YA R Us (Mary Strand)

The blog topic this month is “Why YA?” As in, why do the adorable authors at YA Outside the Lines write YA instead of, like, something else? Maybe, like, something more their age?

For me, the timing of this topic is quite AWKWARD and therefore hilarious.

I do mostly write, and always LOVE to write, YA novels.

But, er, RIGHT NOW I happen to be in the process of releasing my Pendulum trilogy of women’s fiction novels: this April, May, and June. As you might imagine, there is NO WAY I’m not going to mention that here! ha ha!

First at bat: Sunsets on Catfish Bar, which arrives on April 6 and is currently up for preorder. If you click HERE, you’ll (hopefully) get a link to a page on my website that gives you an excerpt and other info about the book.

But back to today’s topic. Or actually...

The tagline for my Pendulum women’s fiction trilogy is “when life gives you second chances.”

I think of the teen years as being chock full of horrible moments. You fight with mean girls. You embarrass yourself in front of the cutest guy in school. You say something hurtful to someone you care about, maybe because you were trying to fit in with someone else. You try your hardest and utterly blow it. And that’s in addition to current-day nightmares like school shootings, the destruction of our planet by environmental actions and inactions, or losing loved ones to a pandemic.

These are all genuinely horrible moments in a teen’s life, and adults who try to pretend that teenagers “don’t know what horrible is” have simply forgotten those years, either accidentally or on purpose.

But I believe that those horrible moments come with second chances. Maybe they give you the chance to forgive that jerk who embarrassed you in front of everyone in the locker room, cafeteria, or football bleachers. Or maybe, instead, they make you realize that you need to find some different friends who are actually nice, even if they’re not the kings or queens of cool. Or maybe, for instance, watching a loved one die of a horrific disease inspires you to study that disease in college and beyond.

I think this is true for adults, too. Turning 18 or 21 or 35 or 50 doesn’t mean that horrible, or horribly embarrassing, moments stop happening to you. The details may change (but sometimes don’t!), but you might find yourself replaying the hell you went through during sophomore year of high school, only with a spouse or co-worker this time instead of a nasty teenage clique ... and this time you might make a few changes that you wish you’d made in high school. The pandemic in particular has given people of every age the chance to rethink life and reach for a second chance.

In many ways the books I write, whether for teens or adults, are conceptually similar: they offer hope for a second chance. Almost every morning of my life, I also consciously do that for myself. (And often need it! Hoo boy!)

(See? I really do write YA, even when throwing women's fiction in your face!)

But why do I love writing books for teens SO MUCH? Seriously, my teen years are so ingrained in my memory that they’re still a huge part of who I am today. For bonus points, I also happen to still have the freakishly high energy levels of the teenager I once was. And dude: more often than I should admit, I still talk and act like a teenager. During my guitar lesson a few days ago, I erupted into a major giggle fit that lasted FOREVER when I accidentally repeated verse 3 rather than singing verse 4 of my song. My guitar teacher can confirm it: I haven’t left my teen years behind.

I hope I never do.

Mary Strand is the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Push-Up Bras and three other novels in the Bennet Sisters YA series. You can find out more about her at marystrand.com.