I have had several people tell me that my main character in FADING is overwhelmingly negative and therefor hard to root for. Wow. This floored me when I realized I’d heard it several times. I’ve read books with MCs with bad attitudes and I rarely finished them.  I do not like to read about unlikeable characters, especially as an MC. So to know I had created something I myself hate, well, I was shocked.

Here’s the thing though. Every person who told me that was an adult. I have never had a teen reader comment on this. I find that interesting. Is it because teenagers don’t notice the bad attitude? That it seems normal to them? Are adults looking at it from a grown-up viewpoint, one that comes from distance and maturity?

I don’t know. You tell me. Read the excerpt (tab above) and tell me what you think about Lovey’s attitude.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that “today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week).  And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.”

Wow, those numbers are astounding. Entertainment media includes iPods, internet, video games, texting, and T.V.

The report also says that the heaviest users get lower grades.  That makes sense.  If you’re spending seven hours a day playing Blood Bath III, you’re probably finding it hard to cram in a little Algebra homework.  Just a guess.

What do you think? How much time would you say you spend with entertainment media?  Are you less connected to real life when you’re plugged in? Does your time on FB leave you feeling you have fewer meaningful relationships, or do you feel like you are making more connections with the ease of communicating on line and texting? Do you think it’s the new reality, that there’s no stopping the increase in internet use and video games?  Are we all going to end up like those blobs on Wall-E that are glued to screens all day and have lost their ability to walk?

Weezer played last night, along with Blink 182 and Taking Back Sunday (the Bleezer Tour). Darling Daughter, whose 18th bday is just around the riverbend, went with friends as her birthday celebration. Here’s what Weezer had to say about the concert:

…After a crazy blast of thunderstorms in San Francisco last night, the dawn broke clear and we headed out to the deepest hinterlands of the North East Sacramento-ish Rural Non-Affiliated Sector, where they put this Sleep Train Ampitheater for no clear reason. But we are here now, and many fans are too, presumably from Sacto, Davis, etc. Rock Time Is Now. Rock Time was good! Despite its odd location, Sleep train sounds very good and the people and weezer were having a good time. Another ukelele bites the dust – such is the toll exacted by the forces of rock, and roll.

Husband and I were up in the air about going until that day. We are a Weezer family. Even Wee One steals the Weezer Red Album CD to listen to Pork and Beans while she cleans her room. Personally, my fave song is Island in the Sun…it is so…happy, with that awesome rockin’ part in the middle. This was DD’s third Weezer concert. It’s just a given that if they’re within a hundred miles a portion of our family will go see them. I wanted to go, but decided not to…and basically it added up to me being old.

First of all, there was Wee One. We’d have to get a babysitter. How may of you, my teenage friends, have to deal with that pre-concert arrangement? (Gah, none, I hope!!) Then there was the fact that there were like five bands playing. Weezer would be second to last. I like Blink, but not enough to stay out till the butt crack of dawn to watch them. Fact three: the amphitheater is an hour away as the crow flies, in a pasture in the middle of bumsmack nowhere and traffic gets way backed up. Neither hubby nor I can drive much past nine o’clock at night without fear of dozing off. Another thing to consider, did DD really want us hanging out with her? She would never say no, she’s a cool kid like that, but honestly, I think she’d rather not claim relation to two almost forty-year-olds acting like a couple of over age Weezer fans.

So we let this one pass. I wouldn’t say our concert days are over, but numbered? Probably.

A confluence of events has me mulling over thoughts of school - mine, my children’s.  In June my oldest graduated from high school.  In August I had my twenty year reunion (that’s my web designer and high school friend in the picture). I recently took my eleven-year-old back-to-school shopping.  A few days ago Darling Daughter started college.  The forces of nostalgia cannot be resisted.

The biggest theme I’m getting from these experiences is Direction.  Do you know your Direction?  Do you have goals?  Are you losing site of them, or are you keeping them ahead of you, shining like a beacon in the night?  Here are my personal reasons for having Direction on the brain for the past few months.

