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The letter below is part of an ongoing series featuring letters from authors to their teen selves. If you're a published author who'd like to participate in this series, we'd love to have you. Just click here and let us know you're interested. Today's guest is Victoria Fulton, author of Horror Hotel, which comes out tomorrow.
Dear Me at 18:
I know it hurts, but thank God that guy dumped you. Seriously. Rejection is life’s protection.
You’re unsure of yourself. You’re insecure as hell and a tiny bit pessimistic and maybe a lot judgmental. It’s normal for a teenager to be all of those things, to think they know everything, but please remember, you don’t. Not only do you not know everything, but thinking you do has got you lonely and stumped about what to do next. So you’re going to choose a college situation that probably isn’t the best for you, that is not relevant to your interests, that you will have to reroute later.
And you know what? It’s all okay.
Every misstep and mistake you make will lead you to this day, this moment when you are deliriously happy in all the unexpected ways. You will live in Los Angeles with your fiancé and your two cat children. You will co-found a company with your best friend that is thriving after 6 years of trial-and-error. You and your writing partner bestie will get exciting, juicy book deals that scratch that creative itch and kick off the big dream of building a storytelling empire.
You will ditch the disordered eating and constant dieting and yes, there’s more of you to love now, but you really do love and accept yourself. Not to mention, you’ll free yourself from the tyranny of tiny jeans that require you to undernourish your body so you can squeeze unforgiving fabric over your hips and thighs. If there’s one thing I’d have you change right now, it’s this. Please just eat.
You will have the best friends and fiancé that anyone’s ever had. Don’t worry, we get the “making friends” thing right — big-time. Turns out, you don’t need a ton of friends, you just need a few good ones with whom you can be honest, and go deep, and grow.
You will end up a lucky SOB, and so don’t change a thing. Don’t change a freaking thing.
Go get that unfulfilling degree, and go on those dates that went nowhere, and burn through a few businesses, and leave that boyfriend behind when you move to Los Angeles (he’ll follow you), and stand up for yourself over and over again, and cry your eyes out when they break your heart and stand up and fall and rise up again and follow your heart even when you look batshit crazy to everyone who doesn’t get it.
Also — EAT.
All my love, brat —
Victoria
About The Author: Together with her bestie Faith McClaren, Victoria Fulton is the author of the young adult psychological thriller Horror Hotel. Originally from Ohio, Victoria now lives in Los Angeles with her fiancé and their two cat children.
