Romance? Yes please...but since when?

Now that I'm really trying to take this writing thing seriously, I've started paying closer attention to how the books I like are written and what I really like to see in the books that I read. One thing that I've noticed has really surprised me. I’ve never been much for romance. As a kid, I didn’t plan my wedding, in fact I was adamant, as I still am, that I didn’t want to get married, and I never made my Barbies marry Ken. I did, however, have a ton of crushes on celebrities and boys I knew and would readily kiss any of them behind the bleachers…I was, and still am, what everyone likes to call boy crazy.

When it came to books (and even movies), I never really cared much about the presence of a love interest in or whether or not the characters got a happy ever after. Aside from a decent storyline, strong characters and some serious action, what did matter was whether or not there was at least one cute boy for me to drool over because apparently, even with fiction, I’m totally boy crazy.

I don’t know when things changed, although I'm fairly certain it had to be in the last couple of years. I still don’t see myself as a romantic and I don’t read straight up romance novels (or really like romantic comedies), but I’m no longer embarrassed to be seen in the romance section of the book store or library. I prefer when the main character has a love interest, although if they don't I'll still read the book. If they do, I don’t like the tension to be drawn out too terribly long. Hints and moments of almost are great at whetting the appetite, but eventually I need the characters to get together.

When I say get together, I don't necessarily mean jump into bed, although I love a well placed sex scene as much as anyone, and I don't mean that they have to stay together. Admitting their feelings for each other gives the reader a great payoff, but leaving them together or letting them lie around in bed all the time would make for a really boring book. Bring them together and then rip them apart, either as a twist to the plot or because separately they can solve the mystery faster (or whatever problem is trying to be solved). As long as I get some kind of payoff first, I'm a happy reader.

So what do you like to see in the books that you read that has surprised you? Have you always enjoyed it or is it a relatively new development?

For real this time...

A while back the always sexy and suprisingly inspiring Donnie Wahlberg tweeted something that struck a chord. "Don't be afraid to fail .... Be afraid not to try!"

I have always been afraid to try because I'm afraid of failing at the only thing I've ever wanted to do. So instead of actually trying to write a novel, I read about writing. I check all of my favorite author's blogs, I Google how to's, I read about other people's success and failures on writing message boards. I do everything but put my own words onto paper (or into the Word document).

But all that has come to an end. I am going to write everyday. It might not be words for a novel, but as long as I write something I'll be happy and then maybe eventually all that writing will result in a novel that, whether or not it's any good, I can be proud of. I no longer care if I fail in the end because if I don't try, I've failed before I even gave myself a chance. Donnie tweeted more amazing advice that I plan to live by on August 31st, "When that moment of fear hits? That moment of anxiety shows up? The one that won't go away- FACE IT! Then kick it right in its b***s!" My fear is going down and I am looking forward to the challenge.

It's my time to shine..."Today! Don't give up on your goal! Things happen when they're meant to- It's up to you to be prepared when that moment comes! Keep grinding!"*



*(of course, more Donnie wisdom to close out this post, I couldn't help myself)

In the beginning there was...

Ever since I was a little kid all I've ever wanted to be when I grew up was a writer. I wanted to create amazing characters and worlds that would entrance readers the way that I had been so many times as a child. I was one of the only kids in my elementary school that looked forward to reading day, when we just sat around school eating snacks and reading. I always had multiple books to read and would usually finish my pile by the end of the day. I was also one of the only kids I knew who would run to the library the day that they announced the Summer Reading Program so that I could sign up and set my reading goal for the summer.

I couldn't get enough of books and at the same time I couldn't stop writing. Throughout elementary school I won contests here and there and was always encouraged to write creatively. Then I moved on to middle school and then high school where I was never really encouraged to write creatively, so my focus changed dramatically. I still wrote in my spare time, but I was so caught up in other extracurricular activities like the newspaper and yearbook and the mass variety of clubs I could join, that I didn't really focus on my stories and ideas.

Then I went to college and creative writing seriously flew out the window. There was really no time to write between school, my part time job on the school newspaper that was more like a full time job, and my part time job working for a major wholesale company. When I graduated from community college, I took some time off before finishing my BA and during that time I wrote...a lot, but nothing truly that original. I wrote a lot of fan fiction because I wanted to just write and get feedback on my technique and fan fiction was the best way to do that. Plus, I didn't have the time to really take my writing very seriously as I was working full time and trying to have a life, while battling depression and an overall feeling of failure.

Finally, I went back to school, finished my BA in English and decided that I was truly going to give this writing thing a try. I was really confident that I would be able to finish a book and at the very least get some serious feedback on the job that I had done. I knew I had great ideas and a fairly decent grasp of the craft of writing, but then I got stuck. I hit a road block in my pursuit of my dream and that road block is nothing but straight up fear. I'm afraid that I am going to learn that I don't have what it takes to be a writer, that I can't pursue my dream. The thought scares the crap out of me and I can't seem to get over it.

So here I am 2 years after graduation with nothing to show for it. Not even fan fiction. Just ideas and the beginnings of a few novels. I can't seem to finish anything, not even a short story. I'm hindered by my own subconscious and I don't know how to get around it. But I don't plan on quitting. I figure someday I will smack down this fear and I want to be prepared with a great story when I do.