October is a lot of things, but one of its most important things is that it is National Bullying Prevention and Awareness Month.

As part of this campaign on facebook, I was on this BLOG HERE talking about my own experiences being bullied as a teen.

It feels pretty personal to put it out there, but if it helps one person, hey.

If you want to read it, go ahead.

There's a cheesy photo of me there as a teen, sitting on my uncle's coveted Porsche like the Kristy McNichol wannabe that I was. Man, how I wanted to be her. ;)

Anyway, suffice it to say, I was bullied pretty badly, emotionally, and a little physically -- certainly the threats to my physical safety were bad.

As part of the campaign, I've offered to sign and give away one hardcover and two paperback copies of The Pull of Gravity. If that's incentive to help spread awareness, so be it.

Mostly, I mean what I write in there: if you are being bullied and I can help, email me (you can contact me through my author website). I will listen and promise you that, if you hang in there, it will absolutely get better. Also, I will tell you the story of how I finally put one of the bullies in her place -- it's a pretty darn funny story. ;)

My teen readers: Adolescence is hard, and kids are stupidly mean sometimes. Don't take their stupidity to heart.

xox

gae

p.s. If you've never seen this -- and I hadn't -- you MUST watch it. At least from 2:00 - 6:00 minutes. Isn't it utterly amazing how powerful we can be? http://www.muchmusic.com/events/weday/video/cid/772246/pid/124276/-we-day-2012-molly-burke