Quotes

On teenagers:

"It's a generation, perhaps the first, of writers. If you're one of the 33 million Americans between the ages of 13 and 19, you are a writer. It's how you conduct your friendships, get to know people, break a heart, manage your family, flirt, lie, make plans, cancel them, announce big news, and, most important, present yourself to the rest of the world. You're fluent in texting, emailing, and IM'ing. You're blogging and constantly amending your profile on sites like Facebook and MySpace (which on average, 30 of your friends will visit every day). Regularly, often late at night, you're generating a body of intimate written work. You're used to writing about yourself. In fact, you choose to write about yourself, on your own time, rather than it being a forced labour when a paper's due in school. You're a reporter embedded in your parents' home, your school, your own head."

Excerpt from Red: Teenage Girls in America Write on What Fires Up Their Lives Today, edited by Amy Goldwasser, Plume Publishers, 2007
Related website: http://redthebook.com/