YA's Far-Reaching Appeal

Admittedly, I'm not exactly ancient.

In fact, I called myself old to a bunch of freshmen in the math class I'm teaching, and they vehemently denied my claim, despite the fact that I've got over a decade on most of them. But, I still love reading YA. It just fits.

That's not all that surprising though.

Here are two things that did rather surprise me this week:

1) My FATHER, upon hearing that I was reading my daughter Harry Potter, wished aloud for another epic YA series to read. This is a grown man, a business owner, non-fiction lover, who spends his free time on golf and home-improvement projects. And he's angsting because Christopher Paolini hasn't gotten the last Eragon book done yet. Though, he's also the man I caught laughing during iCarly, after complaining loudly every time my daughter wanted to watch it.

2) Another teacher at my school totally caught a student trying to get away with something (something I recognized, but figured she wouldn't, since she'd graduated college way before me). Her response? "Please, I invented this."

So now, I'm just wondering why YA isn't more popular than it is. How many sit-coms seem like an adult version of high school? Yeah...I can name a few.

YA's about screwing up, fixing it, knowing yourself, and changing the world. Sounds pretty universal to me.

Comment time: Who's the oldest person you know that enjoys YA, whether they admit it or not?

Emotions of the writing process

What emotions do you see in this cartoon? Someone jacked up on caffeine? A person in the midst of writer's block? A writer finishing a manuscript? Stress from a deadline not being met? The picture comes from here and it is supposed to be a contented writer.

I'm not going to blog about that article, I just loved the cartoon. What I want to blog about today are the emotions that go along with writing because this is a very emotional business. Here are some thoughts: if I could only finish this manuscript, if I could only finish these revisions, if I could only get requests, if I could only get an agent, if I could only go on sub, if I could only get a deal, if I could only finish these editor revisions, if I could only like my cover, if I could only get on the shelf, if I could only sell enough books to earn my advance, if I could only write another book...it starts over, minus finding the agent, hopefully.

It never ends. Ever. Unless one decides to stop writing. Even if one becomes the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, he still has to come up with new ideas and write more books. Some pressures and "if onlys" go away or change into other "if onlys" and new pressures, but it is an ongoing cycle.

Writing suits me. Being an only child, I had to have an active imagination to keep myself company, plus I've always lived in a fantasy world of one type or another. The entire publishing industry fascinates me and I'm enjoying every step and each new thing I learn. There are times I just want to give up. Times I look at my wips and hate them, or am tired of the characters. There are times I'm discouraged, times I'm happy and times I'm just blah. But I continue on because writing is an outlet for my creativity and a way to stretch my mind. And I have a reason to consume massive amounts of chocolate.

What emotions do you feel during the writing process? Do you ever want to burn your manuscript? Let us know how you feel and I wish you the best of luck in your own writing journey.