I'm A Southern Girl, And I Grew

Kids Are Smart. Knowledge Is Power. Let Them Figure Things Out. Don't Turn Into That Grown-up Who They Won't Come To.

Prancing Around With Marshmallowss On Your Nipples Does *not* Constitute Living Your Life Fully!

And They Just Slam The Door. And They Don't Peek Into That Land Any More. And They Forget That Teens And Tweens Are People, Absolutely Just As Much As Adults Are. And Their Problems May Play Out On A Smaller Scale, But The Things They Go Through Are Equally As Valid As A Ceo Trying To Figure Out How To Deal With A Crisis At Work. I Just Write For Teens Because I Love 'em.

If She Did See, I Hoped She' Be Amazed. Amazed And Thankful, Because Without Even Asking, She'd Received A Genuine Autograph From A Genuine Girl From Atlanta. Not Just Any Girl, But A Girl Who Was, Frankly, A Pretty Big Deal. A Girl Who Was Me.

I've Written A Lot Of Novels For Teens And Tweens ... But I'd Never Really Tackled The North Carolina Side Of Me. And It's So Strong And So Important, And Yet I Hadn't Acknowledged It. And So One Of The Things I Wanted To Do In "shine" Is Take That On.