First of all, senior year for DD meant having to narrow down what she wanted to do after high school.  She knew she would continue with schooling.  Knowing what you might be interested in studying helps with deciding where to go.  DD could not pin this down.  Not even in a broad sense.

Now DD is a very intelligent girl with tons of capability.  So, was it fear of making the wrong choice that kept her from defining a future course?  I’m not sure.  I do sympathize with all of you coming upon this stage in your life.  By junior year there is pressure to figure out what you want to be at 22 and to start making a game plan to get there.

My twenty year reunion brought about reminders, of course, of my own high school experiences, especially what choices I made since then that have brought me to where I am now.  You can’t help but think back to that age and what you thought you wanted to do with your life and compare it to reality.

I strongly urge you to not do what I did.  At seventeen I had this vague idea of doing something with writing, but I never visualized exactly what that would be.  I didn’t look beyond the day I was living in.  I had no long term plan.  I went to college, but got distracted, then started a family.  I lucked out marrying a great guy and having the chance to work around books for a while – but that vague writing goal hung  like an amorphous cloud just out of sight and out of reach for too many years.

A few years ago, realizing that almost twenty years had passed since I began charting my own course, I took a hard look and realized I wasn’t doing what it took to change that vague writing idea into a hardcover book in my hands with my name on the spine.

So here I am.  38, throwing myself into a clearly defined goal.  You may not have the answer to “what do you want to be when you grow up” right now, but I strongly urge you to actively work that vague interest into solidity, instead of standing by as it dissolves into a shapeless notion so easily forgotten.

I thought you might be interested in the books I’ve read over the past year. Some of the books have links to purchase. The formatting is a bit wonky in places, I’ll try to straighten it out soon.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale was one of those wonderful fairytale stories.  Something about other times, other places that really lets you lose yourself and forget about modern day problems.  I had noted before that one of the things I was most impressed with in this book was the character’s growth through the story.  Ani starts out as a girl who things happen to and by the end, she has taken charge and is a girl who makes things happen.  Really, I’ve never seen such a fine example of a relatively helpless, coddled girl transform into a courageous independent one.  Excellent.  Read it!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff was the book I picked up in England for one pound (about a dollar fifty, score!).  The voice and style really put me off at first.  The MC talks directly to the reader in an obvious “I’m talking to the reader” way, which is not common, so I had to get used to that.  And she uses that capitalizing device: “and the rest…made clucking noises and said How Awful It Was,” which is totally cool.  Once in a while.  Not on nearly every page.  It seemed a little too blatant an attempt at establishing a quirky voice.  Then there was also the fact that I had no idea when this was supposed to be taking place or what exaclty the circumstances were that she found herself in.  It’s set in modern day, but shortly after Daisy comes from New York to visit family in England trains are blown up and London is occupied.  It’s never clear who the attackers are…the closest I could figure was terrorists.  So okay, I guess that’s not the main point of the story, and it’s just to set the scene for the ensuing chaos that allows Daisy to have this life-transforming experience, but that sort of stuff bugs me.  I don’t like things to bug me when I’m reading.  That all said, I really liked the book overall.  The actual journey is fascinating; the author sure knows a lot about surviving off the land.  Wee bit of a let down at the end, but I’d still recommend it as a very original read.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.  I really don’t have to review this – the whole world has read it, right?  If not, they should.  It is a precious book, in that it paints a poignant picture of a girl and her life that is so real you just want to hug it.  One of Wee One’s friends said she didn’t like that the MC used bad grammar.  Wow, I thought, what sort of stuff does this girl read?  Because this is so authentic sounding, so believable, that I felt privileged to be given a glimpse into the lives of the characters.  I have to admit I was very surprised to realize that this was the same author who wrote Despereaux, which has it’s own place on a child’s shelf, but is nowhere near as amazing and perfectly written as this one.  I absolutely love the voice in Winn-Dixie.  You will, too (if you don’t already), I don’t doubt it.

