finish even before the 2020 disruption of everything.

So, I have largely shifted my focus the past few months. For some time, I’ve toyed with the idea of using my very first NanoWrimo project as a test run for learning the ins and outs of self-publishing. With The Compass Code getting close to being ready to publish, I’ve finally gotten serious about putting together my little crash-test novella and sending it off into the world.

This story is vastly different from what I normally write, and it’s definitely not written in my usual style, so I don’t plan to publish it under my name. I mention it now as an update on what I’ve been up to these days. I am still writing. Not as much as I would like to be, or as much as I was before March 2020, but I am getting things done. I’m re-writing the crash-test novella and cutting all that NanoWrimo filler as fast as possible so I can get back to the story I truly love.

All of this means I have to make 2021 the year of publishing. First, the crash-test novella, then hopefully both book one and book two of The Compass Legacy series. I also plan to make some changes to this website, start a newsletter, and conquer the fear of rejection that has kept me from launching a Patreon page. (I’ve gotta pay for an editor somehow.)

So, 2021, here we go. Check back for more updates in the coming months.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Well, I’ve been sitting on this sadly empty blog for some time now, so I thought maybe this would be a good time to finally write a post. You know, to introduce myself, or something. To explain just what this blog is all about.

There’s just something about November, I guess. Normally, I would be participating in NanoWrimo this month, but I took this year off. I’ll get to that. It was this event, and my lovely, talented, and highly persuasive sisters, that finally convinced me to take up something I’ve always loved. Writing. In November 2010, I set off on my first Nano journey. I wrote what is essentially a completed draft of a part autobiographical, part fictional adventure titled, Volkswagen Summer. After the month ended, the draft was left to languish deep in the files, where it remains today. I’ll get back to it eventually.

In November 2013, I started a new project. It has gone through several titles and many, many different plots in the years since, to emerge now, nearly finished, as The Compass Code. And that is why I am not participating in NanoWrimo this year. That is why this blog has sat here empty for so long. My main focus is finishing a first draft of this novel, and it’s so close. After years of writing scene after scene of an almost entirely character driven story, I finally have a solid feel of the full plot behind it all. So, yay! Maybe I can start sleeping better again. (Ha ha.)

Two years and three days ago, I started blogging at Seeking Redress, where I get into politics, news, and war. November seemed a fitting time to publish the first non-fiction piece I had written in years, for Veterans Day. I still post to Seeking Redress, sometimes frequently, sometimes not. Those posts are always linked to here, in case you want to check them out. However, on this blog, my focus is more on the art (agonizing, torturous, insanity driven process) of writing.

So, I’ll post all the ‘other’ stuff that just doesn’t fit at Seeking Redress. Short stories, rants, lessons I’ve learned on writing and life, whatever. Of course, I’ll be posting updates on my novel, maybe even some short clips and deleted scenes, as I get closer to publishing. I hope you will join me once in a while.

If you’re so inclined, join me on social media too. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can read my short bio here.