I think it was a science teacher in 8th grade who told me that over the course of seven years you basically become an entirely new person with all the cell regeneration, shedding skin, hair... Personality... I was reading some old journals that I'd written when I was thirteen and I can do nothing but agree.

I was a manipulative little shit. But completely open about it to this book... I wrote about faking an asthma attack at an acting camp to see if I could convince people. Which is just awful... Or convincing the gullible girl that room 112 was haunted... Or forcing myself to throw up at school so I could get out of an assembly... Punching my brothers and then running to my parents crying that they'd done something awful... Lying about places I've been.

I had this conception that if you can lie, you can act. And the determination to be an actress really pushed a lot of fibs out of my mouth into other people's ears. Sad... herm... but probably the basis for imagination.

One of the best behaviors I've shed in that 7 years I feel... Not that it didn't come at a price... friendship after friendship... I've finally learned how to be honest. What have you learned?

Nanette