If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late by Pseudonymous Bosch will appeal to middle grade readers.  I personally thought it tried a little too hard to be like Lemony Snicket in creating a mysterious narrator, and some of the devices were distracting (the chapters are in reverse order, starting with chapter thirty-three).  But the characters were well written.  If readers liked the first book, The Name of This Book is Secret, then they would no doubt not be disappointed in this installment.

Sold by Patricia McCormick is one of those hauntingly powerful novels you never forget.  The blurb: Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old Nepalese girl from a rural village sold into prostitution in India.

I can’t do it justice…McCormick has taken such a difficult subject and created a tragic, but beautiful story.  It is an accurate portrayal of a horror that happens to 12,000 Nepalese girls each year.  McCormick’s writing is spare and precise:

I wonder if perhaps Happiness House is where the movie stars live.

I haven’t read such an achingly touching book in a long time.  Highly recommended.

My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath was a pleasant surprise.  Horvath has a wonderful way of weaving story and voice into something precious and magical.  The blurb:  Twelve-year-old Jane yearns for adventures.  As the summer progresses a slew of characters bring those adventures, but eventually she learns it’s not what happens to you that matters, it’s what you learn about yourself.

I loved Jane – she is a logical, determined dreamer, someone you’d love to know.  This book has the feel of Where the Heart Is, a homey atmosphere filled with quirky individuals.  I loved this, and would recommend it for a very pleasant escape of your own.

Ida B…and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan is such a sweet story.  Whimsical and folksey, Ida B is the story of a homeschooled nine-year-old whose idyllic life suddenly gets turned upside down and her struggle to understand and deal with it all.

I read a review that said there was a touch of Junie B. Jones in Ida’s voice and I can see that.  When I read Junie B. I saw touches of Ramona Quimby in her voice…though they are all curious girls bewildered at what Life throws them, they each have their own take on it.  Maybe that kind of quirky little gal just really appeals to me, but whatever it is, this was a delicious little read and I definitely recommend it.

Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez.
Blurb: Teenage girls are being mysteriously attacked all over town, including at Nightshade High School, where Daisy Giordano is a junior. When Daisy discovers that a vampire may be the culprit, she can’t help but suspect head cheerleader Samantha Devereaux, who returned from summer break with a new “look.” Samantha appears a little . . . well, dead, and all the most popular kids at school are copying her style. Is looking dead just another fashion trend for Samantha, or is there something more sinister going on? To find out, Daisy joins the cheerleading squad.

What I loved about Marlene’s book is that her sense of humor is so like my own. I kept thinking of the similarities of voice while reading her flip, slightly sarcastic descriptions of high school life. You have to suspend a lot of belief with these books and they stray toward the campy side, but I thought they were great fun.

Dead is a State of Mind
Blurb: There’s a gorgeous new guy at Nightshade High: Duke Sherrad, a fortune-teller claiming to have descended from Gypsies. Even though she’s psychic herself, Daisy is skeptical of Duke’s powers. But when a teacher who was the subject of one of his predictions ends up dead, she begins to wonder if Duke is the real deal after all. Maybe if Daisy can track down the teacher’s killer, she can find out the truth. The only trouble is, all signs point to the murderer being of the furry persuasion. Is Daisy any match for a werewolf? Maybe she is . . . in more ways than she bargained for!

This was just as fun as the first, and I liked the developing relationships between her characters from book to book. Thumbs up.

The Ruby in the Red Smoke: A Sally Lockhart Mystery by Philp Pullman.
Blurb:  THE SEVEN blessings . . . ” When she first utters these words, 16-year-old Sally Lockhart doesn’t know their meaning. But when an employee of her late father hears them, he dies of fear. Thus begins Sally’s terrifying journey into the seamy underworld of Victorian London, in search of clues to her father’s mysterious death.

