Pushing Through

Tonight I was writing with my good friend, Becky, and I made the comment: “I would be such a good, professional writer – if it wasn’t for the writing part.”

Writing is hard.

Sometimes it flows out of me like liquid, the words pouring out onto the page and forming amazing sentences and stories that I barely knew were in my consciousness.

And at other times, those words feel like molasses, moving so slowly that each word is a struggle to get onto the page.

I don’t know why writing is like this. Why one day it can come so easily, and the next it is such a struggle. I do know that it’s worth the struggle. Most things worth doing are worth the struggle.

I have this strange belief that my struggle with weight loss is intrinsically connected to my struggle with writing. I don’t know why, but part of me really believes that I won’t be successful as a writer if I’m not successful losing weight. It’s weird, and doesn’t make a lot of sense, but on some level it does. I know that being dedicated and disciplined, even when the struggle is real and hard, helps to make something out of nothing. The dedication it takes to struggle through weight loss can lead to a healthier, more active life, and the struggle with the words on the page, even when they’re coming out only one word per minute, will lead to having something to show for all my hard work.

I’m trying to remind myself of that tonight. I’m participating in NaNoWriMo this month. Today is the first day of writing on a story that I hope will be at least 50,000 words long by the end of November. In order to do that, I need to write about 1600 words a day. I’m trying to write 2000. If Stephen King can write that many every day, then surely so can I, right? Yeah, because I’m just as cool as Stephen King. I can at least pretend to be as dedicated. It was a real struggle to get to 2000 words tonight. The words came slow. Just like molasses. But, I decided to be like Stephen King, and just fake it until I make it.

YA or Middle Grade? Which is right for me?

Although I haven't yet published any of my fiction, I have 2 short stories (novellas, really) written, and a young adult, speculative fiction novel written and waiting in the wings for me to finally finish editing and get out into the world.

I love the writing part...not sure how hip I am to the revising part of the gig. They'll get done soon, though. I need to do some goal setting for those, so they can get out into the world and into the hands of actual readers.

I've been thinking hard about where to go with my next story. So far, all of my fiction has been geared more towards YA, but I'm also toying with creating a Middle Grade series.

What's the difference, you ask?

Young Adult literature focuses more on young adult characters between the ages of 15 - 18 (not in college). See, it's not just a clever name. With that age range comes a more mature set of themes. Some cussing, allusion to sex, violence, gruesome death seems to be part of many YA novels, though it doesn't necessarily have to be. There are plenty of YA books without that stuff, too. It's all about the audience that you're reaching for...though, I know a lot of grown adults that still read YA, your truly included.

Middle Grade books have characters roughly between the ages of 10 - 15, and though there can be deep, mature themes, the content of the book doesn't usually have cussing, sex, or gruesome violence. The books are usually aimed at an audience between grades 3-6, though some middle grade books do very well with other kids (and adults) as well. The first Harry Potter book comes to mind, as one that was written for middle grade readers, and found a much larger market.

So, I have a series in mind that could go either way, with YA or Middle Grade, and I'm debating where to take it.

If it goes the YA route, I'll be able to make more complex relationships, and add romance to the mix. Romance is not so big in Middle Grades.

But, if I keep it as a Middle Grade, then I can focus less on romance, and more on the action and plotting, which is my strong point.

Perhaps I'll get this all sorted out, and get an outline together just in time for NaNoWriMo. I'm going to try to stick with it this year, and get something done to 50,000 words. That may just be perfect for a Middle Grade novel.