Welcome to my world, World:   I'm a long-time feature writer, journalist, author, photographer, educator and speaker who has made words my business and career. I have always been interested in fashion--in fact, my first paid writing job was a a fashion columnist for a suburban newspaper of the Chicago Tribune. I've moved into tangential subject matters--homes, architecture, travel and profiles, but apparel is never far from my heart. That brings me to the purpose of joining Authors Den: I am the co-author of a new tween fashion guide, "Expressionista: How to Express Your True Self Through (and Despite) Fashion" (Simon & Schuster) with Jackie Walker. Our goal is to help tweens and early teens find their true fashion identities--which we call Fashion Personas, build their fashion confidence and ward off fashion bullies. The book contains quizzes, activities, life stories, journaling prompts and loads of advice. It's mom-friendly, too. In preparation for writing this book, we conducted focus groups with girls and moms of varying ages. What we learned dismayed us! Fashion bullying and judging each other based on looks starts at a very young age. We learned of kindergarteners who started a sparkly shoes club--if you didn't wear sparkly shoes to school, the girls who did wouldn't talk to you. This has got to stop! Encounters like this one often wound the victims for life. (We talk about that in our book,, also.) We want our readers to become Expressionistas, not Fashionistas! Our mantra: * Love and embrace your Fashion Persona * Respect the Fashion Personas of others Come along with us, and learn how to be a more confident, glowing you! --Pamela Dittmer McKuen    

3rd Place, Illinois Woman's Press Association 2014 Communications Contest, Young Adult Non-fiction category