Why I write for kids.

Speaking of blog posts, there is all sorts of discussion going on over on the Wizrocklopedia, but I am tired of talking about that today. So if you care, you can go find the news blog yourself to find out what's being said about my band.


I do want to talk about 1. how much I hate car shows and 2. how much I love writing.

1. Car shows. I actually have no problem with car shows themselves, really. I think old cars are neat, I think the people who drive them are generally fun. My dad used to have an old 1957 Ford Ranchero. My uncle has at least 10 fun old cars. What I do hate is when Car Shows are held on the main street outside the theatre I work at, and therefor they have to close the street on the busiest day of the week and I have to spend my whole work shift calling EVERY SINGLE PERSON scheduled to come to the show that day to warn them that they'll need to take alternate routes. This, this I hate.

2. Writing. Alex and I are both working on close-to-final edits of our books and I really enjoy that we're doing it together. Writing is lovely and I've been doing it my whole life, but it's so much more enjoyable when you have other people writing with you. I have never been able to finish anything novel-length until nanowrimo, because the act of writing with friends just makes it such a more enjoyable experience. The point is, I'm really happy and excited to be sharing a release date with Alex for our books. We have been inspiring and motivating each other since before these drafts were even begun with our stupid bets and competitive teasing... and now that we're dating and helping each other with editing we just feel really emotionally invested in each other's books. Well, I don't know about Alex but that's how it feels to me.

Anyway, we're both really excited and a little nervous about the idea of releasing our books to the public. We've both made countless videos and released albums and everything you've already seen us do, but I definitely believe this feels a lot more personal. It's scary and exciting. :)

I didn't mean for that to get all sappy. What I was actually going to say regarding writing was how I came to the realization why I feel so much more comfortable writing characters that are under the age 18. First of all, I feel like a good writer will try to contribute to the world 1. what they themself would like to read but more importantly 2. what the world is missing or lacking.

I read a lot of teen lit. A lot. And a problem I see in a lot of books is that adults write them, and what can happen sometimes is that they only kind of remember what it was like to be a teenager or kid, so a lot of books become overly cheesy or even (more tragically) a caricature of what real kids/teens are like. This happens frequently in teen movies as well, where it's even worse.

I'm 21 years old, but I still feel like a teenager. I was a teenager recently. I remember vividly the things I did as a kid because it wasn't that long ago. I was a very normal kid, who played with her neighbors in the streets in the summer, who dripped ice cream down to her elbows, who fought with her parents and thought a mysterious stranger would come and tell her she was actually a princess and who tried hard in school and got nervous before math tests and did all the normal things a kid did. I could write things about those years of my life and anyone that age could probably relate because many of them shared my experiences.

BUT. Then I graduated highschool, I found wizard rock, I went to conferences, I started doing youtube, I toured, I did interviews, and basically started living a very strange, different, unconventional life. I have NO IDEA what it's like to be a regular college student. I have no idea what the college experience is. I don't know what regular 19-25 year olds do for fun. I would have no idea how to relate to that audience at all.

This, this is why I subconsciously always write books for the 8-12 or 11-15 age range. I was a normal kid then. xD

EDIT: I remembered what else I wanted to say. Clearly by the comments on my last blog entry, the internet can't take a joke. Like I would start a collab-love-channel with Alex. Not only is that way more work than either of us lazy people are willing to put in, but we'd prefer to keep our relationship as private as we possibly can, given the situation. xD For crying out loud, someone felt it necessary to warn Becky that Alex was starting a new nerdfighterlike with me. Really? Did someone really think that's what was happening? SIGH.