Author Appreciation - Lisa Schroeder

There are a lot of great YA authors out there today that have really inspired me to get back into writing and reading, and I will go over many of them tomorrow, but today I wanted to dedicate a post to one specific author, Lisa Schroeder.

When I really got myself back into the YA scene, I kept hearing from people that I needed to pick up this book I Heart You, You Haunt Me. I checked it out online and thought it looked like something I'd like so I added to it my list of books to read. I remember when it came in at the library. I brought it home and put it at the top of my pile to read first. I grabbed it later in the day and curled up on the couch. When I opened to the first page, I have to admit, my smile slipped away a bit. A poem? UH OH. Poetry is so not my thing. I thought, well, maybe it's just the opening and then it changes to a standard format. Nope. I flipped through and it was just pages and pages of skinny one sided text. I was briefly disappointed, but I told myself I was being stupid and I should give it a chance. So many people had gushed to me about how great a book it was. So many people couldn't be wrong! I turned back to the beginning and started to read. Two hours later, I was closing the book with a big smile and that special little sadness one feels when a great story is over. I immediately rushed to put another of her books, Chasing Brooklyn on my to read list. Her verse style writing really pulled me into the emotional state of the characters and kept enough of the background information to make the plot move, without forcing me to plod through the sometimes unnecessary extras that make their way into a story.

Now maybe you're wondering why I picked to single her out this week. Maybe you're thinking I'm going to try my hand at verse writing. HA! I love how she does it, but it's definitely not something I could pull off, nor would I attempt to. I chose to discuss Ms. Schroeder because I admire her courage and perseverance. Novels written in verse are not a very common occurrence these days (although thanks to her website I've found more to enjoy!) and I think it probably took a lot on her part to defend her style and to get it out there to the public. All aspiring writers need to have courage and a strong backbone to continue to push forward through rejections and criticisms to get our babies out there, but when you opt to do something a little out of the ordinary, I think that job is much more difficult. I also want to thank her for opening my eyes to the fact that stories do not have to follow the same format as everything else out there in order for it to be enjoyable and interesting.

So many thanks to Lisa Schroeder for writing amazingly emotional stories, turning me on to novels written in verse and for taking a chance on something out of the ordinary which turned out to be extraordinary.