Hello, dreamers. I’ve had a lot of changes in my life over the past year. It’s been a long, grueling, trying year. And while these changes have been positive, and this year has been rewarding, my writing has been largely left to languish. But as the year passes, I sit once more at my computer, at last. I am home, at last. And now, in my writing as in life, it’s time for me to go home again. Thus, I’m pleased to announce my project for NaNoWriMo 2022: The Pioneer Era.

The Pioneer Era

By now, I’m not sure there’s a point in re-introducing this story. Set thirty years after the events of Pioneers, The Pioneer Era sees Randall Holmes return to the ninth planet of the Megrez system, now known as Denali. But the mundane details of this project aren’t important right now. What’s important is the direction my writing has taken, and how it relates to this novel, and NaNoWriMo.

In 2018, I won NaNoWriMo. I ended the month with an almost entirely complete first draft of Pioneers: a truly incredible story, one dear to my heart. I poured my heart and my soul and all my mental, physical, and emotional energy into it, and it showed. But since then, it’s been a slog. I spent years spinning my wheels. And while obviously my life has changed dramatically in that time, through the pandemic and everything after, there’s no point in making excuses. I couldn’t find my footing. I had no idea how to recapture what I’d lost.

And then, this year, I got it back.

Amid all the upheaval in my life, I managed to write something I was deeply proud of. It wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t have to be. It was good. It was powerful, something I poured my heart and soul into. And it showed. I could feel it. I was back. And now, here I am again.

It wasn’t easy to decide which story to write for NaNoWriMo this year. Over the year thus far, I’ve revisited Pathfinder, and managed to write out a few chapters I was proud of. But in the end, someone very important to me helped my decision. She said simply this: I need to be moving forward, not backward.

Forward it is. Keep an eye out for a new WIP Wednesday post tomorrow, the first in far too long. And as always, dare to dream. – MK