Beginnings

Hmmm.... first blog post. How should I start this? I don't have an editor, or even a beta reader. My technical advisor comes home from college this weekend for winter break to help me go from a blah background to perhaps not so blah. I told her about this endeavor before she comes home so I didn't have to watch her eyes roll.  Has a writer ever been able to discribe that eye movement that evokes so much visceral reaction in the parent that must be restrained so tightly? Vampires would love all the blood letting if we didn't have the control of President Snow from Hunger Games.

My daughter should be irritated with me.I am the buyer of YA books under the pretense of buying them for her, but I read them first.  It was I who introduced her to Harry Potter.  It was I who dragged her to the local shopping center where three of the stars of the movie Hunger Games visited before the movie arrived in the theaters. How sad I was when I requested a poster, just to be told that my daughter already had one.  She hadn't even read the books yet. I read them in 3 days and nights.  Obviously someone my age has no business loving YA books.

I recently received vindication though from two very lovely ladies who co-wrote Beautiful Creatures, the NY times bestseller YA paranormal  book that has been made into a movie; Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  They were guest speakers at the Miami International Book Festival 2012 and were signing their books.  They were funny and warm, and talked about how they loved YA and started to write this book together. Here I am in line with young people all around me giggling and acting shy with Alden Ehrenreich, the actor who plays the role of Ethan.  In my arms is a pile of their books to be signed for my girl, my niece, and my book club. I appologized for not having a token teen with me and confessed that I was the fan of YA.  They immediately responded that they were YA fans themselves. Ha! VINDICATION!

I think one of the reasons YA books are doing so well is because of adult readers like myself.  After all, we do have more money to spend on books.  More news articles are out there talking about it. I am still looking for the awesome t-shirt I can wear to another YA book event that screams "I belong here!". So Yeah for YA!
http://www.rtbookreviews.com/rt-daily-blog/young-adult-fiction-bestseller-list-nyt