This morning, Blaze and I circled around barrels, zigzagged through an obstacle course, and made tight corners around poles. I’m not yet confident of my horseback riding skills, so I was concentrating hard during my lesson. On the other hand, Blaze kept getting distracted by the other horses and an occasional strong wind. He tossed his head, danced around, and went far faster than I wanted him to go. And to tell you the truth, I got scared.     

Back at the stables, I asked my riding instructor how I could control the horse better the next time I felt myself panic. She explained that Blaze and I were exchanging nervous energy, which made us both ineffective on the ride.     

“Next time you’re afraid,” she said, “just go back to the basics. Remember to use the skills that you know. There may be times when you aren’t able to control your horse, but you’re always in control of yourself and your own fears.”     

Driving home, I thought about how this riding lesson also applies to my novice adventures in writing Young Adult fiction. The class I’m taking is putting me through my paces; I’m definitely testing my skills. When my dialogue falls flat, deadlines are looming, and my plot line’s spinning out of control … well, to tell you the truth, I get scared. But next time I panic, I’ll try to remember that I am a competent writer who knows the basics, and that I have what it takes to control my own fears.

Just when I was getting traction with MySpace, it seems that trend is hitting the skids.

According to a report in the UK Observer, teens are turning their attentions to FaceParty and turning their backs on MySpace.  “I definitely prefer Faceparty to MySpace,” says one of 6 million users. “MySpace is all corporate now.”

Finding relief from adult scrutiny is a key reason teens are making the switch. Dave Barnfort, director of Faceparty, says “The grown-ups know all about MySpace, but very little about us. Their kids get home from school and spend hours on it. We try really hard to keep out of the press.”

Sorry, Dave, but I just had to make mention of this. But with my LJ friends as my witnesses, I won’t tell another soul.

“I’ve covered murders, grisly accidents, airplanes falling out of the sky and, occasionally, dirty politics. But in nearly two decades of journalism, nothing has made my insides churn like seeing what my 13-year-old daughter and her friends are up to on MySpace.com.”

Column One in today’s LA Times follows a mother’s journey into the inner sanctum of MySpace and describes what she discovers there about her daughter’s world. 

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. From writing the genre to understanding the generation I’m writing about, I’ve got so much to learn about Young Adult fiction (YA). The article isn’t the end-all; it’s just one experience, one point of view. But it’s an important perspective to think about and one I can learn from. 

What do you think about MySpace and/or this article? I’d love to hear from you, if you’re willing to share what you know.

UPDATE: Thanks so much for all your comments! Just warming up to the subject? Take a peek at zeisgeist‘s latest blog.

This week, I’m beginning my foray into fiction; I’m working on an assignment for Laurenbarnholdt‘s Young Adult (YA) writing class. I’ve done some initial research on plot structure, character development, and dialogue (yada yada)  — hours of work so far, translated into four pages out of a requisite ten. I’m no YA prodigy, that much is already clear.

An article in this morning’s LA TImes is all about YA-writing prodigies of all ages, but it focuses its attention on teens authors who “write life as they live it,” in books intended for their peers. “Why let a bunch of middle-aged people tell you what it’s like to be an American teen,” reporter Josh Getlin asks.

Courtney Toombs, coauthor of The Notebook Girls, says few adults understand teens. “Your parents think you just get on the school bus in the morning and you sit in your class all day, and you go somewhere and you come back,” she says. “They don’t realize that you live this entire life that they really don’t know about.”  Oh yeah, that’s just what I needed to hear.

But can teen authors really write? This article says yes. “Teenagers, after all, are forever sending text and instant messages. They spend hours updating blogs and keeping online journals. The discipline that adult wannabes fight so hard to master in night classes and writing colonies — the need to write, write and write some more — comes effortlessly to many teens. For them, daily life on the Internet has become an almost natural prelude to the writing of short stories, essays and novels.”

