We're thrilled to welcome Laura Bickle back to the Welcome Wednesday spot. The last time she visited she shared some of her Worst Advice and presented her amazing book, THE HALLOWED ONES. Today she's rewinding back to high school to change one thing about her teen self. And she's showcasing her fantastic sequel, THE OUTSIDE. I can't wait to get my hands on it. But before we get to its beauteousness, lets crank up the way back machine...
Certainly Sixteen
Absolute Rewind: If you could go back to your teen
self and do one thing different, what would it be?
Part of being human is making mistakes and living through
them. The people I’ve met who are genuinely happy in life have cultivated an
adaptability that allows them to live lightly with uncertainty and enjoy
exploration.
This was not me at age sixteen.
I was pretty rigidly fixed on what I wanted to do at
sixteen. I decided that I wanted to go major in criminology and save the world
(where’s my red cape?). I left high school and went to college two years early,
chasing the tail of that dream. I rushed through, not bothering to take classes
outside of the requirements, focusing always on the future and afterward. Never
the present moment. I held myself to a painfully rigid standard of
perfectionism, whether it came to my grade report or my later work, loathing
any trip or stumble I made as evidence that I was not good enough. I was in graduate school before I was old enough
to drink.
I let my sixteen-year-old self decide what I was going to do
for the next twenty years. Yeah. Just typing that sends chills down my spine.
I failed to give myself enough latitude to explore. I was in
such a hurry to be a grown-up and in control of my own life that I didn’t
realize that I had the luxury to pause and look around. I could have taken more
art classes. I could have maybe taken less than twenty credit hours every
quarter and developed some extracurricular interests. I might have been a good
graphic artist, a veterinarian or a psychologist. There were a whole lot of
open doors that I didn’t even bother to poke my head in.
I could have been gentle with myself. I could have told
myself: “It’s okay not to know.”
And it really is okay. Some twenty years later, I’ve come
full circle back to that point. I left that career behind – no more security
checkpoints and calls in the middle of the night. I left for a lot of reasons.
But one of them was that I wasn’t being true to what I was. I am still that
girl who doodled in her sketchbooks and told stories to the cats. So I left the
first dream behind and pursued an old love –writing.
And I can now admit that I made some wrong decisions for
myself on the trajectory of my life, and I stayed with them for too long out of
pride and a desire for certainty.
So. For Act II of my life, I’ve got to figure out who I am
and what I’m doing. I’m okay with not knowing everything. And I won’t be
letting that sixteen year old decide.
~Laura
One girl. One road.
One chance to save what remains…
Advance Praise for THE OUTSIDE:After a plague of vampires is unleashed in the world, Katie is kicked out of her Amish community for her refusal to adhere to the new rules of survival. Now in exile, she enters an outside world of unspeakable violence with only her two “English” friends and a horse by her side. Together they seek answers and other survivors—but each sunset brings the threat of vampire attack, and each sunrise the threat of starvation.And yet through this darkness come the shining ones: luminescent men and women with the power to deflect vampires and survive the night. But can these new people be trusted, and are they even people at all? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, it’s up to one Amish girl to save her family, her community, and the boy she loves . . . but what will she be asked to leave behind in return?
"Top-notch. . . . A horror story with heart and soul.” ~Kirkus, starred review “At once horrifying, hopeful, and hauntingly beautiful, this gorgeous read with its rich textures and spine-tingling suspense kept me glued to the pages in utter fascination. Laura Bickle is a master storyteller.” ~Darynda Jones, NY Times Bestselling author of The Darklight Series
Click here for an EXCERPT
7 comments:
Thanks so much for hosting me today! :-)
You are most welcome. I love this post. I was a super serious teen as well. I'm so glad you found a way to step out of your certainty box and live your dreams!
Such a great story--thanks for sharing it! I definitely think there's so much pressure out there to figure out what you're going to do with your life way too early, rather than giving time to explore all the possibilities. Glad you've finally "found" yourself and are following your dreams! And wow, THE OUTSIDE looks awesome!
To add to my earlier comment--just downloaded THE HALLOWED ONES! Can't wait to start the series!
Thank you so much, Lea! Being a super serious teen has its advantages, but definitely some disadvantages. Glad to know that I wasn't alone! :-)
Thanks, Kristi! Maybe I should have taken a year off between high school and college or something. Maybe there should be some mandatory "quest" that young men and women should do before deciding what to do with the rest of their lives...like hike the Appalachian Trail or something! :-)
I hope that you enjoy THE HALLOWED ONES!
This reminds me so much of my youth, though I was not nearly as serious as you--or impressive! Still, I felt from a young age that I had to go-go-go... and I did! To college, to Paris, to work, up the corporate ladder... until I finally jumped off that ladder without a net. :)
Still figuring out to do when I grow up, but I am definitely closer! GREAT post! Thank you so much for it!
Thank you, Jennifer! I never made it to Paris, but I know how you feel. Working without a net is scary, but awesome! Go, you! :-D
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