Road Trip Wednesday: When I grow up…

…I wanna be:

For this week’s Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway wants to know:

Which writer’s career would you most like to emulate?

When I first read this question last week, two names immediately popped to mind. But then, of course, I had to go be me and think and ponder and fret and try to reason out what my answer really is. And you know what? In the end, I couldn’t think of anyone beyond those first two names. You wanna know who they are? I mean, do you really wanna know? Well, okay I will tell you:

J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer

Okay, wait. I am totally kidding. No way I want the kind of pressure those poor women have. What I meant to say is*:

Maureen Johnson

Shannon Hale

and

At first glance, Shannon and Maureen don’t have much in common. One definitely wouldn’t find common ground between the two by reading the synopses of their book, or by comparing their writing styles. But these women have three things in common that are very important to me:

1. Both are prolific in their writing. They have released a lot of books, both as series and stand-alone titles. It is important for me to be able to be more than a “one-hit wonder.” I have a lot of books plotted out in my head, and would like to see them on the shelves someday. My goal is to have a long, consistent career in writing; this is something both Maureen Johnson and Shannon Hale have.

2. They are well known, but not so well known as to be considered celebrities. If you were to ask a YA reader who they are, she would be able to tell you, but if you were to ask Joseph Blowe on the street, chances are he would not. This is what I want. I would love to have a fan base that loves my work; I would love to be well-known in the world of Young Adult literature; I do not want to be put in the tabloids, recognized by everyone and their grandmother, or considered a celebrity.

3. They are accessible to their fans. Maureen and Shannon both have fun blogs, and they are both on Twitter (um, is Maureen the Queen of all Twitter, or what?). They keep in touch with their fans and let us all know what is going on. I know a lot of people balk at the idea of authors putting themselves out there like that–what happened to the days of the reclusive author?–but I appreciate the time they put into connecting with the fans. I want to connect with my fans (yanno, someday when I have them).

So, this is the part where I get all mushy and talk about how I don’t want anyone’s career but** my own. Which is true. I am my own me, and it is pointless and exhausting for me to try to be anyone else. BUT. Shannon Hale and Maureen Johnson are wonderful examples of what I want in my own career as an author. I can look up to these ladies and strive to be more like them. They are a great bit of inspiration, and they remind me what I want.

Your Turn: If you are a writer, which author’s career would you most like to emulate? And if you are not a writer, who in your own career path would you most like to be like?

*I have actually only ever read one of each of their books, so I am not incredibly familiar with their writing. But that is all changing soon, as THE LIST has a lot of MJ and SH on it.

**This is why we all need to proofread our posts before publishing them. This definitely read, “…anyone’s career butt my own” before my read-through.

***Um, yeah…sorry if the formatting on this post is a wee-bit wonky. I had to do some fun HTML tricks, but didn’t take the time to check to see if they look the same across all browsers. Bad Rachel.

****I have nothing more to say; I just thought some more asterisks would be fun.