The Books I'm Most Thankful For
So, there's this amazing contest going on over at Beth Revis's blog.
'Tis the season for giving thanks, and despite the craziness and emotional turmoil of the past year or two, I have a lot to be thankful for.
One of those things is the amount of progress I've made in my writing life. I'm super-close to starting to query ALL'S FAIR. I'm on track for my Secret NaNo, which isn't really too secret since I keep mentioning it on Twitter. I've made writing friends, gotten some amazing critiques, and have a few potential publishing ins that I plan to utilize as soon as I finish revising AF. I've been writing for ten years, but only taking my writing seriously for about two.
And I sincerely don't think I ever would have loved young adult books--and therefore writing--as much as I do if, back in middle school, my friend Corinne hadn't let me borrow THE SONG OF THE LIONESS quartet by Tamora Pierce. These books introduced me to the concept of a female knight and the genre of medieval fantasy, both of which are integral to ALL'S FAIR.
Alanna (SONG OF THE LIONESS), Daine (THE IMMORTALS), and Kel (PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL) were the heroes (sheroes) of my middle grade and young adult years, and bits and pieces of them show up in bits and pieces my own protagonist. Tammy's books impacted my life so positively, and Tammy herself has been such a role model for me (I can't tell you how amazed I was the first time I was able to approach her at Boskone and act like a person, instead of being overwhelmed with shyness and awe), that this is more than a contest entry--it's a true show of gratitude for the series and the author that pushed me onto this crazy YA fantasy train in the first place.
Thank you, tammypierce / tammy212.
ETA: I can't figure out why my padding HTML tag isn't working. I'm sorry for the bad formatting around the image. :(