Know Your Audience

I've always considered myself a hip bitchin' cool Mom (though I'm sure my kids wouldn't always agree). After all, I listen to their music (I actually like it), watch their TV shows and read the same books they read (I love YA and I'm not the only one).

As a children's writer, keeping up with what your audience is and isn't "into" becomes crucial. They can smell "old" from miles away. For example, having a contemporary children's character twirl a telephone cord around her finger while talking on the phone is probably a no-no.

According to The Beloit College annual Mindset List which provides a yearly recap of the things that shape the lives of students entering college during any given year, most of the eighteen and under crowd have never used a corded phone or worn a watch, Beethoven has always been a dog to them,
and John McEnroe never actually played tennis.You can find the whole list here.

All of this information is useful to a writer when getting down to the details of a story. I consider it a natural part of my research.

So how do you stay current in your writing? Do you have any tips or tricks you use?