Dare I admit I like this Philip Pullman book waaaaay better then the Golden Compass? I LOVED this book, which is being reprinted after originally copyrighted in1985, no doubt to capitalize on his recent Dark Materials buzz. This is a fun, spunky, suspenseful mystery. Victorian London is a great setting, and Pullman creates three dimensional characters, especially for a genre book. A lot of things that happen seem conveniently contrived, but it didn’t bother me, it was like playing along with the game, and the rules say that sometimes you just happen to bump into the one person who can help you on an England roadside who will be able to provide you with a home and a job just when you need it. Everything fit like a puzzle, and I loved it. I also thought that Sally was a character who made logical deductions – she thought like I would.

I just found out while searching that this was a BBC movie shown on Masterpiece Theatre in 2007 – I have GOT to see that!

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson
Blurb: He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the best of classical educations. Raised by a mysterious group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his mother–a princess in exile from a faraway land–are the only people in their household assigned names. As the boy’s regal mother, Cassiopeia, entertains the house scholars with her beauty and wit, young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians’ fanatical studies. Only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments–and his own chilling role in them.

Well, everyone has heard how great this book is. Anderson writes an engrossing story that is very moving and ingeniously told. I totally empathized with Octavian and shared in his early curiosity and innocence that eventually turned to understanding and outrage. I moved with him as he underwent this transformation – I felt it as he did.

Another thing I love is that Anderson is one of those writers that can and does write in different genres successfully, as Laurie Halse Anderson does.  Something that the industry doesn’t seem to be open to, at least not until you are a proven wildly successful author.  Even then it seems a little risky.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
You know you’re HUGE when your name is not only on top of the cover, but WAY larger than the title.  John Green really does stories from a boy’s POV like no other.  The MC’s sidekick, Hassan, is great.  He’s like no other best friend I’ve read before – and I liked that.  Colin, the MC, and Hassan go on a road trip where Colin hopes to forget about the 19 Katherine’s who dumped him and come up with a theorem to predict the outcome of relationships.

There is so much quirk in here, I love it.  The unpredictability of what a character would say or how they would react was refreshing.  It really is a character study – and John Green does them all well.  I feel like I’m preaching to the choir here, we all know he’s great.

Triskellion by  Will Peterson
Adam and Rachel go to visit their grandmother in England after their parent’s divorce.  They are immediately made aware that the village of Triskellion is more than it appears.  The entire populaiton is in on a secret, and the kids try to discover if it has anything to do with the archaelogical artifact they discover.  This was a fun read.  I liked how the characters interacted with each other; it was a well done sibling depiction.  There is plenty of paranormal mystery to keep you turning the pages.  i also like how the author lets everything unfold and play out logically – without manipulating the story to fit into a neat lttle mold.  Alas, the ending was a bit of a let down.

The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski
I can’t wait for the next book!  This story is full of enchantment.  It’s about a young girl named Petra who embarks on an adventure when her father returns home from the palace blind.  How can anyone resist a story with a pet tin spider, a friend who can make marbles that contain lightning, and another whose fingers extend into invisible ghosts?  I usually don’t like ambiguous time/place fantasy worlds – but this one worked for me.

 The Little Giant of Aberdeen County. What can I say? This is one of those books that blows me away, and one of the few adult books I’ve enjoyed in a long while. Tiffany Baker is a debut author, but her prose sounds like she’s been doing this forever. She’s mastered her craft. Truly is a giantess. She is “forced to face her own larger-than-life demons, redefine mercy, and consider the possibility that love cannot be ordered to size.” Baker’s characters are alive and three dimensional. Her language and colloquialisms are fresh. It’s a book that will garner a lot of attention.

