My writerly dream

What is my writerly dream? My dream is to write a YA novel, or a series of novels, that would stay in the minds of my young readers even as they got old.

As a kid, I loved the Trixie Belden mystery series. I remember many of the stories, and all of the characters. To write something like that, something that lives on as a cherished memory, something that my readers want their own kids to read and love, too...THAT is my dream.

I'd also love to write a novel along the lines of Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. I loved that book, and I dream of writing something so engaging as that book. Now, Bees is not a YA novel, but interestingly, the lead character, Lily, is a 14-year-old girl.

One thing that's funny about this dream is that I don't write fiction. At least, I don't allow myself to write fiction. But I've been thinking about it more and more. And when asked to share my dream with the group, THESE were the two things that immediately popped into my head. Shocked the hell out of me, that's for sure! :-)

I'm drawn to stories that relate to the early teen years. I may be overanalyzing this (who, me??), but I think the reason why I'm so drawn to this age group is that I'm not particularly happy or satisfied with the way I lived those years. I followed the road more traveled even as I stretched my neck as far as I could to see what I was missing down that less-traveled path, the one chosen by others with backbones stronger than mine.

I would like to return to those coming-of-age years through my writing. Maybe tell the story of my life as it could have been.

Or not.

I don't know, exactly. I didn't even know it was my dream until asked to put that dream into words.

Funny what you learn about yourself when you write.