It may not always feel wonderful. but you're out there doing it. You're running while others are just walking. Or sitting around. I mean, come on - you're out there running, for goodness sake. You're to be taken seriously.

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

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 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.

It may not always feel wonderful. but you're out there doing it. You're running while others are just walking. Or sitting around. I mean, come on - you're out there running, for goodness sake. You're to be taken seriously.

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.

All the authors who've ultimately published Louder Than Words memoirs have been very happy to be chosen and excited about the possibility of having their memoir published. Even though these books deal with serious, often painful, issues, in all cases the authors felt as though writing their story would be an empowering and healing experience.