My Journey to…What?

As you can see from the subtitle of my blog, I am a writer and I am on a journey. But a journey to what exactly?

To be frank, I am on a journey to finding my vocation, my calling. If this is sounding Catholic, it’s because I am Catholic. Catholic by birth, choice, and hopefully Catholic til the day I die. I love my faith. Part of being Catholic is figuring out your vocation or calling. Most Catholics assume this means a calling to religious life of priesthood and while I have a strong desire to be a nun, vocations go beyond choosing either religious life or marriage. All Catholics are called to holiness in their own unique way.

According to James Martin, S.J. in The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, vocation goes deeper than just a job or a career. It “extends to the kind of person we hope to become.” So what kind of person do I want to be?

First of all, I want to be a writer. Even before I had the desire to be a nun, I knew that I wanted to be a writer more than anything.

Ever since I could remember, I loved a good story and tried to write my own. It wasn’t until I discovered fanfiction that I found a good outlet. So yes, fanfic writers, everyone starts somewhere and fanfiction was mine. I wouldn’t go as far as to say my writings on fanfiction.net were any good, but there is such a thing as good fanfiction out there. Eventually, I wrote a short story at the age of 14 and wanted to turn it into a novel. I’ve been writing ever since.

In my many attempts to write a novel, I found a lot of growth in my writing. I learned what made a good story and writers who inspired me. And now I’m blogging as I edit my novel. What is this novel about?

It’s about a young woman who starts college and tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Like a lot of college students, she doesn’t really think things through and makes mistakes, but she learns from it. Sounds boring on paper, but then again, so does Pride and Prejudice, which can be summarized as “Girl meets boy in the 19th Century.” My current novel can be summarized as “Girl meets Life in the 21st century.” It’s not Sex and the City or Girls. There’s not a lot of partying, but just moments that help my character grow from a teenager into a young woman.

I hope I can show some stuff about the novel to you without revealing all the spoilers. Come with me as I hope to get this novel published!