Fangirling Human/Vampire Love

Earlier this week a memory popped up on my facepage account. It was from 2009 and said: Sarah Arthur is lost in a fantasy world.

At first I'd been caught off guard. What could this memory be referring to? It didn't take me long to realize exactly what it was referring to. Back in 2009 I'd still been going to college and had yet to decide on a major. While I'd been going over what would be the "smart choice" as my parents had initially suggested, I registered for some of the pre-recs (math) that I'd been avoiding like a flesh eating bacteria. Earlier though, in January of that year, when registering for my classes, I'd decided that I missed writing. Life happened, but it had been way too long of a hiatus. So my one indulgence, I did, in fact, register for a writing class. Short stories.

How do vampires come in to play here? Just wait, I'm getting to it. See, in February of that year I'd gone to the movies to celebrate my BFFs birthday with her. The movie had been out a while but nothing else caught either of our interest. That movie happened to be Twilight. I'd never read the book. She'd been given the entire series from a friend to read and had just finished the first when we decided to go. Well, needless to say, she and I were both blown away by the story... and Robert Pattinson, if I'm being honest. Now when I say blown away, I mean I went right out and bought the box set of books to read before even reading the first. And by the middle of March we'd gone back to see that movie like sixteen times. If I'm off in my number count, it's not by much. I went as often as I could. With the BFF or by myself, it didn't matter. I was obsessed.

Over the years, since the hype has died down, Twilight has become the goto book/movie to mock by those in the literary community, readers and writers. I get it, there's always a backlash when something hits on that level. But I can't deny the fact that sparkly vampires inspired my very first full length novel (not vampires, however). No, it hasn't been released for public consumption yet. The story, I maintain, is entertaining. The editing, well that's what keeps me from going public. I do go back between obligations to work on it to hopefully send it out to the world at large someday.

I guess to sum up, I'm living my dream as a published author today because seven years ago I went to see a movie.