Adequacy/Inadequacy

I was feeling a little inadequate, in some regards, because I'm taking a creative writing class, which I love, but which is focused solely on literary fiction.

Don't get me wrong. I like literary fiction. Reading it. Not so much writing it.

I'm more of a genre gal.

But I was getting the impression that writing genre fiction, especially the genre I mostly write (which is chick-lit), is not respectable.

I don't really know how this can be so, however, when one of my favorite authors - Meg Cabot, in case you haven't been paying attention. And if you haven't, well, come on. Get with the program here - is so great at it and her books are bestsellers and people love her.

(Plus she just won a Distinguished Alumni Award from her Alma Mater, Indiana University.)

But I no longer feel inadequate. I know that I am a good writer (sure I could always use some polishing), and I have a niche. And different people have different tastes, so it's perfectly fine that I want to write light bubbly fiction geared mostly towards women. Because that's what I like to read. Because it cheers my most stressful and depressing days. And if I can do that for someone else that I think that is pretty respectable.

The only place I'm still feeling slightly inadequate, however, is the amount of time I'm able to put into my novel.

As you can see, my NaNoWriMo count is only at 4,786 words. And the month is half over. I've come to terms with the fact that I am not going to finish by the end of the month.

(But, I finished chapter four last night. And I'm feeling pretty good about it. Especially since one of my best friends is sitting next to me reading parts of it and I can hear her giggling at the funny parts. It brings me joy.)

Anyway, I asked Meg Cabot - on her message board, not really expecting a response from her but maybe from one of the moderators - about how many words/pages she writes a day. And SHE responded personally! But the amount she told me is like TEN TIMES the amount I write a day. And some days I don't write anything, because I'm too busy studying for an Acts exam.

So I feel inadequate. And it's only slightly helped by the knowledge that I'm trying to write a novel at the same time I'm trying to finish my senior year of college and bring up my GPA so that I can graduate Summa Cum Laude (which suffice it to say is NOT going to happen after this semester's results from Acts).

Okay. I'll just keep taking it one day at a time.

Thanks Meg Cabot for responding personally to me. And congratulations on your discipline. I admire it greatly.

By the way, readers, if you are at all interested in Meg Cabot (as you should be) you should read her blog/check out her website.