Back Where I Belong

 Why hello new leaf, I believe I will turn you over. It's been an interesting week for me. Ever since reading that critique I've avoided writing, and at times avoided even thinking about writing. I worried about how I might be an awful writer and stressed about the possibility of a complete rewrite once again. I wasted a whole week watching Criminal Minds during the day, and new shows at night. I even avoided reading in case diving into someone else's published work would show me how silly I've been for wanting someday to be published myself. A dark place that I haven't seen for almost a year tried to pull me back under in the past few days...
  But even in the dark, even when I felt hopeless and useless and wasted my time, for some crazy reason God chose to speak to me... He took the brief moments of clarity and determination to keep writing that I had this week, and he'd show me things I needed to change, tweak, and even brought about an idea so full circle that  it left me almost speechless at it's perfection.
  I was told (among other things) in the critique that I should focus on Young Adult fiction. I grew up reading the Christie Miller series and the like, loving what they were trying to teach me about God and having a relationship with him, even at a fairly young age, so I have a soft spot in my heart for YA fiction. It usually involves series with multiple characters, or the growth of one or two characters, which I've already got on the go, and I have a little more free license with themes in this genre.
  I don't know why, but the thought of YA fiction brought to mind an older blog of mine: Human Tales. (Just in case you missed it, here's the link: http://km-justyouraveragegirl.blogspot.com/2011/11/human-tales.html ) I'm a Disney kid, and proud of it, growing up with all of the classics and actually being alive when some of them came out new. That's right, I was alive when Beauty and the Beast and Lion King hit theaters. No old jokes please. But I think because of that, a lot of women my age, and girls even younger have a fascination with Princesses, fairy tales, happily ever afters. So I thought of my previous blog and thought of how what I wanted to learn from these tales could flow seamlessly into my series...
  So here's part of my proposal. Please tell me what you think. My previously titled Just Your Average Girl series will now be Everyday Princesses (because we are all daughters of the King of Kings right?), until a publisher begs to differ (or agrees) with it. Each girl will represent the basic characteristics and some plot similarities to the Princess they are most like. Take Cass for example. A small town girl content to live her adventures in the pages of books, falls for a guy her family sees as a monster because of his past indiscretions. Sound familiar? Of course, real life isn't quite as cut and dry as fairy tales. Cass is stuck deciding between two great guys, instead of having an obvious prince and an obvious villain. She also has some emotional issues to deal with before she can even begin thinking about giving her heart to whomever she chooses, and has a relationship with God to salvage. Her story, Why Wish?, carries us through from her days of hopelessness, believing nothing good can or should happen to her, through to an important life lesson.
  Now, when I was going through all of this, picking princesses for each character, Jamie seemed to fit Ariel best. After all Jamie is dealing with ramifications of lost virginity, lost direction for her chosen career path, and lost voice when she forgets who she is and what she wants in her core. I thought about her last night, trying to figure out how calling her book So Lost would work with the end of her story, and then the quote about a woman being so lost in Jesus that a man has to go through him to win her heart came to mind. I could hear Cass or Jamie's mom reminding her of that when she's complaining about how the man she's falling for has no use for God. I could hear them telling her to "Get lost in that. Maybe he'll follow." It so felt like God was talking right to my heart, that I didn't know what to think or say. That moment, God broke back through the doubts and fears and showed me that this is what I'm supposed to be doing, even if I'm the only one my writing is helping to grow.
  I won't bore you with long drawn out details of Robyn's story (my artist and therefore my Pocahontas) or Corri (Snow White, because she's the 'fairest of them all')... partly because I'm not as sure of their details, their journeys, and partly because you've made it this far and must be half asleep by now. Please let me know what you think of these new ideas. Your input and feedback are very important to me. If I'm way off base, let me know... but if these ideas interest you even in the slightest, I'd love to hear that too.
  My favourite song right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypsO62sw3yw Share and share alike right?
<3 Kayla