I think about what I wish I had known when I was a teen and tween. I struggled with a lot of insecurity and self-doubt as a young girl and the side-effects of that were long lasting, well into my late twenties.

I'd worked on a series of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul books called The Real Deal for HCI books, which featured essays and poems from teens.Finding the right authors for the series has been no easy feat, mostly because I'm looking for a perfect blend of a teen girl with an interesting story or hook, fantastic writing talent, and the confidence to commit to writing a 30,000+ word book in a matter of months. It's a huge commitment and I recognize that, so the fit has to be there from all these different angles.

Teen readers can see aspects of themselves in the teen authors, which in a way, validates their experiences.

There's this incredible pressure, especially on teens, to be perfect, look right, have the right clothes, date the right people, get into the right school, have the right home life, and so on.

We have a society that is going through life not talking about what's really hard about life and trying to pretend like everything's great when it's not. As a result, people feel more and more isolated.

I'm a big believer in giving teens a voice and opportunities to share their stories and experiences.

I think about what I wish I had known when I was a teen and tween. I struggled with a lot of insecurity and self-doubt as a young girl and the side-effects of that were long lasting, well into my late twenties.