Westwinds

About the Book

To The Reader:

The book that you are about to read, Westwinds, is my pride and joy. On May 29th, 1998, I finished a short 67-page story covering my freshman year of high school alone. When I stapled together that original manuscript the night before, I had little idea that my writing would continue on. The once relatively insignificant short story has become the grandest endeavor that I have ever undertaken encompassing not just one year, but decades of time.

In the course of my writing, I have come across deep questions that define the very existence of this Endeavor. First of all, why me? I?ve been asked many times how someone who is just 19 years old could live such a life that an autobiography should be written about it. My answer is that every life deserves an autobiography. The lessons of life found in literature exist in the nuances of our day to day lives. Every life has vivid tales of challenge, drama, comedy and love. It is this element of common humanity that Westwinds holds dear.

Over the years I have come to the belief that I have been commissioned, by lack of a better word, to chronicle the pulse and nuances of one human life.

Therein lies yet another question whose answer has been elusive: Who has commissioned this work and why? As expressed in the opening and closing chapters of this book, I firmly believe that there is some higher purpose to this Endeavor. Whether or not that purpose is to better the lives of many or to ensure the life of one is beyond my current power to comprehend.

There are also questions of a more ?mechanical? aspect that I must address often. The prologue and epilogue of this work is admittedly compiled mostly of lines that are of my own creation, not actual dialogue. For example, I do not remember what words, if any, were traded between myself and the two figures that kept watch over my bed after my accident. What I do know is how much the experience influenced my later life, and therefore I have created a scenario, which, in my mind, best describes how much it did affect me.

One question that is posed to me quite a bit by Westwinds readers concerns the part of the prologue that ?flashes forward? to the future (circa 2013). I have included this admittedly fictional account (for I have had no definitive visions of the future) in order to give meaning and a moral to the entire novel. However, the thought has occurred to me that I might be paradoxically ?writing my own future? and therefore consigning myself to a fate, willingly or not, that I would rather not bear.

The other question that comes up often concerns the identities of the people portrayed in the novel. Throughout most of its existence, the names of the Westwinds characters were the same as their real-life counterparts. The factors and consequences that lead to this decision are well chronicled within the novel. With the publication of Westwinds, this stance was changed as I felt that since some of those portrayed within the novel had chosen to discard their own identities, they were not deserving of their own names. Therefore, a portion of the names within the novel have been altered; the original purpose of keeping those names unaltered had long been fulfilled.

Since the work of Westwinds continues in its sequels, any input or criticism about this work is welcome. I thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that you are able to enjoy this book in your own special way.

About the Author

Nathan Baca, 19, is currently a sophomore broadcast journalism major at the University of La Verne in Southern California. He was born and lived the first 18 years of his life in the “Poinsettia City” of Ventura, California. During his junior year at Ventura High School, his English teacher assigned the class to write a 20 page reflective autobiography. Not content with stopping once his assignment was in, Nathan continued writing until it became a full-length novel. Once arriving at college, he has become involved in the campus radio and television stations as well as its newspaper and debate squad. Nathan hopes that the initiative this endeavor has given him will propel him to an innovative career in television news.