When Romance Isn’t Just Romance in YA fiction

Ok, confession: I’ve wanted to express my sentiments about sexualized romance in YA fiction for ages. And today, after reading a tweet that discussed whether romance actually needs to be in a YA novel for it to be good (and another tweet about unnecessary romance in YA novels), I am going to share my views about ‘romance that isn’t just romance’ here.

One of my most basic presuppositions about humans is that they are very impressionable and, under the right circumstances, can be easily manipulated. I think this is especially true for youth.

So. Going along with that presupposition…we have teens—highly impressionable, (potentially) easily manipulated teens—that are being exposed to ideas about who they are, who they are supposed to be, what constitutes a relationship, what constitutes a good relationship, etc.

And then, we have YA books that serve as idea-givers alongside other sources of media, from tv to radio to the net and beyond.

Are you beginning to see the magnitude of such influence??? (If you haven’t already, that is?) But back to making my main point…

Time Crunches and Paradigm Shifts

Have you ever found yourself crunched for time? It’s obnoxious, no?

I’ve found myself in one big crunch here lately when it comes to writing. Ok, so I had surgery, recovered for a week, and back to work I went. But instead of working part time, I’ve been working full time (with the exception of about a day and a half) for the past two weeks.  

How do authors do it???

I can’t imagine working a full time job while also working off hours to make writing deadlines while also taking care of children at home while also attempting to keep the house relatively clean and SURVIVING, much less functioning.

Many authors have managed to perform this feat, but I am definitely not one of them…

Welcoming Rest

Sometimes I feel like my life is spinning out of control--as though the things that are going on around me are too fast, too abundant, and too energy-depleting to carry on any more.

This is perfectly normal in a society that runs on the idea of going more than the energizer bunny himself. But I think it's pretty sad to admit that if I hadn't had surgery this past week, I would probably still be trying to run on empty.

Sure, the main culprit is definitely my lack of rest in being still with God. This culprit has a few accomplices, though, and they can be downright sneaky.