Hey everyone!
I can’t remember a time in my childhood when I wasn’t dreaming
about what it would be like to be someone else. And I think some of that might
be because I was convinced that I was lacking...something. Something I couldn’t
quite put my finger on. But see, there were all of these people in my head who
were so much more.
Braver.
Stronger.
Smarter.
And for years I longed to become one of them. I soaked in stories
of female warriors and tried to imagine what my life would be like if I could
kick butt and cast spells.
That’s when I first created Future Marni. See, I couldn’t measure
up to my own impossible standards yet, but Future Marni? Yeah, she was awesome.
I didn’t think she would like me very much though. I thought that
Future Marni would be ashamed to have anything to do with me. I knew there
would be no fooling her. She had already witnessed exactly how hard I worked to
hide the twisted knots of insecurities that contorted beneath my skin.
It’s strange being Future Marni.
In some ways, Middle School Marni gave me waaay too much credit.
I still don’t know how to drive. I haven’t traveled to foreign countries on my
own. And all of those pesky feelings of inadequacy? Yeah, those totally didn’t
vanish overnight.
But I also remember sitting in my bedroom in high school, craning
my neck towards the night sky, and wishing on every star with a single-minded
desperation to someday make it as a writer.
I never could have imagined all of this!
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I’m holding the Hungarian version of my debut novel, Awkward! |
Seriously. If you had taken Middle School Marni aside and said, “Marni, calm down! You’re going to be
published, okay? Not just in English either. The Hungarians are totally going
to love you!” I would have burst out laughing.
And then I probably would have had another one of those holy-crap-the-future-is-freaking-me-out moments.
![]() |
Here I am freaking out--with pure, unadulterated joy! |
I don’t think I would have been able to fathom any of this.
Not
creating my own book trailers:
...not creating my only vlog...
...and definitely not
having the third book in my series, Invisible,
described positively by Kirkus Reviews!
The author continues the formula she concocted for her previous books (Awkward, 2012, etc.), keeping the wit dialed up to 11 in a comedy of errors. Constant quips about school, life and current situations will delight readers. Nearly everything works for laughs, but Jane also learns some solid life lessons about bullying and courage, and she teaches some lessons about friendship to her own circle as well.
Middle School Marni would be slack-jawed after reading that one!
In fact, I had a mini-conversation with Middle School Me which
went something like this:
Me: They really like our book! Can you believe it?!
MS Me: Are you sure they weren’t confused or something? I mean,
since when have we ever kept the wit
dialed up to 11? I’ll tell you when--never. We have never kept the wit dialed up to anything. Now if they
had written, oh I dunno...Bates keeps the
weird dialed up to 11...yeah,
that would make sense.
Me: What if I told you we weren’t all that weird anymore?
MS Me: I’d say I never expected I’d become a pathological liar.
Y’know, that review makes a whole lot more sense now. You faked it!
Me: I did not!
MS Me: (skeptically) Mmm-hmmm...
Me: Okay, fine! So we’re still kinda weird!
MS Me: (smugly) That’s what I thought!
Me: But we’ve found all of these other weird people who are super
awesome! So now on the relative weirdness scale we are totally at a reasonable
level.
MS Me: I’ll believe it when I see it.
What can I say? Middle School Marni would have a hard time
believing any of this.
I guess this post is my long, ramble-y way of saying that it gets
better.
So. Much. Better.
I’d love to hear what adventures you have been on--especially the
ones that Younger You would never believe possible!
Much love,
Marni
3 comments:
Oh, Marni! I cracked up at your post. Part of me wanted to hug Middle School Marni, and the other part of me wanted to whoop and holler for you and your Hungarian fans! LOL.
I think hanging out with writers does show you that we're all a bit weird in our way. Hell, we have people who live inside our heads all day, and we sometimes ARGUE with them. Back in the day, someone would have diagnosed that as Multiple Personality Disorder. :-)
I'm so happy for you and your wonderful success. And Future Marni? It will even get BETTER! :-)
Hungarian AWKWARD! So cool! Congrats, Marni. :)
"The Hungarians are totally going to love you." LOL! So funny Marni!
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