What makes a hero?

I was rereading Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small quartet and thinking about how much I genuinely admire Kel. I was at a talk with Ms. Pierce and heard her explain how Kel deals-- she deals, by dealing, and I thought how amazing that was. Kel has this ability to take all of the crap life throws at her, and manage it without too much hatred, because she has to do it to get what she wants. And that's probably the most admirable thing I've ever heard.

It got me thinking-- what makes Morgana admirable? I love her, but I don't admire her, not the way I admire Kel. At least, not in the first book. In the first, Morgana is defined by her search for acceptance. But at the end, she learns that all that matters is that you believe in yourself. You don't need other people to believe in you, because if you know you can do it, other people will realize you can. And if they never realize it, that's still okay.

I think that in the first book, you see Morgana as she is, flawed, human. And in the next, you see her striving to become what she one day will be-- a hero, not without flaws, but someone who tries, and in that trying, is admirable. Someone who doesn't want to be a spoiled princess, whining and complaining, but wants to be a knight, a girl who can save herself from her own tower, and save every other girl locked in a tower, because if you can believe, anything is possible. If you want it enough.

In Which I Laze

I don't write often in this blog. I have many excuses. I have other outlets and things to do. I have a video game blog that is up and running and fairly current, though I'm fairly certain I haven't posted for a few months-- dry spell, new game-wise, which I just broke the other game by reviewing Evoland. Various other reasons, usually work-related, but which are due more than partially to the fact that I am often exhausted beyond belief.

So I think it's time to get started on June's YA Challenge, timewarping to us from 2011. Similar to the situation two years ago, I've been mostly working on the first case and I'm about a quarter of the way into the second.

My goal this year is 1000 words written, 3000 words edited, or 150 words written in pursuit of getting Morgana Tremaine published. The day after tomorrow, the work officially starts, complete with status bars, etc, so today I'll figure out some of the prework and get my notebooks together. June 1st it begins!