I’ve had several people ask me this week why I picked YA chick lit for a genre. There’s some pretty practical reasons. Chick lit is very popular right now, even in secular YA lit. While Christian YA lit is not popular, the genre might help it along. I’m also familiar with chick lit, as I favor authors like Kristin Billerbeck, Judy Baer, and even secular authors like Meg Cabot.
The simplest reason? I’m not bad at it. I hesitate to say “I’m good at it”, but I will say I am probably better at it than I would be at science fiction or fantasy, which happen to be my reading favorites. Coming up with ideas and plots is very easy for me, but I lack the technical skill and style which makes those genres popular. That’s something on which I need to work. I’d write short stories, but I’ve always been a terrible short story writer because I think way too big and I always want to know what happened before and after the story.
I have lots of ideas for books to write in the future. Eventually, I’d like to become good enough to hash out some of my scifi and fantasy ideas. I’d also like to write or co-write a nonfiction book on being a TechnoChick. But I know I have to take things slowly and build up strength before I can run the marathon.
