Don't have a Heart Attack...but I'm Back!

If ANYONE has been paying attention, it's been over a month since I sent out a new blog post here. I think about all my blogs and my followers every day, and wonder who is out there hanging on my every post and waiting, hoping, praying, for more bits of wisdom.

Then I wake up lol. :)

But, seriously, I haven't felt the inspiration needed to post for so long. It's frustrating, but I don't want to post just for the sake of doing so--I want to actually have something to say.

So, here it is: I have never read The Hunger Games series. There, I said it. And now, I will explain why.

I'm unearthly, unreasonably, unseasonably stubborn.

I'm going to take you back in time. It's 1987, and the movie The Princess Bride is in theaters. My friend calls me up to tell me she just saw the movie, and I HAVE to go see it. It's my kind of movie--sword fighting, princesses, etc. And so FUNNY! And we hang up.

My first thought--why? Why should I go see a movie just because someone tells me to? Sure, it's pretty popular and she just loved it, but so what? I hate doing things just because other people do them. So I didn't. I wasn't mean or anything about it. I just never went to see the movie.

Then one day I saw it on video. Yeah, that was before DVD. And, of course, I loved it.

But that didn't really teach me anything. A few years ago, a friend brought me Twilight. I think the third book had just come out, and I was barely reading the first. Why? Because every one else was. Same with Harry Potter, but I did jump on that band wagon way sooner than with any others, simply because my little (at least she was at the time) stepdaughter was loving them.

And now, it's Hunger Games. I still wouldn't be reading them except my new book club has chosen Mockingjay for their book next month, and I hate reading a series out of order.

Someday I'll figure out what this stubborn-refusal-to-follow-the-crowd makes me. Aside from the obvious. Am I a maverick? I like the sound of that. Trailblazer? Well, maybe not so much. Original? Definitely. Frustrating? I'm sure, to some. :) Fortunately, they love me anyway.

Y is for...

YA, or Young Adult.

Why have I chosen to write for the YA genre?

You might say it chose me. In today's world, it seems that there is very little interest in a novel for grown ups (notice I don't say adult books lol) that doesn't have swearing, sex and violence. The problem is, I'm not the only one to have noticed this.

Years ago, when I WAS a young adult, or a teen, YA books were pretty much limited to a handful of classics and Sweet Valley Twins books. There was so little to read most of us just jumped up to grown up books.

Now, the YA market is inundated with books. I mean, there's really tons of them. Most authors I meet these days write YA. Granted, many of them are still unpublished--but they're all working toward publication. I don't see this as a bad thing. After all, how many of us ever read only one author? There's nothing wrong with a little market diversity.

But I don't consider myself a YA author. Perhaps 4 or 5 of my titles are YA. Recently, the projects that have hit me really hard have been middle grade fiction. For the time being, since we live in the now, my current projects are YA fantasy so I am a YA author.

I bristle at this. It feels like pigeon-holing and I've never been a fan of being categorized--good or bad--by any title. Maybe that's why my other age group projects have so much appeal. I even have a couple of grown up projects in the works--okay, the idea stages. One of the problems of having a prolific brain is I always have ideas, but not always the time to see them through. Gah. Some days I get up and already feel like I've fallen behind.

I'm glad the YA novel market has come so far. And I'm also glad that many people find comfort in reading books marketed to youths--even well into middle age and beyond. We shouldn't be limited to what is considered appropriate for our age level. I've already told the newest reader in our home, my 6 yr old, that she can read anything in my library.

But then, I don't go for those ADULT types of books. :)

AuthorPalooza is a Good Thing

What a difference a day makes!

I had planned to go to the WriteWise Book Camp this weekend with my fellow authors and WW peeps, but my plans fell through--and then my alternate plan fell through. So by last night I was pretty dang bummed. That is, until I got on FaceBook and checked up on my friends.

Heather Justesen posted about AuthorPalooza going on this afternoon at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Sandy from 1-4pm and I thought, what the heck. I was all set to talk books and rub shoulders with other authors this weekend anyway, and AuthorPalooza was hosting over 30 published authors. Wow. And again. 30 published authors in one store. WOW.

Not only did I get to see Heather again (whose book I already own and read), but I got to see James Dashner again, Jessica Day George, Nichole Giles, Cindy Beck, Terri Ferran, Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen, Ann Cannon, Carol Lynch Williams, Lisa Mangum, Emily Smith, Sydney Salter and Nathan Hale.

Nathan is a lot of fun. He kept our crowd at the Purple Cow entertained (see past blogs) for a while when the rest of the authors ::coughs:: Dean and Shannon Hale were late. I hoped he'd have some of his picture books out for sale--the family had a ton of fun with The Devil You Know, but alas, all he had was what we'd already purchased. Ah well. It was still great to say hi chat for a bit. Sydney Salter I've also seen before, though I'm sure she doesn't remember. She was with a few other authors at The Purple Cow early last year. I've wanted her book, My Big Nose and other Natural Disasters, ever since--and now I have a signed copy.

I'd ordered a ton of James Dashner books just before finding out about the signing, so I only picked up The Maze Runner today. Had it signed to my son, because I'm cool like that.

The girls raided the Jessica Day George table. Jessica and I shared a stage at the Grantsville Jr High's author days last year. This happened a lot today. I'd get that, "You look really familiar" look from about 90% of the authors I approached. Yes, I'd say--I've been around a lot.

It's a good thing authors like to see people return again and again, otherwise I might be looked upon as a stalker. Yes, I drove 40 miles to blow my income for the month (don't get excited, I only make about $100/mo) and meet my friends and authors and get said books signed. Yes, I do this a couple of times a year because I find Utah to be culturally good to authors and I like to support that--seeing as I hope to be one of them someday.

I also picked up Austenland by Shannon Hale and a couple of Julie Wright books--even though they weren't in attendance.

Look for my upcoming reviews of the treasures I've acquired at this blog or you can find me on Goodreads.com

Now, if you don't mind, there are several books calling my name...