What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self / Ellyn Spragins

If you could send a letter back through time to your younger self, what would the letter say?

In this moving collection, forty-one famous women write letters to the women they once were, filled with advice and insights they wish they had had when they were younger.

Today show correspondent Ann Curry writes to herself as a rookie reporter in her first job, telling herself not to change so much to fit in, urging her young self, It is time to be bold about who you really are. Country music superstar Lee Ann Womack reflects on the stressed-out year spent recording her first album and encourages her younger self to enjoy the moment, not just the end result. And Maya Angelou, leaving home at seventeen with a newborn baby in her arms, assures herself she will succeed on her own, even if she does return home every now and then.

These remarkable women are joined by Madeleine Albright, Queen Noor of Jordan, Cokie Roberts, Naomi Wolf, Eileen Fisher, Jane Kaczmarek, Olympia Dukakis, Macy Gray, and many others. Their letters contain rare glimpses into the personal lives of extraordinary women and powerful wisdom that readers will treasure.

Wisdom from What I Know Now

Don t let anybody raise you. You ve been raised. Maya Angelou

Try more things. Cross more lines. Breena Clarke

Learn how to celebrate. Olympia Dukakis

You don t have to be afraid of living alone. Eileen Fisher

Please yourself first . . . everything else follows. Macy Gray

Don t be so quick to dismiss another human being. Barbara Boxer

Work should not be work. Mary Matalin

You can leave the work world and come back on your own terms. Cokie

Roberts

Laundry will wait very patiently. Nora Roberts

Your hair matters far, far less than you think Lisa Scottoline

Speak the truth but ride a fast horse. Kitty Kelley