Life's Too Short and I'm Ready to be Famous

I turned 30 a few weeks ago and expected a few things to change in my life: getting up in the morning is a little more difficult than it used to be (mostly because I'm up late reading books-how did I pull all- nighters in college?), periodically I spot a gray/white hair on my head, eating "spicy" foods has to be spaced out due to indigestion, and my need to "tsk tsk" at my students' silly ideas about life has increased greatly. However, I'm alive and am part of a beautiful family. (Of course this is a miracle itself considering the life-threatening birth of my son.) Right when I think that I've got time to continue enjoying the aging process, something truly shocking happens: a young lady I grew up with recently committed suicide. That's the second person my age that has passed away within the past few months. I'm not old! People my age aren't supposed to die!

Aside from the harassment my husband will receive until he schedules a meeting with the lady who filed our wills so we may update them, I am planning to speak with the priests at my church regarding arrangements in case I'm taken suddenly and no one knows what to do. There was a time I would have found that incredibly morbid, but now I find it necessary! I've even toyed around with the idea of making a ton of videos for my son for birthdays, graduations, just because, etc. in case I'm not around to see him grow. Then he would have something to remember me by. I don't like thinking these things, but life's so fragile that it almost seems silly for me not to think these things.

All of this also pushes to the forefront of my mind my desire to publish a novel. I don't need it on a best seller list or to even be a movie (although my husband would disagree-he definitely would want to see it become a movie $$$). I just want to walk into a bookstore and see my name on the cover of a book on the shelf. So I have to wonder why I haven't been inspired enough to take care of this. Perhaps it is because I believed there would always be time to get it done eventually. I mean, didn't Rowling take 9 years to get Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone written? Now I'm starting to wonder just how much time I really have. After all, tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

I suppose I would write a young adult novel since that's the audience I'm most familiar with. And, let's be honest, I love some young adult literature. I have often wondered why I like to spend so much time reading novels written for people whose brains aren't fully developed and still have a lot to learn about life. I think it is because life IS so much simpler for them. There's a good guy; there's a bad guy, and there's always a romantic interest. Maybe I also like being taken back to a teenagehood that wasn't mine. Not that mine was miserable, but I definitely didn't get to do what teens in novels get away with regularly. I mean, they never seem to have to report to any adults. Plus young adult novels make really great movies! Seriously, watch this trailer:

(The movie is actually coming out in March not July! Woo Hoo!)

Okay, so that's what I'm going to do! I'm going to write a young adult novel. I'm going to get it published! And because I love my husband so much, I'm going to drive a hard bargain to get it made into a movie!

Wish me luck.