Dear Teen Me

I’ve long been a fan of the website ‘Dear Teen Me’.  As you have probably gathered, it publishes letters (by YA authors) written to their teenage selves.  Many of them are funny, poignant, heartbreakingly sad, hilarious and full of wise advice.

I asked if I could contribute a letter of my own to the website and was thrilled when Emily (one of the very lovely ladies behind the site) said yes.

I enjoyed writing my letter to my 17-year-old self probably more than I have ever enjoyed writing an article before.  I was surprised at how emotional I found it, how fond of my past self I felt, and how simple my advice to myself turned out to be.

I wondered initially if I should be worried about over-sharing: many of the things that came to me when thinking about that time were so personal.  I set out to write something purely funny, and then realised that it would be almost impossible.  As with many things in life, I believe this sort of project is only worthwhile if everyone is totally open and honest about themselves.  The point is not to sugarcoat, not to be anything other than what you are, maybe even to make other people feel better by saying things that nobody talks about at the time.  Luckily, this coincided with a recent development in my life and my writing - genuinely not giving a shit about anything other than telling the truth - however unattractive.  So, here it is.

I’m absolutely thrilled to have had the chance to write it, and to have been involved in such a lovely project alongside some of my favourite YA authors (Kirsten Smith, Rainbow Rowell, Sarra Manning and Katie McGarry).

Whether it’s for public consumption or just for yourself, I really recommend sitting down for an hour and writing a letter to your own teenage self.  Send it to me, if you like.

You can read mine here: http://dearteenme.com/?p=5649