My best friend, Kendra Saunders, is a talented and accomplished novelist and she's so very mature and intelligent; we can talk about almost anything because she's had a hard-knock upbringing much as I have. And she's half my age and I'm rarely ever aware of it.

I remember on ff.net back over ten years ago when I discovered it - discovered fanfiction online, period - that I was shocked that the best writers in the catagory I hung out in were 13-22 years old, generally, some of whom became great friends. (And then there was the time I thought someone who was a 12 year old from the immaturity of their style turned out to be a thirty-something mom. Oops.)

Those young women and teenagers were all so intelligent, so wise before their time, and they wrote prose that continues to inspire me today because it spoke to me so clearly and honestly.