For the Criminally Inane

 Sorry, I lied... I know I said I wasn't going to use a pen name to write my Young Adult fantasy. But now I'm reconsidering it. I already have quite an AWESOME following for my sweet contemporary romance. And a lot of people will jump with me to another genre. (Some won't, and that's okay. I'm still writing for them as well!) But I'm hoping that I can also gain a new audience with my Young Adult fantasy books. Separating the genres by pen name would keep those two lines from being crossed. It wouldn't be anything dramatic, although I've already got Amy Leduc as one of them, I would likely go for a pen name like A. E. Zeigler or Amey E. Zeigler. I do hate that both my names are hard to spell, which makes it more likely that I'll choose the initials and the last name, but we'll see. What's your preference? What will you be writing and will I be interested in them? Great question. Here are a couple of ideas I've already started writing/plan...

 Why I write clean Young Adult Fantasy First off, I love teenagers. I connect with that age group. I feel like I'm still seventeen sometimes. I want to write books that will benefit them, give them hope, courage, and comfort. I want to write books that my kids can read and enjoy.  When I was younger, I would lose myself for hours reading the most fantastical books of the day. I loved how fantasy books could take me to another world, explore topics in a way that couldn't be done here in a contemporary setting, and could talk about good versus evil in a fantasy context. I loved the creativity of these writers, the worlds and characters they come up with and the conflicts! I want to bring that to you! Fantasy has had a resurgence in the last few years, especially the popular romantasy. If you aren't familiar with the term, it's basically romance genre smashed with fantasy. I love it! What a time to live! I tell you, I was born to write romantasy. But the problem is, what I...

  Top Ten YA Fantasy Reads 1. Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander: What I love about it: the characters are amazing, story is top notch, great read-aloud books to youngsters. Good morals.             2. Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer What I love about it: I love inventive retellings, characters are good. Each book has a fairytale couple.              3. Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale What I love about these books: fun lore and magic system, (Goose Girl is a little slow in the beginning, give it 60 pages), great story, memorable. I have signed copies. Shannon once said if she wanted to make money in the biz, she'd write more Bayern Books but her heart took her another way. I respect that.              4. Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson What I love about this series: clean YA, great story, pacing is exciting, and I think I just like t...