The elusive YA category

I've always loved young adult literature. To the point, actually, where it's pretty much all I buy now, and I've decided to suck it up and finish my children's lit major. I've got a ways to go, being that I spent most of my college career surrounded by rocks and complicated composition equasions, and, well, I don't think that any school outside of EMU is going to accept a class called "life's a risk, and then you die" as a comparable statistics basic. I did learn how to play a mean game of roulette, however.

Until I can restart my classes, I've been buying children's books. Not 'Fun with Dick and Jane', but books by a variety of authors, though, they have stuck pretty close to the supernatural, or science fiction. My latest aquisition has been 'Uglies' by Scott Westerfield. After reading the back, it looks pretty darn close to the plot of 'The Giver', by Lois Lowery, but with a 'Gossip Girls' twist. So help me, I know I'm eventually going to pick that series up but I am seriously resisting it. I hate the whole entitlement, backstabbing, bitchyness that is permeating everything lately. Damn you, The Hills! Oh, and, by the way, Lauren Conrad just got a three book deal to write YA novels. Because the upcoming generation isn't vapid enough, apparently. That said, I freaking love anything that has to do with Legally Blonde, I'm going to have to figure out how to see that show on Broadway soon.

I've also picked up 'What the Dickens' by Gregory McGuire. The guy that wrote Wicked. It's about the true story of the toothfairy. It's my expectation (IE- HOPE) that by reading current novels by established authors will help me with my own novel, which seems to be floundering helplessly in the slush piles. (interesting note- we're now on day *9* without any mail in my mailbox.)

On top of my increasing pile of books to read, I've cast them aside (temporaily) for the 'Idiot's Guide to Writing for Young Adults', and to go to every writing workshop I can get into in Las Vegas. I have one tomorrow, actually, about POV. I don't think that having three characters telling the story in first person is the best way to go about it anymore. I think it might be confusing for people, so I hope this meeting will help me sort all of this out.

I've also been on the look-out for good blogs, either by authors or by agents. The best one I've found by far is Miss Snark. I'm so sad that I missed out on reading her while her blog was still active, but she's got tons and tons of useful information on it, most of which I (hope) have taken to heart and applied it to my own manuscript. She's definitely improved my query letters, at the very least. I believe there comes a time (though I haven't reached it) when you finally just have to stop editing, and hope the rejection letters you get give you some useful advise as to why they didn't want it, instead of the deadly 'not for us' line. I'll let you all know when I get another rejection letter, if ever. A lot of the websites I've seen for agents simply says 'if you don't hear from us in two weeks, consider our answer to be no.' I find that a little disheartening, I mean, I give them SASEs, which I've understood to be for rejection letters. Why waste the stamp if you aren't going to at least send me a form letter? I hate wasting money like that. I suppose it's a necessary evil that I just have to grit my teeth and smile through, though.

Well, my computer wants to restart itself, so I guess this is a good place to stop for tonight. I just need to remember 'All it takes is one "Yes" in a thousand "Nos"'. Right. I'd kill for a "No" at this point.