Wired Differently?

I guess history does repeat itself.

Growing up, I marched to my own drummer, or at least seemed to be either ahead of the times or lagging behind; you be the judge.

In school, even though I wanted to 'fit in', my best friends were mainly guys. I wore what I was comfortable in. I read books and wrote nonstop.

As a young adult, I was slightly fashion-conscious, and when I found a brand of clothing I liked, I pretty much wore nothing else. And continued to read books and write nearly nonstop.

Over the past year, I've studied other published authors; we've become close friends; I've finally written something publishable. So why the small gripe?

Over and over I hear others complain about the mainstream published books and the head-hopping; the not-always-HEA; the 'obvious' mistakes; and how they will quit reading a book because of it. Or give up on an author mainly because they've 'betrayed' them somehow.

I guess I'm still inexperienced enough not to let these issues get to me. Yes, I've noticed a slight tendancy over the years to think in the back of my mind, 'I would have worded this differently; like this...' or throw the book across the room (not literally) if I was unhappy with the ending. But the only times I've 'given up' on a particular author was 1) when every book dealt around something which didn't particularly interest me; 2) I didn't like the way the series was going; or 3) I discovered I was mislead by the blurb or excerpt and it wasn't to my liking, after all. And to be honest, I've only found one author who I will NEVER read again, strictly because this author's work is unappealing to me. I never even made it through his first book, and when his books arrive on the bookstore shelves, I skip over them. I don't even admire the covers.

But for the record, I don't mind an unhappy ending, especially if it ties up loose ends; the only books where the writing drives me slightly crazy are the 1st drafts of authors who can't spell or use punctuation/grammer properly (I'm not talking typos here...I mean throughout the entire 20+pages!); I don't mind the head-hopping, as I have no problem keeping the characters straight!

And in college, I was puzzled by my fellow classmates' 'confusion' when we had to read 'Common Ground', a book about the integration/bussing issues in Boston during the 1960's. The book showed three different families and how the issue affected them, alternating chapters. I was the only one, it seemed, who read the entire thing cover to cover and had no problem following the storylines of all three families, even when a fourth POV was introduced halfway. The only time I skipped around was while I was writing my paper, and that was stricly for footnotes, and to make sure I had my facts straight.

I guess I'm just wired differently.

Chalk it up to inexperience, ADD, early menapause, or whatever. I'm just getting tired of hearing about it and others who chime in to agree all the time. This is the way I am; I might comment and risk being ridiculed, but for the most part I stay silent.

Until now. I just couldn't hold it in anymore.