Age Appropriate

How do you know if something is age appropriate in a book? My book, The Circle, is YA, and that's recently put a bit of a hold on my writing. By definition YA is 14-20. However, I remember reading YA books when I was 8. I'm certain that my book isn't appropriate for the standard 8 year old. I wrote a few thousand words, and moved beyond a key scene. But now I want to go back and get rid of it to make it more age appropriate for your standard 8 year old. Even when I was a kid, I found myself second guessing everyone I said to kids younger than myself. I couldn't remember what I had known about when. I was afraid to swear for fear that they would be scared. I found dirty jokes to be the funniest thing ever, but I was afraid if I even hinted at them around kids a little younger than...

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What would I do?

Today I was reading Rissa's Blog which was about what you'll do when you sell your book. Honestly, I have never thought about it before. I have fantasized about seeing my name on the NY Times Best Seller List. I have imagined my children, when I have them, telling their friends that their Mommy is a writer. I imagine reading my own book to my elementary school class. But that's all of the unreal sort of fantasy. It's the type of fantasy that little girls have when they dress up and pretend that they're movie stars. It's not what they really believe in, what they really expect, or even necessarily what they want. It's just a game. Some fun other life to try on, but it doesn't mean anything. I will attempt to find a publisher because it's a fantasy that would ROCK if it came true, but it doesn't...

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Making it Seamless

I have been working on a short story that I plan to enter into the June Accentuate Contest. Originally it was intended for May, but I can already tell that it wont fit into the Sorrow theme was well as it will into the Regret theme. The death of a loved one IS sorrowful, but the story isn't really about that. It's about three sisters who haven't spoken much in 10 years. They fight a lot, but the reconnect when the middle sister Madison finds a teddy bear named Mr. Buttons. I have what I actually think it a decent beginning. I have GREAT ending...... and nothing else. I have no middle. I have the first hundred or so words, and the last 200. I don't even have an idea for the middle. This happened to me last time I tried to write out of order, and I swore to myself I would never do that again....

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Dreaded First Post

I started writing my first post here, and somehow blogger managed to delete it. I started writing it again in wordperfect, and somehow that ate it too. I've decided that my original first post just isn't meant to be. I'm not sure where to start. Starting something, be it a new blog, a new book, or meeting new people, is always hard for me. It makes me a little nervous, because I wonder whether things will work out in the end. Starting a new blog about writing, after I just had a three day breakdown in which I didn't write AT ALL makes me even more anxious. Am I supposed to say what I'll be doing here on this blog? That's easy. Talking about writing my books. Talking about books I read. Do I talk about where I am currently with my writing? That's a hassle. I don't even know where I am. I...

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