4/11/10

Doubt and Writing

I don't fancy myself a writer, though I enjoy the act of writing very much.  I love crafting a sentence, reading and rereading it, tooling around with structure and word choice until it vibrates in just the right way.  I love the act of forcing myself to organize an argument, to choose a position, to detail an idea, to pin down an emotion.  However, I am plagued by the knowledge that no one, anywhere, at any time, is interested in anything I have to say; that I'm wasting valuable time and resources pretending that they do.  In short, I have The Doubt.

Jay Smooth would say my Little Hater is in full effect.  He would not be wrong.

When I was younger I entertained the notion of writing as a career - but the words in my head simply were not clamoring for release and I chose a different route.  I'm immensely happy in that.  I made the right decision.  I do something I love, something that enables me to spend a good deal of time writing for myself, and sometimes for you.

I've never since thought that I was meant to be a writer and I am doubly sure of this after having devoured the posts on Patrick Eamonn's nascent blog, The Last of the Carter Babies.  I know this because when I read Patrick Eamonn's blog about writing - I realize that I never felt 1/100th of the passion and drive that fuels his artistic fire.  I urge you to check it out, whether or not you write.  Because we all have passions and a fire to fuel.

4/10/10

Parental Units

In response to a (ridiculous and pointless) NY Times article on the epidemic of "bad" parenting in YA lit, Miss Print has opened a challenge to all YA lit readers, lovers, reviewers, &c out there . . . find the "good" parents!  As Miss Print states,
I want a list of “good” parents, “real” parents, parents who could be role models instead of horrible examples, parents readers will like as characters even if they might not identify with them (because, hey, YA books are written for teens not parents).
So let's help her out!

I'm all about this challenge and plan on getting right to it . . . after I snag on to that parenthetical comment and roll my eyes at adults everywhere who are reading books for young adults and getting bent out of shape by the depiction of parents.  YA books are not written for you!  They are written for teens.  They are written from the teen's point of view.  Their conflict and drama and adventure is of the YA world - not the adult world.  Parents are often incidental, even detrimental . . . and that's okay.  It's not an indictment of parenting, it's not a sign of the decline of the teen-adult relationship, it's a way for the teen protagonists to solve their own problems, make their own decisions, develop their independence and grow up.  Coming of age is not a family games night event.

So, in closing, I'd like to offer Julie Just the same advice I dole out daily to my middle-schoolers: Take it easy, killer.  It's not always about you.