One LJ friend makes her case: “Why should I have to wait years to get a book deal?” asked robbiewriter, author of the novel Better Than Yesterday, which will be published by Delacorte in 2007. “I mean, I’ve been writing since I was in the eighth grade. I felt that I had something to say.”

But some industry experts say teen writers are gifted exceptions. “Until our educational system gets better we won’t see much of this,” said E. Lockhart, who wrote The Boyfriend List (required  reading for Lauren’s class) and Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything.”

I find Lockhart’s success story comforting. “It took me until I was at least 30 to write a publishable book,” she says, “and 38 to write a decent book.” “Some people are prodigies, God love them, but it’s not that common. Fiction takes time to do well.”

Some authors suggest that, when it comes to writing, it’s all about talent and discipline rather than age. “I don’t see a huge talent difference between one age group or another,” said Kaavya Viswanathan, author of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. “It all comes down to who has the dedication to sit down every day and put something on paper. It all starts from there.”

I’m trying out this genre of writing, mainly because it sounds like a lot of fun. It’ll encourage me to see the world from a different vantage point, and I believe it’ll improve my overall writing skills, too. But whatever an author’s age or reason for writing YA, there’s no doubt that there’s a market for good work. 

According to Getlin, “While revenue in other sectors of the book industry remains flat, YA is booming… A key reason for the success of YA books, which run the gamut from romances to mysteries, thrillers to self-help, religion to sports, is that there are far more teenagers than there were 15 years ago. They’re part of the 12- to 21-year-old demographic that spends a staggering $170 billion annually on entertainment, including books.” I gotta admit it: that’s motivation, too.

You can read the whole article here.

Close on the coattails of April Fools Day and Daylight Savings Time, there’s another landmark moment this month. Someone with apparently too much time on their hands has figured out that, at 1:02 tomorrow morning (Wednesday, April 5, 2006), the time and date will be 01:02:03, 04-05-06. 

If you’re a night owl who’s fascinated with numbers, you’ll want to synchronize your clocks right now, so you can celebrate the occasion at precisely the right time. But I’m an early-to-bed writer, so I’ll  probably sleep through this chronological quirk. 

Oh, and one more thing, way off topic. Though I usually don’t post about politics here, this morning I’d like to dedicate a song to (soon-to-be-former) Representative Tom Delay: It’s Hard Out There For A Pimp. Bwwaahahaha.

Six random truths about me, revealed on April Fool’s Day:

1. My father was an itinerant preacher – his cathedral, a two-thousand person tent. Ever seen “The Apostle,” with Robert Duvall? That’s a close-up view of my dad. One day, I might write short stories with similar scenarios, viewed through the eyes of a child.
2. I once taught at an exclusive school for children of the wealthy and well-known (think Matthew Perry, the Portiers, the Hiltons). For Christmas that year, I unwrapped lots of luxe gifts, purchased at stores on Rodeo Drive by personal assistants, in mass quantities for me and the rest of the staff. Sentimental tokens of the students’ and parents’ affection for us teachers? On so many levels, not.
3. I’ve been interviewed by Time magazine, for a lengthy feature article about an area of my expertise. That two-hour interview translated into a one-sentence quote, taken out of context, of course. Wasted: at least two of my fifteen minutes of fame.
4. As celebration of a significant birthday (ahem, and don’t ask), I rode my Bianchi from Seattle to Portland. Just me and ten thousand other riders, biking 198.6 miles over the course of two days. I cherish the medal I got at the finish line, proof positive that I am far from the finish line of my life.
5. I am the shiksa exemplar for the Yiddish word farblondjet: that is, I’m frequently lost, really lost. I’ve got a great moral compass, I think, but no geographic sense of direction at all. (And no, it’s not lost on me, the inclusion of ‘blond’ in that word.)
6. Next week, I’m venturing into new territory, and already I feel a bit lost. I’m taking a YA fiction-writing class – for this nonfiction writer, a bit of a stretch. It’ll help hone my overall writing skills, though, so I’m excited about that. Learning new things makes me feel stupid sometimes, but I’ve rarely felt foolish for trying.