This book hit home because it deals with the subject of euthanasia. My mother died a very painful and swift death from metastasized cancer, and it was only with liberal doses of morphine from a merciful doctor that she was able to be released from her disease ridden body. I appreciate Baker weaving this touchy subject into her story as deftly as the remedies Truly finds sewn into an old witch doctor’s quilt.  Highly recommended.

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This one has been out a while, and if you haven’t read it yet, do. I found myself thinking I needed to stock up on canned goods and wanting to turn up the heat while I read this apocalyptic-type story, and I’m not kidding. Pfeffer creates a scene so real you feel you are there. The journey that ensues after a meteor pushes the moon closer to the earth is harrowing and fascinating (Pfeffer thinks of every detail), but the lessons Miranda learns about selflessness and what is truly important in life (family) are even better.

Prince Ombra by Roderick Macleish is, wow, over 25 years old and I happened to pick it up at a used book store. This is a creative retelling of the story of good and evil. Bentley is born with a borrowed heart – the one all true heroes, including Arthur and Hercules had. He will be the next warrior to fight Prince Ombra – the evil that never dies and threatens to take over. Unfortunately, Bentley is just a boy when he is called to do it.

This book is so tense I couldn’t put it down. After the beginning there was no time when I thought, okay, this is a good time to take a break. So of course I read it all in two sittings. Highly recommended.
I read Rosemary for Remembrance (Felicity Pulman) because it is in the genre of one of my novels – medieval historical fiction. I ultimately ended up enjoying it, but felt it relied a little too much on an herbal knowledge device that the writer was always bringing into the story line, which felt a little forced to me. But I did like the overall feel for it – kind of a Brother Caedfal sort of mystery. I do have an issue with books that are written as obvious firsts in a series. Notice I say obvious – I love series – I just don’t like to be strung along with stories drawn out and issues not resolved because there needs to be something for the next book. It has to stand on its own. But Pulman must have done something right since I will check out the second in the series.

Stealing Heaven. I’ve told you my love-hate relationship with Elizabeth Scott’s books. This one was one of the better ones. I cannot, and haven’t denied she is good writer. It’s just what she writes that sometimes drives me a little cuckoo. The thing bout this book is that the answer to the MC’s dilema is so obvious you want to wring her neck midway through the book for not seeing it. Scott does not convince me that it is really too hard for the MC to see. So, meh.

Diary of a Chav by Grace Dent. It was hard to get into this book, mostly because I couldn’t understand a word in the beginning – it’s British. It’s like going to see a Shakespearean play – it takes a while to get used to the language. i.e.:
“They’re all doing my head in a bit, specially Cava-Sue ‘cos she’s picking out all the green triangles AS USUAL and leaving the toffee pennies. GREEDY BINT.” But I stuck with it and found it unique and charming.

 Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. Awesome, of course. Her ability to create a world is uncanny. She can make something fiction feel so real. I would not be surprised if I saw a hottie faerie on the street.

Bonechiller by Graham McNamee.      One word: SCARY! McNamee does not hesitate to push the horror imagination envelope. It was deliciously scary with a satisfying ending.

Bliss by Lauren Myracle. Kay, enough with the scary. This is the kind that really gets me because it’s more evil than monster-y. It really gave me the heebie-jeebies. And Myracle is not afraid to go for the gritty details, adding another layer of squeam. The fact that it is set in ‘69-’70 is way cool. She handles the “historical” details deftly.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Read. This. Book. Again, very authentic voice – nice to read from a boy’s POV for a change. Tragic, but compelling. I think he gets a lot of the teen peer pressure/angst right.
 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Wow, I feel so lucky to keep reading good book after good book. This is epic. Though it felt like the premise of having kids duel to the death in a futuristic world might have been done, this was done excellently. Also, Collins goes for the jugular. I couldn’t believe she’d actually show the brutality her plot would dictate, but she does – so it’s definitely for upper teen readers. This one is going to be a hit.

I’ve noticed a change in social mores with the advent of technology, specifically, with relationships in the age of texting. Cell phones have changed our lives and the way we communicate – texting even more so.

