Is the YA fiction world falling to bits?

I was out shopping on black friday in Target and I couldn't help but check out the YA book section.
Most of it was crap. (That I can remember)
The only thing holding the whole aisle up was The Book Thief, tucked into a corner, and The Hunger Games. Both phenomenal books. Most of the other things on the shelves was the Twilight Series (ew) and several knock-offs (THE SCOURGE!!!). Anyways, that just means I have been sent into rereading my favorites (The Book Thief :), The Hunger Games, Alas Babylon, To Kill a Mockingbird, The City of Bones, etc.) and finding new treasures.

Wish me luck!
Any of your favorites to suggest?

To Aquire a Talent

I wish I was one of those people who writes truth in such a beautiful way everyone wants to read it.
How do I come about this talent? Do I train myself for it, or is it just sitting and stating the simple things?
If only I could be half as poetic as Zusak.

Determination

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” The Help
There is another contest with a deadline in 10 days.
I feel as if I have already put my strength into the last contest I entered and I got nothing, so obviously I would not be eager to enter another.
These are the times when I ask myself how much I really want it.
I want it.
If you don't then turn around, investigate your surroundings and find something else to want.
Love it. Need it. Get it. Don't turn back and don't let them tell you you're not good enough.
“Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, "Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?” The Help
Yep.
-Elle

Ripping Your Heart Out

Those moments when you realize that those overused cliche similes are way too true for their own good.
They're like a bad smelling friend. You want to get rid of her when you have her, but as soon as she's gone you forget what she smells like and you welcome her back way too easily.
I'm being complicated.
Let's use an example.
The simile: *enter experience here* felt like someone was ripping her heart out.
When I read this sentence when I was younger, it went down easily without any second thoughts. Now that I know what this feels like, the pain in your chest accompanied by a headache and a dry cramping mouth, it makes me stop to remember what it actually feels like every time I read it in a book.
My identity crisis - still trying to decide whether I want to be a part of everyone or no one.
-Elle

Failure and Rejection

I got my first taste of it a week ago.
A certain competition I entered just ended.
I didn't win anything.
I was really, really hoping. I was wanting, needing, a raw kind of needing. That kind of needing when you put your emotions into something so much that when you get nothing back it feels like a slap in the face.
No matter how many times authors and experienced writers tell me it sucks, you always have to go through it yourself. It doesn't matter how many times they explain it to you word for word, it will never be exactly the same. They can never prepare you for it.
They can only try to help you feel better.
"Everyone else gets rejected a million different times. It doesn't matter how talented you are."
I don't want to be everyone.
-Elle

We Are Hiding In Your Minds

Not literally, but we wish.
There are those with special talents everywhere. The girl in the back of your math class who can't do math worth crap but can draw a heck of a portrait. The co-worker in your office that collects comic books. The obsessed early twenties filmgeek who won't stop talking.
You don't know who we are,
but you know our work.
Soon I will open the blog to other artists, but for now I am searching out the people in my world.
Coming Soon.
Love you all,
Elle