Hello, dreamers. It’s another busy week. With everything going on, notably prepping Pioneers for querying, rewriting MERIT 19, and awaiting the release of Wide Horizon, I’ve had little time to focus on Aquarius 1. I still have a lot of work to do in terms of research, and I’ve been plugging away at it.

Despite my efforts on my upcoming self-pub series, I plan to redouble my efforts on research and notes for Aquarius 1 in the coming weeks. My goal at this point is to have my notes, at least for Phase 1 and possibly 2, fully formed by mid-May.

My writing tends to follow an annual cycle. I tend to devote the first few months of the year to housekeeping: updating my website, adjusting my weekly posting schedule, platform building, etc. (in recent years I’ve also devoted the early year to self-pub projects). As I’m devoted to building my platform, I often do most of my editing in the winter. Querying, which may include actual query letters as well as Twitter pitch events or pitch contests, is usually something I do in late winter or early spring. So I usually devote most of spring (starting in March) to short fiction. I’ve found writing short fiction helps keep my mind sharp, and stretches me out for longer projects.

By late spring, I begin working into novel mode. Usually starting in late April, I take stock of outstanding novel projects. I devote myself to note-taking, leading to what I call test-writing: I try writing scenes or entire chapters of outstanding projects, to see if I feel I’m ready to write them. If I find a project I feel I’m ready for, then starting in late April or early summer, I begin writing, which marks the start of “Novel Season”.

My novel writing usually occurs in two phases. Through the summer, I write the early chapters of the novel. These tend to be more of a slog, as I’m still learning to “think in the universe”. I’m learning about the characters and the plot, working out the details. Over the course of the summer, I work out a framework in which I’m comfortable writing. That usually carries on through the end of September.

I like to devote the month of October to short fiction, to give myself a break in preparation for National Novel Writing Month. In November, I use NaNoWriMo to make the final push, ideally finishing the first draft by the end of the year.

I had intended to use this post to talk about the culture of Aquarius 1, and how it factors into the process of worldbuilding. But with everything going on, the truth is I’ve done very little in the way of note-taking or research for Aquarius 1 recently. After making the difficult decision to suspend principal writing, I’ve increasingly devoted myself to prepping Pioneers and work on my upcoming self-pub series. And though I worry about leaving Aquarius 1 for too long, overall I feel better about the sum total of my writing efforts than I have in years.

That said, from here on, these “WIP Wednesday” posts will change somewhat. Over the coming month, I will instead be using them to highlight my ongoing work on the Turn of the Century series of novellas. It seems only fair: they are my works-in-progress right now. And there’s plenty to tell. For the time being, while my research and note-taking for Aquarius 1 will continue, I’m going to lean into the focus on shorter projects. Until next week, dare to dream. – MK