I literally measure my life

In all the things that are coming out.

See, when I'm super stressed, I need some kind of motivator/incentive for getting my up and out and not giving up. I'm weak. I'm shallow. And as such, I am filled and content with weak and shallow things, such as when my material goods make their debut to the world. If that's not enough, I tell myself little motivational quips that sometimes help. This is how I convince myself to get up in the morning. Not all of them are true. A lot of them are simply paranoid. An list of thirty examples of what I say to myself in the morning.

1. You have to get up because Supernatural is coming back this Wednesday.
2. Just because you're tired is no excuse. We're all tired.
3. Your mother is screaming at you through the wall and you're afraid she'll never stop.
4. Arrested Development comes out on Netflix in Spring.
5. Robin Riopelle's debut novel comes out in spring. It's got a "sucker-punch" ending. You can't wait.
6. You have over 52 unexcused absences (Ok, I actually don't really care about that one).
7. Your problems are not real problems. And even if they were: you've already used those days up.
8. Crashing your car into the nearest intersection is not a solution. You'll miss Game of Thrones in April.
9. Nobody said it would be fair.
10. Just because you're tired is no excuse. 
11. There are so many books you need to finish.
12. Today you'll chose better. Today you'll get through.
13. Even if they all hate you, at least become something worthy to hate. 
14. You have like, twenty dollars. If you're good you can get yourself a burrito at Pancheros.
15. Imagine your brother's face if you were dead.
16. Imagine your mother's.
17. Don't imagine your father's.
18. You've spent the last 17 years accepting yourself. Why go through all that pain and misery just to throw it away?
19. Some days the good in people proves itself and you are left thanking God. Who says today can't be that kind?
20. Downtown Abbey is really great, and you really need to catch up.
21. You're not right with Jesus just yet. Don't be making any hasty decisions.
22. College. You have to get up so you can go to college. If you don't get into college, what's even the point? You'll die alone and lonely and you won't have a job. No one cares unless you have a job. Having a job is everything, it's money and credit and freedom and respect. You want to be a writer? You don't deserve to be a writer, you weakling shuddering shrimp of a thing. And if you don't do good in school, well, you can just spit on a scholarship, because that's as good as all you're worth.
23. Cut yourself off as soon as you think of the word 'college'.
24. You're pretty sure you were born with braces, but if you don't brush your teeth there's no hope in getting them off.
25. Let's face it, you're going to get up anyway, because you always do. If you don't do it now you're going to go to school ugly and it will make things ten times worse.
26. You've pretty much have given up on any hope of not dying alone: at least find a book you'd like to be buried/burned with.
27. You don't deserve anything you've ever had. Earn it.
28. You're in you're prime and you're still untouched. You still remember what they've said about your hips and chin and your brow and your mouth.  You love yourself anyway. 
29. You're laughter is an ocean and it will take your troubles in waves.
30. Nobody's ever got anything done by crying.

So

I'm really picky when it comes to what I read. I'm a snob, because I've spent the past 16 years reading every and anything that passed through my hands no matter how poorly written and juvenile it was. I loved Twilight when I was in sixth grade, Jesus. But the older I grow--and the more well-read---the more liable I am to kick out a book by its cover alone. To be fair, though....


The covers have been pretty telling.
Look closely. See any books that have been recently noted or significant in our culture? See any that don't look like they could have a common plot line? That's because there aren't.

The problem, as with any sub-culture, is that it's all about marketing. Publishing houses buys what sells, and little to nothing else. Remember that huge explosion of the vampire/paranormal romance genre after Twilight? How after The Hunger Games blew through the ceiling, all sorts of teen survival/post-apocalyptic series popped up?

As creatures of habit, when we find something we like, we prefer to stick with it then venture out and find other novels when we already have a set taste. Movie studios, TV producers, the Kardashians, Publishing houses and especially fast food chain stores know this. So the same novel gets mass-produced ten more times with minor changes in names and setting, but quintessentially the same where it matters most. God, they can't even change the cover, either. It's like the call sign.

Because a lot of these books are just...bad. Besides the whole being unoriginal as dirt thing, they're poorly written in terms of style and narrative, have weak story structure and character arcs, and tend to have lots of meaningless details that don't build character or move the plot. It hurts my brain. Like eating fruit snacks and McDonalds every day for your whole life, it just clogs the vital parts of your brain (like creativity, problem-solving, self-evaluation, moral and ethical considerations) turning it into mush. You cannot transcend what you do not know, and many of these books aren't worth knowing.

The reason Harry Potter and The Hunger Games were so popular was because they were, in contemporary literature, novel. They had interesting characters, an interesting setting for the drama to play out, and an unusual plot. While they may have succeeded from the genres before them (Think Lord of the Flies to The Hunger Games), they came together well and weren't terribly written. And they weren't like everything else that was printing at the time.

Because as much people like their easy-pleasures, they love new experiences more. What's more refreshing that an original book?