Writer? High School? Not So Different After All

Hi, I’m Bria from Luv YA and I can’t tell you how excited I am to visit at Fictionistas. They are the cool kids and all. Which got me to thinking…Writing. High School…Not so different.

Check it out.

1. The In-Crowd
A word about high school, writing and life in general: there’s always a cooler table, no matter who you are. From here, I can see the agented tables, the published tables and one day a table up on a stage as The Guest Author.

Of course, I’m a huge believer in just deciding my table IS the cool table. Yeah, that typically works for me. And, just like high school, I love my table but there’s always a bit of table envy going on. I mean, can’t I sit over there with Meg Cabot?

2. Homework
Every once in awhile a new book comes out and everyone – I mean EVERYONE – is saying you HAVE to read this book. And I think, “Oh, I have to read that book.” But here comes the kicker…Now that I’m writing, I can’t just read the book. I have to study it.

Sound familiar?

Doesn’t the idea of having to do something for your own good always snatch a bit of the joy. Of course, just like with those books in school, most of the time I end up doing that shout-at-myself-in-my-head thing, “Why didn’t I read this sooner???”

Confession time: This weekend I will finally begin ‘Wicked Lovely’ – mock me now.

3. Class pictures
You get all spiffed up. You have some stranger sit you in front of a pull down “nature” backdrop. He takes your picture. They put it in a book. People hand you the book and ask you to sign it.

You thought the dreaded yearbook picture experience was over. Not if you want to be a writer!

4. Boys.
While I haven’t met a lot of boys while writing, I do spend a lot of time THINKING about boys and scribbling little thoughts about them…um, hey. That seems to also be a lot like high school. More time THINKING about boys. Writing about boys. Looking up boys on the internet. Checking out boys…Of course, it’s all in the name of research. Yeah, um, research. Research on how to write those boy characters.

So…I’m going to go do some more research now. Thanks for letting me visit ladies!