Michelle in her own words...

Back in the days when writing for a living was only a dream (aka Not That Long Ago), I carried a picture of the writing life in my head.

As the years passed, adjustments were made to my fantasy – tea for soda, dark chocolate for Swedish Fish, an iPod for a Walkman – but mostly my imagined writing life involved snacks, a strange and unexplainable lack of household chores, silence broken only by music, and isolation.

The reality has been a bit different from the daydream. Okay, I still have snacks (as evidenced by my expanding waistline), but the household chores… well, let’s just say when there’s a lack of them it’s only because I choose to ignore the laundry, the dust, the clutter. NOT because those things don’t exist.

As for the silence, it’s broken most often not by music (though God knows I try to tune everything out!) but by the sounds of my two younger children arguing.

But most surprising of all has been how little true isolation has come with the package of being a full time writer. I attribute this, in large part, to the internet and more specifically to social networking.

I first signed up on Myspace because my young teens wanted a profile. If you get one, I get one, I told them. Oh, and your passwords. And while this didn’t make me popular in the beginning, something funny happened on my way to Facebook; teens – my own and others - started talking to me online.

It started with ice-breakers like, “Hey, Mrs. Z!” when someone saw that I was “on”. But those comments morphed into requests for advice on boys (and girls), schools, parents, friends, the future. We exchanged opinions on books and movies and politics and everything in between. By the time I signed up for Facebook, social networking felt completely natural, and I found I really enjoyed the contact with readers, and young readers in particular, all over the world.

I guess you probably know what’s coming, right? I mean, it was only a matter of time until I found my way to… wait for it… Twitter. The last frontier of social networking, it was a real challenge. Express myself in 140 characters or less? Right!

Brevity has never been my forte.

But I surprised myself by actually doing it. All right. Sometimes I have to Tweet twice in quick succession to say something right because, yanno, I am a writer. Saying it right is important. Plus, 280 characters is still pretty good.

Now, I freely admit that I’m hooked. I can and do log into Twitter at odd times of the day and night and find a community of reader, writer, and blogger friends from all over the world. What’s even more fascinating is the fact that we all connect on some level, despite our different professions, locations, and beliefs.

Because that’s the thing – the thing we all really want. To connect. To feel that there’s someone else out there just like us – struggling, worrying, rejoicing, living.

No one wants this connection more than teens. They want to believe that adults listen, that we care, that we believe they have something of value to add to the conversation of life. So it’s kind of strange for me when someone asks how I’ve managed to develop a following with so many teens online and why so many of them are such ardent supporters of my me and my work.

It’s simple, really. I connect with them the same way I connect with you.

Conversing with them isn’t a promotional ploy for my book. It’s a genuine, if unconventional, friendship. I listen to them, refrain from judging them, laugh with them. I worry about them if they’re sick or sad or overwhelmed with the demands of school, parents, and planning for their future. I value their optimism, energy, enthusiasm, and the endless font of passion that reminds me what life is about.

That reminds me to think big, to believe in everything, to love without judgment.

And so it is that I’ve found far more through my online friendships than increased buzz for my book. I’ve discovered a constant reminder of why I write for teens. Why I love talking to them and why they teach me the most important lesson every single day;

Regardless of geography, age, political belief, profession… it’s all about connection. About being real.

Because that’s the thing. That’s the key.

In life – and on Twitter – there’s just no faking it.