For All The Poets Here (long but worth the read)

Okay, I know this is long and you're all going to go "Oh God I can't read that." But it's worth the read and i'm asking really really super nicely... PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE read it? (gets on knees and begs) okay? yay!
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Alright then. This is an old idea that I was a co-founder of two years ago. But I got older, and so did the other co-founder, and we sort of didn't find the point to it anymore. She moved on and I fell into depression where I didn't give a darn about anything, least of all this. Well, it's been two years and I've moved on, and I've finally decided that I'm going to see about this idea again. Older now, and wiser, and with better connections now. So, with no further ado, here is the idea.

A book of poetry. Written mainly by teenagers, or people who were teenagers when they wrote it. Of course this includes exceptions of people in their "tweens" and pre-teens. (tweens = people in their early-ish twenties. In this case, people who are still "teenagers" inside or haven't become adults.) Of course there's also an exception of older people who have written a poem to inspire or aid a younger teenager. Basically, this is a book of poetry written mainly by teenagers for teenagers.

These poems can encompass anything and everything a teenager can and/or will go through. The point is to get people from all over the world, from all walks of life and faith to join in and put a poem in. There are hardly any rules to the poem. They don't have to fit a form. They don't have to be splendidly worded. They don't have to do anything but be there and have some sort of meaning. In fact, lets throw in short stories as well. If you have a short story (under 6 pages typed in 11 pt Times New Roman) that is by and/or for teenagers then you may submit that as well. But mainly poetry.

This does plan to be published and anyone that contributes will have full credit. I trust everyone here that there won't be any thievery or copy writing and claiming it is your own original work. While I might run some searches on everything I obviously can't check everything for every poem or short story. And as a last note on that, I can't say when this will be published or by who or whatever because I have never had anything published. My older sister knows how to do that, so if we have something worth publishing she can handle the publisher. There is no money to be made from this, you get credit for your work but you will not be paid. You have to understand that before you seriously think about helping me out. No one will get money for it, and my name will not be on the cover page as the author or as the collector, person behind the scenes, person. I will not get money for it. Any money gotten from the publishing of this book would be donated to some cause that would have to be agreed upon or voted on by those participating in it's works.

Honestly, half of the reason this idea was never really grounded was I was actually afraid of the possibility of being sued over something like this. These days you can sue anyone for anything if you sound like you're right. And to avoid that I could ask for everyone to print out a consent form and send it to me via mail, but that would probably get hectic and out of hand and expensive for some of you. In that case, I have to settle for the faith in people and believe you simply want to reach out and help another person through a time you might have faced. I will have to settle for your consent through e-mail, though that is so ungrounded it's hilarious. But it will have to do, and I will have to hope you are simply wanting to reach out and help another, or be heard whichever works for you.

The reason this idea was founded in the first place was my friend and I were talking one day, she was 18 and I was 16, we had "met" on a poetry site and she liked my work. We were talking one day about how adults don't seem to "get" us, how they never want to listen and how they tend to think we're unintelligent because we do stupid things. I said it would be great if we could just take our poetry and drop it in the form of a book in front of them and went "Read and learn what I am and how I feel." She said it would be a great thing, because so many adults don't know how to listen to us, and so many kids are like us but don't know what to do, and so many kids write out their problems but those poems that helped them through never get to help another out. This book would be a show of what it's like to be a teenager these days, and that no one is alone out there. Above that it would show that, though we're teenagers and pretty stupid at times and stereotypically "bad" we still care and we can still be selfless.

I can't guarantee this will get off the ground, because I don't know how many teenagers there are really that are selfless, willing to take a leap and participate, and are brave enough to let others read their work. I can't guarantee that I'll get enough submissions to put together a working book, but if I do, no matter how small of a book it might seem, I will push to get it published if I have to spend the rest of my "young" life doing it.

Finally, a brief run of the rules. There are few but some. Don't post your poetry, send me an e-mail at rassdacoolgurl@hotmail.com . Send your full real name, what you would like to be recognized by, any information you want to place as recognition in the book*, your work, what it should be classified as* *, if there is a deeper meaning and you want it to be understood list that, and finally at the bottom of your e-mail please put "I (your name here) give permission to have the original aforementioned works published." *** If those things aren't followed I can't accept the work. There is no language rule (as in curse words) but language as in English, French, Spanish, it would be nice if everything was in English, as that's what I read. Though there's no rule against cursing or content I would have to ask you nicely to sort of watch what you say, since this is supposed to be age friendly, but if it's something that needs to be there to have the point then by all means, say whatever you need to say man. Other than those and the age rule (that could suck I know) there are really no other rules. I do reserve the right though to turn down anyone's work for any reason.

* Age, race, sex, sexual orientation, faith, whatever you bloody well want as long as it's not inappropriate or enough a stalker can find you with.
** Love, Hate, Frustration, Suicide, Sex, Depression, Drugs, Abuse (any and all kinds), Loneliness, Faith, Other
*** Yes I know it sucks but it's the best I can do as far as permission goes.

I'm asking nicely for some moderator to make this a sticky thread. I would hate to have to keep going and bumping it up. Please and thank you.

* offtopic :
Oh lord how I hope I didn't miss anything.