In Writing

As a writer of books for teens (so far, anyway), I used to worry about what I posted here on my blog.  After all, many of my posts are not teen-friendly.  Some are risque (although I’d probably have to work a lot harder to shock most teens with internet access), but most are probably downright boring to them: laments about my kids growing up too fast and odes to my rose bushes.

It’s not that I don’t love my teen readers: I adore them.  I tell anyone who will listen that the reason I love writing for teens is that I’m sixteen years old at heart.  But I think about what I think about, and I don’t know what else to write. Alas, even though I still feel things strongly like when I was a teenager and mourn lost love the same way I did when I was sixteen, I also have a whole lot of boring, middle-aged-lady thoughts.  What to do with them?

Turns out there was no reason to worry.  A 2012 study by Bowker Market Research found that 55% of all novels categorized as “young adult” were purchased by adult readers.  And my experience bears that out too.  A hefty percentage of the reader mail that I get is from adults.  Lots of people like books about what I like to call “the issues that matter”: who we are, what we want to be, the adventures we want to have.  And that’s what YA books cover.

So, teen readers, apologies for my boring blog posts.  And, grown-ups, thanks for reading.

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