Suck It Up. This Is

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.

I Live In My Own Little World. But Its Ok, They Know Me Here.

I'm A Southern Girl, And I Grew Up With This Slightly Schizophrenic Upbringing Where I Bounced Back And Forth Between Atlanta, Georgia, And A Tiny Mountain Town Called Brevard, North Carolina. My Parents Were Divorced, And My Two Lives Were Very Different Because Of Socioeconomic Reasons.

You Have To Be Nicer To Me," I Said. Again He Laughed. "what? I'm The King Of Nice. What Are You Talking About?" "you Have To Be Nicer To Me Or... Or..." "or What?" He Said. Still Lars, Still Charming And Jokey, But With A Thread Of Fear. It Snaked In And Pierced My Numbness And Almost Broke My Resolve. Almost, But Not Quite. "or I Have Ti Break Up With You." I Whispered What Was There More To Say? Nothing. So I Hung Up.

And You're Figuring Out Who You Are, And You Haven't Yet Become Stagnant In Your Thinking. You Haven't Solidified. And One Thing That I Find Is That A Lot Of Grown-ups Tend To Look Back On Their High School Or Middle School Years And Say, "oh, Thank God All That's Over."