Dear me,

It’s me. Yeah, you. We’re the same person; one in the same, for all eternity, and we always will be.

I just found out we’re dying in a day, so I thought I’d leave you some 88-year-old advice to find... Hopefully find, that is.

Here goes.

1. Appreciate your life. Stop hating it. It really will get better, but with time. It’s like wine. Take a sip of your life and love it like a nice aged bottle of merlot or something. You’ll find this out soon, hopefully, and when you do you’ll find a way to love everything handed to you even more than you did before.

2. Start trying in school. You’ve got two years of high school left, so make them count. Stop slacking off and thinking you’ll do fine if you don’t study. Start studying and start keeping track of your assignments. College will be hell on earth without this skill.

3. Start raising money now! If you start raising money now, at 16, you’ll likely gather how much you need to get that damned novel published by the end of senior year, which was your goal. Get your job, and save a portion of the paycheck each time you get it. Put it into a banking account, and don’t touch the account until you’re 18!

4. Keep writing. If you stop now, you’ll never achieve your goals, and that’s a crappy thing to bestow unto yourself.

5. Keep your mind open. There’s always a new possibility or a new way of doing something, you just haven’t found it yet.

6. STOP MAKING LISTS!

Good luck. I’m not going to tell you what age I am now. That’s up to you to figure out.

Again, good luck.