Why I Write YA

WHY I WRITE YA. 
Wow!  That's quite a question, huh?  Hmmm, why DO I write YA?  Well, if I had to answer that question with a question, I might ask, "Why NOT Write YA?" 

I think being a teenager is one of the most fascinating times in life.  I also think it's one that pretty much all of us get incredible joy from reliving.  Well, for the most part anyway:)  There's so much promise in the life of a teenager, isn't there? The possibilities are endless.  Endless!  The vast majority of life is out there ahead of you, like an ocean of options just waiting for you to dive right in. You could be anything, do anything.  Don't get me wrong, it's not like when you hit 25, it's all downhill from there (although some things will never have the same "perkiness" after that age:).  But it's just not the same as being inside the head of a teenager and looking out at life through the eyes of a dreamy seventeen or eighteen year old.   Anything you can imagine is out there waiting for you.  And that includes love. 
*sigh* 
Love.  First love.  You remember it, don't you?  The butterflies and the unbearable anticipation, the feet that never touch the ground and the heart that flies into the sun, the way you can't stop thinking about that one special person, no matter how hard you try.  Ah.  First love.  First kiss.  First everything.  Oh, the emotion of it all!  Highs are never so high, lows never so low.  Love is fresh and new when you're a young adult.  It's dramatic and heartbreaking.  It's fun and soul-warming .  It's exciting and earth-shattering.  It's the kind of love that you never want to forget and usually never do.  It's both the happiest time of your life and quite possibly the most miserable.  It's glorious!
Having lived a few years past those trying times, I can honestly say that the young adult years are probably the most fraught with emotion of any single time in life.  That's why I write YA.  Emotion.  That's what I want to recapture for all the world to see and feel and witness, for all of us to remember.  And if I do it right, you'll laugh and you'll cry, you'll grit your teeth and you'll sigh in relief, you'll feel the freedom of victory and the weight of defeat.  But in the end, you'll be happy that you played along.  And that's what I want most of all—to make people feel.  A lot!

So there's your answer.  Now you know.  This should give you some idea of what to expect in my novels.  At least I hope it does.  So go to my sidebar and grab one of my books.  Curl up and let me tell you a little story, take you somewhere else for a little while, to a place where happy endings are always on the horizon and dreams always come true.