I feel so mentally congested.

-Max McQuirter, Tampa

I feel that London has shown me reality, and reality is super tough. Words about sunshine are nice, but won’t pay the bills that will pile up after graduation. I feel less certain about what I’m capable of and what the truth is than I did before I left Tampa. Reality is standing there, looking me in the face. I try to walk around it, but it’s not letting me around. I’ve got to answer to it. London makes me doubt myself. Cover my tattoos. Don’t make eye contact. Move along, not forward, but along. This is a huge city full of both people that have made their dreams come true and those that never got the chance. It’s expensive and unforgiving. But it’s also beautiful and diverse, and so big with so many people that there’s less room for pretension. I’ve enjoyed that bit. I just want to go head to head with London and prove myself to her and my self. I need to know that I’m capable of making it in this world. Not just in my world.

-Gina Moccio, London transplant from Tampa

I felt like
I couldn’t stop sighing
God was stepping on my lungs
Oh, your mother was crying

So much to say, not sure how to do it
Not that it’s the drugs
I just can’t see my way through this

All the dirt swept under our rugs
Didn’t mean much
We just needed your love
Felt like a man, to help carry you through
Speak for so many, we’re so lost without you

So much to say, not sure how to do it
Not that it’s the drugs
We’ll just drink our way through this

-Robert Weaver, Orlando

Each new novel I write starts with me trying to figure out how to get in my heroine’s head. How does she see the world? What does she think about? How does she feel? Usually I create a typewritten diary for my character. But Tess, the seventeen-year-old heroine of my newest novel, didn’t want her diary typed. She wanted to scrawl in a cyanosis-blue notebook. So I scoured stores for the notebook I knew she’d have, bought some colored pencils, and let Tess slouch in the back of study hall and have at it. This is the result.

-Lynne Hansen, Tampa

I feel that life is moving in an amazing direction and things are as fashionable and fabulous as ever.

-Lovely Leigh, Boston

I feel that I need to stop – I should every once in a while at least – I don’t stop enough. I’m always doing something, going somewhere, being someone.. Sure, pushing myself as hard as I can go may get me far, but at what cost? The sum of my success isn’t just all the diligence I’ve had in my work – it’s also in the opportunities I’ve been given. I need to have more faith – trust that the opportunities will come; they’ll come. I don’t want to feel like if I’m not working on work that I’m wasting precious time.. That’s no way to live – rushing, pushing, scraping, squeezing every last drop of energy, every last drop of will. I’m one person, and I can’t go it alone all the time. Remember that, Soj. Remember you’re human – breathe – exhale – let it out – don’t hold it – you can’t hold onto it – can’t hold onto any of it – don’t fight – let it go – like sand through your fingers – like water – like crumbs – let time be intangible – let it go – let it fall – let it flow – feel love – feel life – feel beauty – don’t hold it – let it in – let it flow – wash over you – when it’s gone – breathe.

-Katelyn Soja; Fairport, New York