Guilty Pleasure...

Ask anyone who knows me and they will ultimately talk about my love of all things YA.  The Commissioner loves to tease me about my love of YA books, t.v. shows and movies.  Seriously, my kindle could be mistaken for a teenager's reading list, well not completely but you get the point.  Anyway, in doing NaNo I've been thinking about why I like YA so much, and the more I think about it, the less I "guilty" I feel about it.

Young adults, new adults or whatever you call them (I seriously don't get the categories publishers have come up with) are completely passionate people.  They are ruled by their emotions, they are often obsessed with love and relationships and they don't yet have the weight of the world on their shoulders.   Yes, I know some YA books address very serious issues that YA's face, but mostly, the books are focused on true love, or sparkly vampires or high school.  And there is just a part of me who loves living vicariously through these characters.  I mean who wouldn't love to be the focus of a vampire's attentions, or the bad boy at school or whoever your particular character interest happens to be.  Or wake up one day and find out that you have magical powers (I really would like this even now. Seriously.)

Also, a lot of YA is unapologetically shiny and hopeful.  It deals with things like first loves, crushes and best friends.  It often focuses on characters who have their whole lives in front of them and it more often than not has a happy ending.  What's not to like about that?  Anyway, one of the NaNo experts gave the advice that you should write what you would want to read, so it should come as no surprise that I am writing YA.  I hope it turns out to be something I would want to read- even if there aren't any sparkly vampires in my story.

Day 2 Recap:  I have written 4,467 words, which is 1,133 words over my deadline for the night.

(Confession: even though you aren't supposed to, I couldn't help but edit my prior work a little bit.  I tried really hard not to, but I went back to check something I had written and I just kept thinking I MUST DELETE. I MUST DELETE. I MUST DELETE.  So I gave in, but only a little.  I know the goal is not to come out of this month with a finished product, but rather a good start that you can hopefully salvage with intensive editing.  I have to admit though, it is really hard not to stop and edit!)

I am hoping to continue my writing over the weekend but as Terror #1 won't be in school I'm guessing that will cut into my productivity.  Also, The Commissioner and I will be going out for a belated Anniversary celebration as we finally found a babysitter.  So we're going to go see Flight at a fancy schmancy movie theater that serves dinner.  Both time efficient and fun.  Still, I hope to fit in some writing time.  I have a feeling that I am writing too much "pre-story," but so far I like the direction the story is headed.  We'll see how I feel about it in a month!