Have you ever noticed that an inordinate number of YA novels are set in prep schools?* Sometimes these are weird creepy prep schools especially designed to create a Dystopian environment. I think the authors are working too hard. If you want Dystopian, set in a public high school, and VOILA! I speak from personal experience.

*Of course you haven’t. You don’t read YA, which is too bad.

In my extensive research on YA books I have discovered there are certain recurring themes and elements: prophetic dreams, girls with secret destructive powers they didn’t know about, and boys who pretend not to like girls they are totally crazy about, because they want to protect them, to name a few. I could say all of these are cliched and formulaic, except I have used them in two of the three novels I’ve written. So I’m going to say they demonstrate a deep understanding of the adolescent psyche.

Read two books of two different 4 book tomes and realized I didn’t care what happened next. The good news is that I’ve saved approximately $36, since I won’t buy the other two of either series. The bad news is I wasted $36 coming to that conclusion.

Last night (or more accurately, this morning) I woke up at 3:45 and couldn’t fall back to sleep, so I said “I’m going to write!” And I wrote for an hour! And I’m afraid to look at it, because, who knows, I may have written something devoid of adjectives. I may have written a very intricate recipe for spaghetti sauce, or I may have written something in the ‘If you give a monkey a typewriter he will eventually write Hamlet’ genre.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to send a query on Friday the 13th. That’s just an excuse.

So he sent me a rejection letter, but it was long, very flattering, and told me how he thought I could make the novel better. He also said to keep in touch. And, guess what!* I was already making the exact same kind of changes he suggested.

*This is just a figure of speech. You don’t have to guess. I won’t be offended.

I took the bold step of adding a link to my blog in my email signature.* And I included it in an email I sent to an agent, fairly confident she’d never click on it. However, if she did, I would like to say that I think lawyers make wonderful agents, and none of the characters in the novel, which doesn’t begin with a prophetic dream, ever stick their tongues out.**

*I really, really tried to make the syntax work, but I gave up and finished breakfast instead.

**I’m not sure if the syntax works either, so I’m going to go have a second cup of coffee.

I was going through one of those “Why am I writing’ angst-filled days, when I realized I was just hungry. Chinese food is very good for salving one’s anxieties.

Writers Conference, that is. Was supposed to go in March and they cancelled it. I am bereft. I shall no doubt go into conference withdrawal as my calendar from June through September is filled with weddings and babies and similar excellent but time-absorbing events. Perhaps I will have a pretend conference in my house utilizing crash test dummies.

So here’s the challenge that has eaten up two hours of my time and burned out my brain : Name a book that would be most like yours. Lovers of YA, anyone familiar with a modern fantasy/magical realism book (not dystopian or set in some fantasy kingdom), about a girl who is unaware of her hidden powers and must lift a curse to get rid of it? ANYBODY? ANYBODY?