Kyle Kerr

On Caving In And Getting Over It

01/25/09 | Books, Genius Mode, My Writings, Reviews | 4 Comments

First, the caving in part: We all know how much I’m obsessed with Harry Potter.  It’s about the worst kept secret in the world that I worship the ground Jo walks on (yes, we’re on a first name basis, Jo and I), and would like nothing more than to have her babies.  Might be a little complicated, but with the help of some magic, I think we can get it done.

Well, something’s been happening in the last few years: another phenomenon was born.  I’ve been mostly ignoring it, somewhat because I was already so involved with the characters of too many series’ (Harry Potter, The Sword of Truth, the Inheritance Cycle, etc…), but mainly because the author is being hailed as “The New JK Rowling”, which is simply heresy as far as I’m concerned.

The author in question?  Stephenie Meyer.  The books she wrote?  The Twilight Saga.

I said I would never read these books.  I didn’t want to jump on the bandwagon, and I felt like I would be cheating on Jo and Harry if I did.  Seriously, I felt that strongly about it.  But, as the title of this post states, I finally caved in, having asked for and received all four novels in the Twilight series for Christmas.

Let’s just say that I started reading the books about two weeks ago, and I’m already on book four.  I have REALLY been enjoying them.  They’re absolutely nothing like Harry Potter, obviously, but they’re just as easy a read.  I’ve never been a HUGE fan of the vampire stuff, but there’s something about this new mythology that Stephenie has created that is, for lack of a better word, fascinating.  I don’t want to give anything away, so I’m just going to say that she takes all of our ideas about vampires and their culture and completely turns it on its ear.  She has new answers for everything, including but not limited to why they don’t go out in the sun, and it’s all proof of a really clever and talented writer.

The thing I like most about the books, and it’s something I imagine most of the readers really respond to, is the love between the story’s main characters, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen.  The forbidden love between vampire and human, “the lion falling in love with the lamb” as Stephenie so eloquently puts it, is both beautiful, heartbreaking, and completely hot.  Can’t believe I’m swooning over a YA fantasy novel!  If you’ve read the books, you’ll know what I mean.

The stories are full of passion, love, fierce rivalry, betrayal, and suspense.  I’m kind of disappointed that I didn’t start reading the books while the movie was still in theaters, because you all know I think every movie should be viewed in a theater environment, but it’s something I’ll definitely check out on DVD when it comes out.  I’m only at the beginning of the fourth book, but I’m sure it’s going to be a doozy, at least from what I’ve heard.

Now, for the second part: I’m not saying that I’ve broken through whatever barrier has been keeping me from writing, but I completed the chapter I began back in October and have also written a completely new chapter in the last week alone.  This part is going to be very short, because I don’t want to jinx whatever is going on, and I don’t want to put any false hope behind my sudden writing spurt.  However, I will say that it felt nice to finish something again, and then to write something completely new in such a short amount of time.  For instance, yesterday alone I wrote over 2200 words, which was the completion of the new chapter.  I haven’t been giving myself the time to write so much, which is part of the reason why it’s been going so slow.  I just need to prioritize, then everything will be okay.

Thanks again to everyone who commented on my last post, or wrote to me personally.  It’s not easy admitting one’s faults, but the support you have all shown me has truly helped.  Hopefully you won’t have to read anymore of the woe-is-me posts for a very long time, if ever again, but I hold no promises.  Sometimes it just helps to get it all off your chest.

For those of my writer friends who also have blogs, don’t take it personally that I haven’t commented on your sites in so long.  It’s hard to explain, but when things become stressful, even seeing a buildup of RSS reeds can feel like overwhelming pressure.  So, I have gone through and cleared all of the backlogs, and plan on coming back to them anew.  I’ll be back at your next new post and hopefully I won’t disappear like that again, stress permitting.  I love you guys!

Now, to end this post on a lighter note, I’ve also recently discovered David Sedaris.  For those of you who know me, you’ll know that David has exactly my sense of humor.  I’ve listen to two of his CDs, one a live recording of him at Carnegie Hall, and the other the audio version of his book Holidays On Ice, both of which were completely hilarious.  Below, you’ll find a clip of him on David Letterman, reading one of his most humorous essays.  Enjoy!

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr