Hopefully, another little holiday first...

I really, really really want to go off to Thailand for another little holiday before I come back and get down to serious business again. I know I've already had two quick holidays in Pattaya this year but I didn't go alone the first time and it rained during the day most of the days I was there the second time so I didn't get to go to the beach even once. I did go to the various naughty bars however, so it was never a total loss...but darn it, a holiday at a beach town isn't a holiday unless I sun at the beach, swim, and eat lots of grilled catfish, fried crabs and fresh fruit at least 80% of the time! 

What's stopping me this time is the fact that I'm getting my tennis techniques and play to a level where I feel I can say I'm improving, I'm losing fat (slowly but surely) and I'm also writing again and I'm afraid to interrupt the flow just at the moment. On the other hand, once I get down to the serious stuff with my writing clients, I'll be very grouchy because I won't be able to go to Pattaya or Bangkok until the last one's gone home.

This time, if I go, I'll make sure to carry my little notebook. I want to continue writing when I'm not either at the beach or behaving like a cheap slut in my favourite Thai bars. So there!

Moving ahead...

Things are starting to click together so nicely for me, it seems a bit of a shame to go off on another holiday motivated by nothing more than naughty expectations...but then, if I don't go soon, I'll be stuck with my regular work schedule until the end of next April and that's a rather daunting prospect. Of course, it would be a bit too much to hope that EVERYTHING's going well...I'm still stuck trying to decide how much to rewrite my children's fantasy trilogy.  

You wouldn't think it but writing for children/teenagers or young adults is much harder than writing for regular old adults. First of all, there's the language level to consider. You can't really use too many unfamiliar words - not necessarily 'big' words, mind you. I use the word 'fife' and had too explain that it means 'flute' for example, because not many modern under-18s would know that. And then, there's boy-girl relationships and attractions. It's easy enough to have a girl character who behaves like one of the boys but I refuse to write a character who's basically a boy in drag!

And then there's the fact that I'm basically writing a wulin or jianghu-type book (that's Chinese martial arts fantasy world, if you didn't know) but one meant for non-Chinese children, too, so I have to have characters who don't come from a Chinese milieu and need to have certain things explained to them (and my readers, too!) My biggest concern, of course, is trying to keep the flow of narrative and action going well enough that any younger reader isn't going to feel bored by too many talking heads. 

Sigh...if only writing for young people were as easy as writing for old ones...