New Beginnings?

Yes, there is a question mark there in the title. You see, I've had so many new beginnings in my life that I'm actually getting kind of sick of them. Though for the most part this one has been better than many of the others.

First of all I found a city that I love. I felt at home in New Orleans from the first moment. A far cry from Annapolis which I hated as soon as I set eyes on it. Most people who know me are stunned by the fact that I survived my first summer here. (I am known for loving the cold and snow.) I can't say that I loved the heat, but I got used to it. And of course it was a fairly mild summer, or so I'm told. I am looking forward to their version of winter though :)

One of the best things about New Orleans to me is that it is a city of contradictions. The old and the new (and don't forget the new that has to look old), different architectural styles right next door to each other (not separated by neighborhoods), there's city and country, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, clean and dirty. The list could go on forever, but I think you get the gist of it. I'm sure a lot of people in other cities would say the same thing about those others cities. They might be right, but I've never seen, never felt it in any other city I've been to. New Orleans truly has something for everyone if they take the time to look past the tourist traps in the Quarter (and totally skip Bourbon Street).

So New Orleans is now home, and I have a feeling that even if I leave some day, I'll be back.

Second, I opened one of my documents today for the first time in ages. Almost a year really. Things were so hectic from last spring until now - plus my laptop was stolen with all the newer versions of the writings I had been working on (yes, I know - very bad to not save in many different places - lesson learned). So writing has been nonexistent for over a year.

But today I did it. And honestly I'm kind of sorry I did. Pretty much everything I've ever written I looked at today and thought,"Really?? You considered this worth your time?" I'm not saying it's all crap, but even with extensive work, I doubt even 10% of it will ever be worthy of querying.

Even though I sound annoyed by it, it been very beneficial reading over everything. For starters, it's really helped me realize where I want to focus my writing. I used to be all over the map YA (sci fi, fantasy, romance, paranormal, contemporary), chick lit, romance, mystery, erotica. You name a genre and I guarantee you I had at least one project if not more going in it. But one thing rereading everything did was it showed me what I really want to write - edgy YA for those teens who are truly on the brink of adulthood but are not quite ready to move on to books where the MC is 10 to 15 or more years older than them. I want my readers old enough that I don't have to censor myself so much in my writing (I have young teen kids. I know there's stuff I don't want them reading so why would I put it in my books?).

The other great thing about this whole new beginning was meeting my current roommate, whom I will call Bald &Sexy (or BS for short). Not completely bald, but it works as a pseudonym. I met him my second day in New Orleans. He also was staying and working at St. Vincent's Guesthouse (and that whole saga is a post of its own). He was one of those people I just clicked with. And when the owner of the Guesthouse fired him because he demanded the money he was owed for his work, I was devastated. Thanks to one of the guests in town for Jazz Fest with her husband, I made a choice that changed my time here in New Orleans a great deal.

See, one thing all the people living and working at St. Vincent's had in common is that we were all broke and had nowhere else to go. We worked as hotel employees in exchange for our room. So when BS was fired, he lost his home with it. Irene (the guest I mentioned) convinced me to go after him and not leave him alone. I followed her advice that afternoon, and we spent the rest of the day and a good portion of the evening in the Quarter. BS has lived here on and off for the past 15 or so years and showed me the city as only a local could (notice I say local and not native - big difference). At about 1:00 a.m. I knew I had to get back and go to sleep, but I was terrified for him. He had nowhere to sleep and no money. Having spent my share of time homeless, I didn't want that for him. Already he was one of my best friends and you don't turn your back on friends. So instead of letting him sleep in the park, I snuck him back on hotel property and into my room. That was on April 7th this year. We've been roommates ever since.

Hurricane Isaac is how we got found out though. Hotel management found out he was living in my room and I got fired. Believe me when I say it's the best thing that happened to both of us. Now we work, we have a real apartment, and just on Tuesday we got a dog. And I'm back to writing.

So maybe new beginnings aren't as bad as I was beginning to think they were. When I break it all down like that, it seems like this one is actually pretty kick ass :D

CATCH-22's

There are two aspects of writing YA (young adult) books that I struggle with, and I think they kind of go hand in hand - cursing and sex. I'm never sure how much, if any, to add.

CURSING

Teens curse. Heck, even my 8 year old daughter sometimes lets out a "damn" or "ass." She gets in trouble for it, but she still does it. And the older kids get, the more they curse and the more inventive they get with it. There are also adult characters in YA (parents, teachers, bad guys, etc.) and adults are also known to curse. So if I want to write a realistic novel with realistic characters, do I have to put cursing in?

Some writers I know say to use substitute words, and if you have a character that is deeply religious or just chooses not to curse (like Zoey in the House of Night series) that works. But to have ordinary teens saying rats and golly just seems ridiculous to me. I'm not saying that the characters should cuss up a storm. I think a lot of it depends upon the age range of the readers a writer is aiming for. A book for tweens (10-13 years old) should have extremely sparse cursing in my opinion and no really bad words. For the 14-18 year old range, I think it should be realistic. Curses should be sprinkled in where they are appropriate. Or it can be handled the way J.K. Rowling did it in the Harry Potter series. She often wrote that Ron "said a word that would have made Mrs. Weasly blush and start yelling." (Not sure if that is an exact quote but words to that effect.)

Since the books I write are aimed for the 13-18 years old range, I've come to believe that having some cursing in my books is acceptable. Though it was a difficult decision to make. Mainly because I feel that by putting it in there I am subtly condoning it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't think teens should curse.

And there I am caught in the Catch-22 again. Argh!!

SEX

I have the same problem with sex in my books. In my YA #1, the female main character is attacked by a pedophile and is saved by the male main character. Some of the sexual contact must be shown in a situation like that, but how much is too much? In my YA #3 that I am writing the rough draft of right now, the main character (a ghost) inhabits the body of a 15 year old boy who is experimenting with sex to find out if he really is gay or not. How much of his experimenting do I show? How much is it going to offend the general readership to have gay sex in the book? And once again, does putting sex in the book show a tacit approval of teens having sexual relationships?

So many questions I don't have the answer to. Every expert I've heard from says to do what feels right in these situations. But I'm one of those people capable of seeing, understanding, and to a point agreeing with all sides of an issue. I can see the plus side of putting sex in and I can see the down side.

I is all confuzzled on this topic.