Homework, Bras and Broomsticks

Next week I start my online YA novel class with author Lauren Barnholdt. Required reading includes: Gossip Girl #1 by Cecily Von Zeigesar (a book my 18 year old has reread so often it's dog eared), and Bras and Broomsticks by Sara Mlynowski.

Why take this class now?

1. Enrolling in a writing class has languished near the top of my 2006 Writer's Resolutions list since creating it New Year's Eve. Now that E's finally on the mend, the Jewel-at-School saga is behind us (knocks on wood), and the fourth quarter is nearly upon us, it's time I make it so.

2. I work best with built-in deadlines (especially the kind I've purchased).

3. Writing-for-children classes are plentiful. Advanced writing-the-YA-novel classes are rare, and almost always an impossible drive away given my hectic schedule.

4. The class comes highly recommended, and it's online (which means I can access it in my pjs if necessary.)

5. The class features a query letter clinic, the first I've ever seen in an advanced class of this caliber.

6. According to her website, Lauren sold three books in 2005, two of them in an unprecedented two-book deal to Simon and Schuster based on just three chapters and a synopsis. Add this point to the rest of the reasons, and the class is bound to be a winner.

Now, if just a pinch of Lauren's luck (and wisdom) rubs off...