Riley Carney
You know that dream you’ve always had? The one about becoming an author? I’ll let you in on a secret: It does happen. You make it happen.
But it’s not going to be easy. You’re still stuck in high school right now. I remember what it was like, and I know exactly how you feel—it seems like the whole thing is one big game; that you’ll never find your place; that you’ll never get away from the drama.
Like with your “best” friend. You helped her with her homework, you were nice to her, and you provided an easy boost to her self-esteem. She never really cared about you, though. Once, she even handed out Christmas presents in front of you and conveniently forgot to give you one. And I also remember what it was like on that school trip where you had to sleep in the top bunk above feuding friends who were crying hysterically. The drama is everywhere, and no matter how hard you try to avoid it, you can’t seem to get away.
You’re getting tired of eating lunch alone in the library just so you don’t have to wander through the rows of tables at the cafeteria until you find a place to sit. You’re tired of people who just want to use you for homework help. You’re tired of the box that has been built up around you, tired of the walls that keep you trapped, that keep you from becoming the person who you really are inside, rather than the person who everyone thinks you are.
But in less than a year, everything will change. You’ll find a way to break free of that box by doing something you’ve always loved. Writing will be your outlet. You’re going to write a book—a book that you’ve been dreaming about for years. You are going to pour your heart and soul into that book, and it’s going to be published. Over the next three years, you’ll speak at schools all over the country, something you never thought you would have the courage to do.
But there’s something you have to realize before you can break free: The box that you’re in is only as strong and only as real as you believe it to be.
For so many years your peers have tried to label you, to tell you what you can and cannot do. And you believed them. You accepted what they said. You stopped believing in yourself.
You stopped believing in your dreams.
But little by little, you’ll realize that the box doesn’t have to exist. Once you start writing seriously, you’ll discover yourself, and you’ll realize that no one else has the power to dictate your own choices and your dreams.
You’re the only one who can decide your future. You’re the only one who can choose the person you want to be.
So, Teen Me, it’s up to you. It only takes a little confidence, a little daring, and a willingness to risk failure to tear down those walls. Don’t be afraid to reach for that impossible goal. Embrace it instead.
You never know where the impossible might take you.
Riley Carney is, at the time of printing, eighteen years old. She is the author of the fantasy adventure series, The Reign of the Elements. She wrote all five books when she was fifteen and sixteen. At fourteen, Riley founded a nonprofit children’s literacy organization, Breaking the Chain, because she believes that the way to break the cycle of poverty and exploitation is through education. You can learn more at RileyCarney.com and LinkByLink.org.