Time flies when you're having fun!

There is that old adage that goes 'Time flies when you're having fun.'  Time does seem to be going faster and faster, but maybe it's because I seem to be getting busier and busier that I just stop noticing time.  Time only drags when we have nothing to do and spend our time staring at the clock willing the seconds to tick by.  Some days I wish I had the time to stare at the clock.  I'm not always sure that I'm having fun, but I am definitely filling up my time.

One person that seems to be spending his time wisely and having fun is YA author J.A. Beard. 

J.A. Beard is a restless soul who is luckily married to an equally restless soul. His two children are too young yet to discuss whether or not they are restless souls. When he hasn’t been writing, studying history, or making excuses for not writing, he’s tried his hand at several careers including intelligence analysis, programming, and research science. Though he likes to declare himself the Pie Master, he’s yet to prove his worth in the brutal baking show-downs of Celebration, Florida.  J.A. Beard has taken The Wizard of Oz and had a lot of fun with it, turning it into contemporary YA fantasy. 

In this loose re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz, Kansas teen Gail Dorjee has tried to escape from the pain of her parents' death by retreating into a hard shell of anger and sarcasm.
When her aunt and uncle ship her off to an elite Seattle boarding school, Osland Academy, she spends her first day making enemies, including the school's most powerful clique, the Winged, and their leader, the ruthless Diana.
Social war and the school's uptight teachers are only mild annoyances. Mysterious phone outages, bizarre behavioral blocks, and strange incidents suggest Osland is focused on something much more sinister than education.
Now Gail has to survive at Osland with a pretty pathetic assortment of potential allies: her airhead roommate, a cowardly victim of the Winged, and Diana's cold but handsome boyfriend, Nick.

We are very privileged to have J.A. Beard contribute to my blog.  He's written a great post titled 'Speaking With Them Not At Them.'

                The question of how “young adult fiction” is defined is often asked during discussions of YA works. Many people who don’t read a lot of YA work tend to assume that any story with a non-adult protagonist is young adult (or, if the protagonist is young enough, middle grade fiction). It’s a seductively easy way to try and label such work, but it’s also somewhat misguided.

                Obviously character age is important, but it’s not the whole picture. Is it more about subject matter? Despite the eternal “What’s acceptable for YA?” debate, a review of critically acclaimed and commercially successful YA fiction tends to suggest that, when treated well, no particular subject is off-limits. Perhaps none should be. YA readers are on the cusp of full adulthood and trying to keep important and difficult themes and subjects out of their fiction is a denial of their expanding maturity and responsibility.

                So if it’s not purely age nor is it subject matter, then what defines young adult fiction? For me, it’s perspective and voice. People at different stages of their life have different perspectives, difference biases, and different ways of thinking. The relative popularity of first person in YA in reflects an attempt to more strongly present the perspective and voice of the non-adult characters. Even for books written in third person, that difference in how it is written is so important in helping the book connect with YA readers. There are so many ways to do this: word choice, emphasis, and general style.

Now some might ask if it’s even all that important to have stories told with the perspective and voice of young adult characters. Plenty of stories include non-adult characters but don’t bother to orient the main style of the narrative around them. Teen readers are more than capable of reading books not explicitly targeting them.

                Sure, teen readers are, but in an age where books are competing for time against so many distractions, do we really want to reduce the chance of any reader connecting with a book?

              Also, the whole idea is a bit unfair. Although people read a wide variety of books and genres (as well they should to expand their horizons) there’s also a certain appeal in connecting with stories you find relatable.  It’s a validation of a reader as a person and an acknowledgement that their perspective has validity.

              I’ll even take this a step farther. I’ve often heard people complain about not understanding teens. If that’s the case, then it would seem some non-teens need to dive into popular (and therefore resonating with readers) YA fiction written from the perspective of teens. Maybe it’ll help expand their “adult” perspective.  J.A. Beard

J.A. Beard blogs at riftwatcher.blogspot.com and is on Twitter as @jabeard_rf.

His current release, a young adult urban fantasy, THE EMERALD CITY, details the transition of a Kansas teen to a sinister Seattle boarding school. It’s available for sale at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Emerald-City-ebook/dp/B00761LCTY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330061232&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-emerald-city-ja-beard/1108613536?ean=2940014100717&itm=1&usri=the+emerald+city+beard

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Emerald-City/book-QKfF05Zk3kuwJvUYHp0tWg/page1.html

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/130023

How long is a piece of string?

My teenage daughter loves to ask me questions that I have no possible way of knowing the answer.  When will the power come back on?  Do you think we'll get the generator working this time?  When will the fuel shortage be over?  Where do you think the housekeeper put my Garfield t-shirt?  Eventually last night I turned around to face her and said, "How long is a piece of string?"
The truth is that we are often faced with questions for which we don't know the answers.  This can cause anxiety if you let the unknown get to you, but if you learn to just chillax and go with the flow, handle each day as it comes and try not to plan too far ahead, you'll be okay.  We adapt and why waste time and energy worrying about things completely out of our control.
What we know is that at the moment in Moshi, Tanzania, we will have at least 8 hours out of every 24 without power.  Sometimes it can be more than 8 hours.  There is a schedule which TANESCO doesn't stick to, so you are never entirely sure when you'll have power or not.  Apparently the power cuts are because the Tanzanian government didn't think it necessary to plan ahead for a growing population.  Now the power stations are old and shutting down, and the new ones they are supposedly building will only be ready in 2013, so until then I can't see the power situation improving.  One just has to get creative and fork out the money for a generator.
This past week the power cuts have been compounded by a fuel shortage.  The price of fuel has been increasing at an alarming rate and the government, bless their cotton socks, decided to step in and take action.  They have now made a law that fuel has to be sold at a much cheaper price dictated by them.  As you can imagine, the suppliers to the fuel stations are seeing their large profits made on the backs of the impoverished population decreasing, so they have refused to supply fuel at the government dictated prices.  The result, the majority of fuel stations have shut down and put up barricades.  Those selling fuel have long queues and run out of fuel quite quickly.  If you are running a generator to cope with the power cuts, this is a big problem.  If you love watching rugby on TV and are eagerly awaiting the rugby world cup, then this can be a possible catastrophe.  Writing has to be put on hold as there is only so much you can do on the laptop before the battery dies.
My book sales are continuing to climb which is a highlight at present in an otherwise dark and gloomy world. The recent riots in England made me think I'd rather have our power problems than that. Imagine what you must feel as a parent if you see your child looting shops on the television news. Would you report them to the police?

So how much longer will all of this continue?  How long is a piece of string?
Have a great week!
Cindy