Passion and challenge...
So I applied to be a freelance reviewer of teen books (of course!) for penguin nz ... and I have ZERO experience, plus I have only been back in the world of YA/teen fiction for a few months, but I can't say how much I just love reading them. Fantasy, specifically, is so much fun to read - that potential alternate reality that could or could not exist is sooo alluring.
Perhaps it's because when I was a teenager, I was always dreaming about alternate realities. In the tiny place I grew up in, I would go out the back of our house and lie in the tall rye grass, stare up at the marshmallow clouds in the sky and dream about alternate realities, fantastical realms, princes and dragons, angst, love... *sigh*
Behind our yard was a swamp and once I'd cut through the grass, clambered over the tangled fallen logs and pushed past the creeping vines and waving bulrushes, I practically had an enclosed room all to myself, surrounded by tall trees and plantation with a marshy creek running through the middle. It was my room from another universe, my personal, private escape.
The other place I would escape to was my bedroom, especially at night, book in hand - whether from book club or the library - squinting in the hall-light (yep and I'm paying for that now!). Mum would call me a book-worm, so you can imagine how buzzed I was when hubby called me a bookworm last month (I mean October, before NaNoWriMo!).
So, back to Penguin. Although I'm an outside chance for the role of writing reviews, I would be freakishly excited to be able to combine one of my most enjoyable passions with something else that I love - a fresh challenge.
Plus it might give me some kudos when I go looking for an agent / publisher when I finally finish Ripple or GOTG. Ha! I say finally like I've been working on either of them any longer than four months...
Perhaps it's because when I was a teenager, I was always dreaming about alternate realities. In the tiny place I grew up in, I would go out the back of our house and lie in the tall rye grass, stare up at the marshmallow clouds in the sky and dream about alternate realities, fantastical realms, princes and dragons, angst, love... *sigh*
Behind our yard was a swamp and once I'd cut through the grass, clambered over the tangled fallen logs and pushed past the creeping vines and waving bulrushes, I practically had an enclosed room all to myself, surrounded by tall trees and plantation with a marshy creek running through the middle. It was my room from another universe, my personal, private escape.
The other place I would escape to was my bedroom, especially at night, book in hand - whether from book club or the library - squinting in the hall-light (yep and I'm paying for that now!). Mum would call me a book-worm, so you can imagine how buzzed I was when hubby called me a bookworm last month (I mean October, before NaNoWriMo!).
So, back to Penguin. Although I'm an outside chance for the role of writing reviews, I would be freakishly excited to be able to combine one of my most enjoyable passions with something else that I love - a fresh challenge.
Plus it might give me some kudos when I go looking for an agent / publisher when I finally finish Ripple or GOTG. Ha! I say finally like I've been working on either of them any longer than four months...