**New Feature** 1st class mail from TWG & friends – A letter to your younger self!

Welcome to yet another brand new feature on The Writing Garnet! A couple of weeks ago I put multiple posts out on social media asking for people to get involved, and by golly they did! What would YOU tell your younger self if you could? Would you give them advice based on what you know now?
Those were the questions I had everyone keep in mind for writing their letters. Hopefully people (you) will continue to be involved as this feature will only run as long as I have your lovely letters to post.
If you fancy getting involved by writing a letter to your younger self, e-mail me at kaishajayneh@gmail.com. Thank you to those who have e-mailed me so far!

Okay, so this is how the feature is going to work. Each Sunday until further notice, I will share each of the letters that I have received so far. Seeing as some of the letters belong to authors and bloggers, their social links will also be included so you can see what they are up to now compared to the contents of their letters! Don’t worry, you don’t have to be an author/blogger to take part. Anyone can!
Now I have told you all of the important information, let’s get this show on the road!

TWG is delighted to welcome fellow blogger and new-found friend, Jo Robertson, to the blog! Get ready for honesty with a few giggles as here is what Jo would write in a letter to her younger self.

Dear Joanne,

I should probably start by reassuring you that the path you have taken, although not the one you planned on, is a good one and you will be in a happy relationship with a wonderful husband and children (plus grandchildren but I don’t want you to freak out about that! Yes, you’ll be a young Nana but it’s amazing!).

You won’t be going to uni to study English like you wanted but not getting those grades means that you will become part of the wonderful NHS caring for people who is what you do best. Just have the confidence to know what is right for YOU! Don’t be pushed down a road you don’t want to travel down.

Those books that you hide away to read, keep reading them! Books will always be part of your life and one day you will find that the knowledge and background that they gave you, will lead to one of the most exciting times of your life! You will become part of a community where you aren’t looked at as some kind of nerd. You will have found your place.

Don’t be ashamed that you didn’t like Catcher in the Rye!!! Have the confidence to tell people why you throw it in the New Year bonfire!! And life is too short to read Ulysses by James Joyce. Just leave it on the bookshelf!

You won’t ever be that writer you wanted to be, life gets in the way, but be amazed at how ahead of your time you were! Those exercise books you steal in school to write those instalments of your “novel” when you’re 16, the ones that you used to pass around all your friends, well they were the way forward! The adventures of Christie, the teenage pop star and her liaisons with her fans and her much older manager were a little bit shocking for some of your friends (and the mother who felt she had to have a word with mine!) But I wish you had kept them!! You could have been the first E.L. James!

And wear a bikini!!!!! Yes you may be pear shaped with a big bum and tiny waist but embrace your curves, there’s not an ounce of fat on you. Someday you will be Apple shaped and wish you had that body now that you have the confidence to wear that bikini! And don’t worry about that gorgeous curly hair you are bullied about, GHDs are on their way and anyway, those curls are your best feature, embrace them too! And keep drinking all that water! Your 51 year old face will thank you for it!

Lots of love

Jo (Book reviewer and blogger at mychestnutreadingtree)

Thank you so much Jo for kicking off TWG’s new feature! You look younger than me so go rock that bikini!!!!

Here are Jo’s social links so you can find out what she is about now!
Jo’s Blog
Jo’s Facebook Page
Follow Jo on Twitter