Emily Kristin Anderson is a hate-mongering tart, according to the title of her blog. She is also a CoCo alum and former editor-in-chief of the College Voice. Since her glory days studying classics on this verdant (or, recently, arctic) campus, she’s worked as a post office aide, track coach, college campus tour guide, freelance writer, The New Yorker’s Editorial Production Associate, and a volunteer copy editor for the literary journal Mimesis Poetry. Her poetry has been published in numerous literary journals and she has written several books.
Anderson now resides in Austin, Texas. Her most recent project is the website DearTeenMe, a blog that invites grown-up writers to compose letters to their teen selves. One recent post, for example, by New York Times best-selling author Carrie Jones, begins: “Dear Carrie, Let’s start off easy: Your boyfriend is gay.”
I talked to Miss Anderson about the inspiration behind her new blog and the time she spent here at Conn.
Texas is a big departure from Connecticut. Why did you decide to move?
Austin really is the blue city in the red state. The people are not stereotypically Texan, like Texas Ranger Texan. Did you know that Chuck Norris just became an honorary Texas Ranger? Anyways, Austin is beautiful. I moved here for someone I met online but SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators) was one of the main reasons I stayed. The writing community here is amazing. I really don’t think you could find a better community anywhere. You know, not all writers are alcoholics who live in caves. The community is really important.
You studied classics but you’re starting to establish a career in writing. What is it about writing that attracts you?
When I majored in classics it wasn’t because I wanted a career. My friend said, “If you want to write, you don’t need a degree in English. If you’re interested in classics you might as well get a degree in that and it can help you write children’s books.” I was like “Yeah, right,” but I ended up majoring in classics anyways just because it seemed more interesting than English. But I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, I always knew that was what I wanted to do. (Emily also told me that she wrote her first novel at age sixteen. It was about Hanson.)
How have your experiences at Conn affected your writing?
Honestly, I think every experience in life effects your writing. I mean, your characters are always going to be a part of you. I came from a really small town. My high school class had 125 people and about three black kids. When I went to Conn, I got to meet people from all over. I met kids from Ghana, Russia, Poland, I met Jews and wiccans. My classes affected the way I think, but the people really affected the way I see the world.
What do you miss most about Conn?
I miss Conn every day! I miss the dorms, I miss that community. I’m sorry. I’m sitting in a café and my friends are laughing at me. But it’s true! I miss waking up and having my best friend next door. I miss Professor Held. He was like a grandpa to me. I remember one day I was in a really bad mood and I saw him in Cro and he was just like, “Calm down!” and I really did. I miss the atmosphere; it’s such a beautiful place.
How did you come up with DearTeenMe?
This is going to be embarrassing. But that’s kind of what the website is about. So, a few weeks ago my boyfriend and I went to see Hanson. I was watching them and thinking, “I want to have your babies,” but I wouldn’t do that because that would wreck homes and I don’t do that. So I turned to my boyfriend and I said, “When I get home I’m gonna write a letter to my teen self about how great this is.” I got home and wrote it and I was talking to my friend Miranda Kenneally and we were like, “We should do something!” And of course my brain like explodes and I e-mail my 50 best friends in the writing community and all of a sudden I’ve got young adult writers, erotica writers, New York Times best sellers, Betsey Franco (James Franco’s mom)—I’ve got people from up-and-comers to best selling authors. It’s really cool.
I think the reason DearTeenMe is so important is because what makes teenagers feel so insecure is that adults are so ready to let go of what it feels like to be fourteen or sixteen or eighteen. For writers it’s not so easy to let go. For teenagers, to see that people from five or ten or twenty years ago were feeling the same things that they’re feeling is, I think, really important.
What would you say to your freshman Conn self?
I would tell her to chill out. You don’t need to go do every single thing now. I lived in Blackstone freshman year. I came from a small town, I didn’t go out and drink in high school, and when I got to Conn I immediately tried to network. I needed to try some things but also do the little things, like laying out on the green for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
Now that DearTeenMe is gaining momentum, do you plan to start a DearElderlyMe spin-off?
That would be so funny. There’s an organization called YALITCHAT that asked young adult readers to enter a contest where they write letters to their grown-up selves and the best ones get advanced reading copies (ARCs). So…
You’re one step ahead of me.
Yeah, we try to be.
What would you say to your elderly self?
Don’t forget what it’s like, and don’t be curmudgeony, and don’t only listen to things from back in the day. And Hanson is awesome. Also, the things that are important to me now, even if they don’t feel as important to elderly me, that doesn’t mean they didn’t feel as intense back then. I think that’s something we need to understand in order to be better people, better parents, better mentors.
What would your elderly self say to you today?
Probably, “Get a job.” I got laid off last year so I’m putting everything into my writing right now. But she would probably tell me to go fill out an application at McDonalds. •
