[hr][/hr]An excerpt:

..The fear your mum had that the welfare would take you and your brothers and sisters away from her, which you absorbed through your skin, will make you ever wary of power and mistrustful of people who desire it and of those who misuse it. That too will pour itself into your writing. That scouring feeling you have of being friendless and a total misfit in the world, is going to become the heart and soul of your first heroine. It is going to make her the sort of character that readers will write to you about for decades after the book is published. I know you love reading books and that they are your solace right now, but one day, people are going to write and tell you that your books are their solace, and you can’t imagine what a balm that will be...

Read the full amazing article here Dear Teen Me from author Isobelle Carmody, which has been archived on Obernet with permission from the original site and from Isobelle.