Passion and Promise Collide

I spent the first day of my Spring Break holiday at the North Texas Teen Book Festival. It was a great start to the break. I got to "meet" some great authors:

Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Lindsay Cummings
Ashley Elston
Julie Murphy
John Corey Whaley

I had a few fangirl moments (Kathy Reichs walked right pasted me TWICE), and picked up some new titles to read:

The Murder Complex (Lindsey Cummings)
The Naturals series (Jennifer Lynn Barnes)
The Rules for Disappearing (Ashley Elston)
The Visions Trilogy (Lisa McMann -- I LOVE the Wake trilogy!)
Dumplin' (Julie Murphy -- this one's not out yet, but I MUST READ IT!)
The Virals series (Kathy Reichs -- already a HUGE Temperance Brennan fan!).

But the biggest thing I walked away with was the need to write again.

I've always toyed with the idea that I wanted to write on a grander scale than I have previously. Listening to these authors talk about their craft, experiences, successes and fears gave me hope. I allowed their encouragement for the teens in the audience to rub off on me, the 40 something hanging out in the back of the room.

I actually started writing a book at the beginning of this year. My friend, Amianne, inspired me. She's writing a novel; I'm writing a memoir. We're encouraging each other and I'm excited about our progress. Amianne can see the finish line, but I've only just begun, though the first section is mostly finished in it's first draft. I'm learning a lot about myself and about what I want to do. I've started and stopped this book several times, but this is the race I'm going to finish. I am going to do it.

So a big "THANK YOU" to the authors for inspiring young people to read and write, and for giving this old girl a kick in the pants to do what she's always dreamed of doing!