Caveat: I do not text. I am a technological dinosaur, to be sure, but I’ve just never had the need to. I have to admit I use my phone for convenience, not socializing; pathetic, I know. I’m not professing to know what I talk about from a professional point of view – I’m just fascinated with the whole phenomenon, and these are just my observations.

I once witnessed texting going on between two people who wanted to catch a movie. They went back and forth on which movie and what time – it took fifteen minutes for them to work out something they could have done verbally in under two minutes. There was no reason they couldn’t have called each other, it just never occurred to them to do so.

Using a cell phone to converse verbally is becoming rarer all the time. Texting is becoming the norm.

I understand the novelty – kind of like passing notes in class. I can also see the convenience of using texts when phone calls would be inappropriate, but more and more it simply seems to be the preferred mode of communication.

I have a few theories on this. One is that there is less anxiety in sending a message to someone than there is to actually call. Verbally communicating takes effort, and let’s face it, we are a lazy bunch. Aren’t we all happy to get the answering machine? Being able to leave a message without having to hear a response or deal with conversation is a real relief. That is why people choose to send texts when they dump a boyfriend or girlfriend; which is the ultimate in taking the easy way out. Pathetic and cowardly to boot.

Texting takes the humanity out of conversation. It is difficult to put emotion in written words (trust me, I’m a writer, I know this), if not impossible, especially brief messages written in shorthand. You can’t hear inflection or emotion in a text – so a simple sentence can be taken in many different ways, depending on the mood of the receiver. Okay, YOU CAN SHOUT IN CAPS, and use ; ) to try to convey your tone and meaning, but these devices aren’t always sufficient or dependable.

“y didn’t u go 2 the party?” can be interpreted in several ways. It could be taken as sounding accusatory, or sympathetic. “whatev” might have a trace of irritation in it, or the sender may honestly not care – no offense intended. And let us not forget the lazy or hurried texters that send the briefest blunt messages, sounding like they don’t have patience to deal with you.

How many misunderstandings have arisen from ambiguous text messages? How many of you have stared at a text you received over and over, trying to divine what the sender was really saying? Have you ever had a text you sent be misunderstood?

Let me know your thoughts on how texting affects relationships. TTYL!

There was an article in Nylon magazine recently about nerd sex appeal.  I got to thinking about testosterone-challenged guys I know of (celebrities, book characters…um, unfortunately, none in real life come to mind).

I’ve been a fan of Weezer since the early nineties.  Rivers Cuomo may just be the archetype nerdy lead singer.  After all, in one of his songs he sings, “O-wee-o, I look just like Buddy Holly, oh, oh, and you’re Mary Tyler Moore.”  Buddy Holly, at least in terms of modern-day hunkiness, would not rate very high.  But if you’ve ever listened to Weezer’s lyrics and music, you know this is no ordinary misfit…this guy has IT.

In This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen, the main character, Remy, eventually falls for Dexter (the name alone is a red flag-o-nerdiness).  Dexter is clumsy, socially awkward, and loves stupid dares (he ate a 32 oz jar of Miracle Whip in twenty minutes.  Um, yuck).  Dexter is not attractive to Remy in the beginning, but his kind heart, indeed, super sensitivity (one of the most likeable guy characters I’ve read in a long time) eventually wins her over.

Take Michael Cera, Paulie Bleeker from Juno and Nick in Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, among other movies.  A guy who can wear tube socks and a sweat band and still make you want to hug him has something going on.

