Hey, look! It's Kevin!

Two books I received as gifts!!

Hey everybody!

I know, I know, you're probably thinking "This kid's alive!?" Well, yes, I am!

It's been a wild ride, this semester. I know I have been in hiatus, but this hiatus is officially over! I plan on writing this blog like never before! (Which means, I'll be posting regularly, and I'll be doing Road Trip Wednesdays, as well as book reviews and what not!)

I do want to apologize for being gone for so long. I went through a lot of personal things in the past six or seven months.

But on the bright side, here are some good highlights!

1. I graduated from SIUC! College is done!
2. I am moving to California in four days!
3. I attended my first writer's retreat! (Four friends eating brunch while writing counts, right?)
4. I started a tumblr! (click if you want to check it out)
5. I was Senior Co-Editor of the lit magazine at my school!
6. I got a short story and a poem published!
7. I won the CURCA award at my school for my short story!
8. Did I mention I graduated?
9. And I'm sure something else I can't remember as of right now.

Those are some highlights of what I haven't been writing about, but no more! My adventures in California and trying to get published will be documented here for you all to read.

I will stop rambling now!

Happy to be back everybody!

MFA Ranking, Applying, and other nonsense.

2013 GrassRoots

So I'll start off by telling you guys, I'm not sure if I already have, I got the Senior Co-Editor of GrassRoots. For those of you who haven't read this before, it's the job I applied for a while back that is co-running the undergraduate literary magazine at my college. I really wanted this position and for me it's like a dream come true!

I think of this job as, it has always been my dream to see my name in a book and if I can't do that, I want to make others come true and give that to them. (My name does appear in this book through, twice on two of my works and once under staff, a smaller position.) I want people to feel that same feeling I had when I found out my name would be in print! So here's hoping to a great year.

On top of wondering what all is going to come with that job this Fall (my senior year might I add) I have been working on my MFA applications. As anyone out there who has ever applied to MFA programs, you know how stressful this can be. There are so many questions you have to take into account. Do I take the GRE? How much money will I need to apply? Is this program right for me? Will I want to shoot myself living in such a small town, even if their program is ah-mah-zing!? (Yes, there is one of those on my list.)

This is proving to be even more stressful than I had originally thought, and trust me, I thought it was going to be EXTREMELY stressful. I'm now worried that even if I do get into a program what if their stipend isn't enough money to survive off of? What if I end up living on the streets? I can't live in a cardboard house! Urgh!

Only time will tell.

Genre Writing

If you can't tell, I like GIFS... and Spongebob.

I've been thinking a lot about what I write lately. A couple of different things have popped up that have really got me thinking about the fact that I write Young Adult. First was over Winter Break when I started looking up MFA programs that I wanted to apply to. I knew most of the programs wouldn't have any kind of YA type things but I wasn't prepared for the fact that almost all reputable programs say specifically no genre writing. This really got me down. But I've talked to my sister, who is getting her PhD at University California Riverside and my personal mentor, and she helped me realized something. Just because I don't get into my program off my YA writing does not mean I can't still write YA.

Another thing that happened was I recently applied for a position at the schools undergraduate literary magazine Grassroots. For my interview I had to bring them a writing sample. I know most people look down on YA writing as not real writing, so I decided to bring in one of my non-YA works. This also made me realize, and I will restate, most people look down on YA writing. For all you YA writers out there, you know this stinks and is a common thing. It really is a bummer that most people see YA writing as not real or not good.

The third thing that happened that made me think about it was an article I read on YA Highway's blog. It asked the question, do you read outside your genre. My answer is yes. I have to. Because of my school classes I am required to read almost exclusively things that are out of the genre that I write. I think this is good for me though. It really helps me improve my writing. However, it makes me realize how little YA is read in college and the fact that it really isn't credited well.

I know I have led you down a long and depressing road of what seems like anti-YA but I have a point. The thing is, if you're out there and are like me, feeling like YA isn't looked upon well, then what I have to say is, forget them. Really all that matters is you're writing, right? You're doing what you love, no matter what genre. While I think it is a good idea, and very important, to read other genres, just remember to stay faithful to what you love. Don't let someone else persuade you that your writing will never be good enough because the characters aren't the right age, or the fact that your setting may be a little fantasy. Do what you love, and forget the rest.