Special Guest: Rosemary Clement-Moore

Amanda is still taking it easy with her little one at home, so we're thrilled that Rita-winner Rosemary Clement-Moore is guest blogging today!

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Guest posting on Fictionistas is kind of a thrill for me. It’s like sitting at the cool girl’s table for the day.

I never feel cool. I’m not sure any writer ever does. Most of us have been dorks for too long to totally shake the feeling of being the uncoolest preson in the room. The best we can do is embrace our inner dorkitude and turn it into an asset. I mean, writers are supposed to be eccentric, right?

More people than you know are dorks. There is a rather silly movie called “Sydney White” about a girl who turns seven nerds into… well, socially functional nerds. But I roll my eyes and laugh at the same time at the scene at the end where all these people stand up like an AA meeting and admit to being dorks.

I’ll get us started: I’m Rosemary, and I’m a dork. I fully confess that I cut my writing teeth scribbling Star Wars stories (before I knew what fan fiction was) in the back of algebra class, that I know what polyhedral dice are for, that sitting on my desk are action figures of Legolas, Hermione, and Jane Austen. I don’t mind telling you that I watch The Fifth Element ever time it comes on (which is a lot), and that I have an embarrassing number of Hannah Montana songs (that is, more than one) on my iPod, next to all the music I’ve downloaded because it’s on Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

It’s true, being a functional adult makes it a lot easier to enjoy marching to the beat of your own drummer. But you never quite outgrow that little voice that says people are pointing and laughing at you behind your back. You just get better at ignoring it.

And here’s the flip side of that. If you think you’re cool, you’re probably not. The coolest people I know are just going about their business, doing what they love and loving what they do. And they’d be shocked to realize I think they’re awesome for that very reason.

So that’s my Mr. Roger’s message for the day, my fictionista friends. Now tell me--what’s your deep, dark, dorkish secret?

Rosemary Clement-Moore's second novel, HELL WEEK, received the 2009 Rita for Best Young Adult Romance. Visit her on the web at http://www.rosemaryclementmoore.com.