Whoseywhatsit Thursday with a twist of lime.

I suppose you can use lemon if you'd prefer, but I'm a lime kind-of-gal.

Life is full of obstacles, hurdles, twists and turns. I've spoken many times about the importance of setting goals, having a finish line. But each finish line should bring about new and bolder goals. The purpose of setting goals is to grow.

Keeping this in mind, lets play a little campfire game. I'll start a story and each of you add to it in the comments and we'll see how much we grow.

As the road twists and winds before me, I stop for a moment to take a breath. Lavender and cedar whirl around my head, soaking my pores in the memories I must leave behind.

'K, now your turn. 

Have fun with this. There are no right or wrong paths this story can take. It's all up to our growth.

PROMing IT!

Wednesdays are specific to picking up tricks, insights, or advice geared to the YA writer. So as I pondered what great wisdom I had to share on said subject, I thought about my life. As it is now. As it was when I was a teenager. And appropriately so for this time of the school year, prom came to mind. It also helped that I just hosted a prom dinner for my oldest, his date, and their friends.

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You may have been a prom-junkie who longed for the dress shopping and hair appointments or the tuxedo sizings and the after-party planning. Then again, you could have seen prom as a waste of time, money, and a heartache waiting to happen. Despite your personal experience, prom is a reality for the upper half of our specifically-targeted, YA audience.

Use your experience. Don't want to. Then use the experience you wish you'd had...or hadn't had. Dig deeper into an old friend's prom experience and mix it up a bit. Draw from it and build on it. It doesn't have to be sweet sixteen and blowing out the candles. It can be out of the ordinary. Different.

Prom can be a plethora of misgivings, mishaps, and mistakes, or pleasures, pretty prose, and proposals. If appropriate to your story, don't be afraid to use it or other typical high school events to draw more from your characters and your story. Add a new spin or twist to the prom. You can do anything. Now go write it!