Mission Accomplished & Fave Children's Books

You will be happy to hear my synopsis saga has a happy ending. As does my synopsis itself, which, of course, is equally important, since we're talking romance here. I came up with a great twist of an ending and I'm very pleased with myself. **grin** Now I just have to write the book! But I feel much better doing that now that I have a detailed roadmap to follow.

You know, I think I need to train my brain to focus better. I mean when writing one book I should not be having wild and crazy fantasies of writing another. It's kind of like cheating on your boyfriend. You're with him everyday, but your thoughts and mind are elsewhere. Not a good situation. (And unlike with a boyfriend you can't break up with your already-contracted book, especially if it's scheduled to hit shelves in 12 months.)

I've come up with this awesome concept for this huge paranormal series that I think would really rock. I'm so excited about it - I think about it all the time. But I have four more books to get through before I can start something new. So it's pointless to dwell on.

Okay wow - we need some cheese with all this whine, huh? I should be celebrating - synopsis is done! Synopsis is done! It's just my mental state has been a little low lately and also my new puppy woke me up at 4:30am. Again.

But okay - here's something fun. What books do you remember fondly as a child/teen? Ones that really spoke to you - ones you read over and over again. Mine are all fantasy books.

Here's my list:

The Hero and The Crown - Robin McKinley - Quite possibly my favorite book as a child. I read it over and over and over. It's the story of a girl who has to wield a legendary sword to fight a dragon. A girl fantasy book, basically. I actually just ordered a new copy off of Amazon to see if it holds up now that I'm an adult.

Below the Root - Zilpha Keatley Snyder - I was a big fan of all Zilpha's books as a kid, but this fantasy series was especially cool. I think it's out of print, unfortunately, but if you can get a copy in the library, it's well worth reading. A beautiful story that I'm surprised was not more popular. There are also two sequels to it and an old computer game from the 80s that I used to play.

The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis - My dad read me these books as a child and they really opened up my mind. My favorite is Voyage of the Dawn Treader - perhaps the darkest of the series. It was beautiful and strange and opened up new worlds of possibility in my young mind.

Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander: A great children's fantasy series about Taran, the assistant pig keeper, who ends up saving the world. Disney did a stupid cartoon on one of these books called "The Black Cauldron." Insulting to the greatness of the books themselves.

A Wrinkle in Time series -Madeleine L'Engle - I had a slight problem with the heroine in these books and at times they were a bit hard for the young me to grasp all of the concepts - especially in the later books. I might have to reread them someday, as I've read now that there were all sorts of adult symbolism "wrinkled" into the sci-fi fantasy storyline.

What are yours?
Marianne