Dreamy Adam Brody plays self-proclaimed geek Seth on The O.C. who loves comic books and sci fi.  John Krasinski could win an award for cutest homely face in a comedy series.  Once irritating twerp Louis on Even Stevens has become outcast Sam Witwicky in Transformers, but Shia LaBeouf has an undeniable magnetism.  Brett from Flight of the Conchords belies his dorkiness when he sings that “I rap about reality, like me and my grandma drinking a cup of tea.”  Similarly, Andy Samberg is book-nerdy, yet irrisistable when he sings, “the Chroni-what?- cles of Narnia.”  Then there’s Mark Ruffalo, who will never be mistaken for a Brad Pitt or Christian Bale, but who would close the door on him if he came calling?  Ben Gibbard, the sideburn-sporting teddy bear lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie is engaged to Zooey Deschanel, the attractive actress in Elf and Yes Man.  Billy Joel hooked up with cover model Christie Brinkley.

So what’s it all about?  Most nerds aren’t sporting babes on their arms in high school.  Why, then, are the above-mentioned guys so hot?  Is it only celebrities who can ratchet up the nerd-appeal to hottie geek?   It could be that Bettys are only attracted to these guys for their money.  Or does it say something about these women, like perhaps they are searching beyond surface looks for a mate?   Maybe these guys have something that testosterone-overloaded dudes never could.

If dweebs are a hot commodity, should girls be giving D&D lovers a second look?   Beneath the Yu-Gi-Oh exterior, does there lie a heart of gold?  Could the pocket protector-wearing Microsoft-devotee be the man of your dreams?

So let’s hear your thoughts.  What makes everyday nerds unnoticeable, and superstar nerds enticing?  Or are you one who sees the hidden hotness is those misfits already?

I’ve been thinking about teen/parent relationships lately. Very rarely in YA books are there functional parents around all the time. That would hamper the growth of the protagonist and the story as a whole if he/she had a perfect parent that could swoop in and fix everything. There may be books out there with them (tell me if you know of some), but none of my books are that way. Some examples:

In The Book of Esther: A Faerie Tale, Esther’s parents are both dead. I personally didn’t choose this scenario. The story in the Old Testament is told that way; Esther is orphaned and raised by her cousin Mordecai. However, I don’t think I would have had it any other way.

In my middle grade novel, the protagonist’s mom is single and works so much she is rarely home. When she does have time off she frequently goes out on dates.

In my historical fiction story, the protagonist has grown up with no mother and her father dies during the story.

I read about a boy whose mom was single. What he hated was how all his friends were always saying she was hot. He didn’t fault his mother for being beautiful, but sometimes wished she wasn’t.

Not all the relationships I’m thinking about are necessarily dysfunctional. My own teenage daughter and I are often thought to be sisters (I guess I look younger than I am and she looks older). While we are very good friends and it would be easy to be buddies, I know that I’m still her mom, that I’m still responsible for correcting her behavior and guiding her to make the right choices in life. I know of some moms who do act like their kid’s best friends and the boundaries of parent and child are not so clear.

What are your observations (either personal or others) of teen/parent relationships? Do you see ones that work, ones that don’t? Do you envy other friend’s parents, or are you thankful for the ones you have? Do you see situations that would make for a great setup for a YA novel? What do you think about the way parents are portrayed in YA books?

I’ve been thinking about hair lately.  Mostly because of this butch-job I got a couple of days ago.  Considerably shorter than I was going for (to put it mildly), but I didn’t get too worked up this time because my hair grows super fast.  Also, if I wanted to pull it off, I told myself I had to own that short-do.  Amazing how people’s opinions are affected by the confidence you project.

This is a picture of me in h.s. 

Look at all that baby fat, ain’t it cute?  Notice the long hair.  I didn’t realize until college when a drama classmate had to portray me that I used my hair as a curtain to hide from the world.  As you can see now, there ain’t no hiding, no way.  And I’m comfortable with it.

But I wonder when that change took place, when I became able to bare myself in front of the world.  I’m kind of surprised that it is at this point in life.  In our England photos I even let loose and smiled big old open mouth smiles, showing my most-attractive braces and all.  I surprised myself when I realized I didn’t mind.  The thing that was important, what I loved about those photos, was how happy I looked.

I don’t know when or why it happened, but I am so glad to finally be comfortable in this skin.