Guest Post by Hannah Friedman

I'd like to welcome Hannah Friedman, author of Everything Sucks, as she stops by Carrie's YA Bookshelf for a stop on her TLC Tour. And now....here's Hannah!!

Hello all! So here's the deal: my book Everything Sucks includes a live monkey, a dead friend, sex, drugs, SATs, a national scandal, a diet disaster, and all the rest of that fantastic awkwardness that makes our teenage years so deliciously angst-ridden. I wrote this book because it wasn't around for me to read it. It includes everything I wish I had known growing up but was too afraid to ask about.


I knew all about perfect rich girls with designer purses and cocaine habits from sexy movie and TV portrayals of teenagers who are played by 26 year old 80 lb. actresses, but I didn't need to hear about those girls. I wanted to hear about the girl who was so nervous about her first kiss that she nearly fell over, and the girl who felt like such a freak she was sure she'd never fit in anywhere, the girl who pretended, who worried, who wondered about the purpose of education and her place in the world and how to shave your pubes without getting those gross little red bumps. And I didn't find that girl in any of the books I read. So I wrote this one.


Some things you might be wondering about: Amelia the monkey is still alive (mostly) at the ripe old age of 42. Her vision is probably that of an old woman wearing sunglasses through an evening fog, but she still manages to get around spryly enough to hide behind doorways and lunge out at my toes whenever I am carrying something particularly heavy/spiky/hot.


What's next for me? Well, I'm glad you asked. Because to be perfectly honest I'm f***ing terrified. All my college friends have these fancy "real jobs" with "real paychecks" and some sort of magical "health insurance" dealie where you get your anti-depressants and eyeglasses for free. Sometimes I feel like it's something I should look into. But another part of me longs for the freedom of the artist, and entertains the ridiculous notion that sometime soon I'll get paid gobs of money (gobs of chocolate or gobs of kittens would also be acceptable,) to sit around squeezing out my ideas. To that end, I encourage you to check out some of my youtube experimenting, and possibly even get involved with video collaborations! It's a very exciting interactive creative platform which has allowed me to do what I love without the aggravation of going into cold sweats before I enter an audition room... seriously, just check it out. I'm kind of funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfeX2MZY8Tk&feature=channel_page


Please do let me know if you guys have any questions. You can reach me at writinghannah@me.com, and if you like the book I encourage you to write an Amazon.com review, because otherwise in order to get enough money to move out of my parent's basement I'm going to have to go to law school or something. And seriously, would even a large gob of kittens (which I would estimate to be approximately 300 kittens,) soothe the trauma of having to write constitutional law papers instead of hilariously candid and self-indulgent memoir chapters temporarily titled things like "the verge of virginity"??? You tell me. Really, tell me. Go to writinghannah.com. And buy the book while you're at it. Thanks so much for your support.


Much love & laughter,


Hannah Friedman


Thank you Hannah!! I urge all of you to run right out and buy a copy of Everything Sucks, because it most certainly does not suck. In fact, it rocks and just happens to be made of awesome.