Writing...a distant memory for now

I haven't been able to get much writing done at all for the last several days due to (a really fun) vacation, and will be up against a huge deadline this week for those people who pay me money to work.

I did get to have a late night conversation my last evening in California with my brother where he read the first few chapters of Trading Faces and gave me some good pointers. We did a kind of trade thing. I read the first few chapters of a young adult fiction book he wrote a few years ago (which took first prize in a contest, but unfortunately, he hasn't sold yet!). We then critiqued the other a bit. We were both really worn out, but it was good to sit and do that together. Lots of writing going on in this family for as long as I can remember.

I spent what little free time I've had in the last week or so reading the first two Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, a series about four best friends who by some twist of fate or magic can all wear the same pair of jeans in spite of their very different sizes. The books tell the stories of their journeys to self-discovery during the summers they spend both apart and together.

These are young adult fiction, but I believe readers of nearly any age, about 12 or 13 and up, would enjoy them. It is the kind of writing that, while not "literary," just makes you feel...you are almost there with the characters. I read the last half of the second book on the plane home yesterday, and honestly found myself near tears several times, and laughing out loud at others.

I love that kind of writing, and just hope I can find it in myself to write that well. I picked up the third one tonight at Target. The author is Ann Brashares, and she obviously has "made it" with this series--the third book is hardback, while I believe the first two came out in trade paperback first. Lucky and talented lady.

It's midnight. Guess I better go to bed so I don't turn into a pumpkin. I really need to work hard tomorrow...and the next day...and the next day...

Can't wait until May 19, or at least next week when I have met the biggest looming deadline and can spend a little more time writing.