Recorded Books Inc. - Follow me: a memoir in challenges

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I dedicate this book to all of my incredible fans, who have supported me endlessly. Youre all the reason why I do what I do, and everything I do is for you. Thank you for continuing to inspire me every single day. Youre my biggest motivation and I can never thank you enough. I love you all so much! This book is for you.

H ey, guys, whats up!

Do you ever wonder which YouTuber said that first? Whoever it was should have trademarked the phrase, seeing as how 98 percent of us now use that same line to kick off a video. The person would be filthy rich by now!

Or not. Whats so cool about YouTubers is that I dont think many of us would ever be that stingy. The beautiful thing about YouTube is that its all about sharing! Collaborating and group participation are what we thrive on, and in that spirit, this book that youre holding in your hands is not just me telling a bunch of little stories about my life. Its also a chance for us to do some fun stuff together.

Its a pretty simple concepteach section within each chapter has a challenge thats related to the subject Im writing about, along with an extra totally random challenge thrown in for good measure! Im going to be doing every single one of them, and you should do them along with me! If you complete one, put a photo or video of it on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or YouTube with the hashtag #FOLLOWMEBOOK, along with the hashtag assigned to each individual challenge. Ill check it out and then repost it! Plus Ill be posting my favorites along the way on my YouTube channel.

When I first came up with the idea of doing a book, I knew I didnt want to put something out that people would read and then place on their shelf to gather dust over the next ten years. I wanted something readers could keep coming back to, so I divided everything up by theme. This way if you ever find yourself in the mood to make a big change in your life, go back to the Ambition chapter and read my story on Self-Empowerment. Or if one day youre feeling sad for any reason, flip to the Bummed Out chapter and check out the Social section. The whole point is to make this a different experience for everyone who picks it up. Youll learn stuff about my family and my YouTube friends as well as my personal ones, along with my worries, insecurities, greatest memories, and tons more. Most important, I hope that by doing the challenges youll learn something new about yourself, too.

Ready? Lets do this!

Dye your hair a crazy, wild color. It doesnt have to be permanentthere are tons of temporary options out there.

H eres something you dont hear too often: I was a happy kid growing up. My home life was awesome. I had parents who adored me and an older sister named Tara whom I was obsessed with because she never treated me like a bratty younger brother, and between band, tennis, and a job at the mall, my life was pretty full.

We lived in Hoover, Alabama, a large, safe suburb of Birmingham. My dad worked as a pharmaceutical rep, Mom was a homemaker, and in high school I had a bright orange Kia Soul and a best friend named Shelby who was always up for anything. So it wasnt like I was trying to escape some sort of horrible existence when I first started to meet people and make new friends on YouTube.

I actually have Miley Cyrus to thank for my discovery of the site. More specifically, Hannah Montana. I was obsessed with the show. Not just for its kooky secret identity plot linesI legitimately loved the music they played on it. I couldnt find the songs on iTunes, though, and the Disney Channel hadnt released any CDs yet because the show had just debuted. What can I say, Im an early adopter.

I hit Google up to see if I could find anyone who had uploaded the music to stream, and thats when I stumbled across YouTube. Not only did I find all the songs from the show there, but people had posted lyric videos, too, so I could sing along. (My favorite was the song This Is the Life.) The website seemed cool, but there was no immediate feeling of OMG THIS IS MY FUTURE CALLING.

A few years later, Ke$has song Tik Tok came out, and I loved it. I went back to YouTube to look for the video after hearing it on the radio so I could listen to it as many times as I wanted. Thats when I discovered that tons of people were doing parody videos of it. I quickly became obsessed, and loved watching so many different kids offer their own take on the ridiculously catchy song. I was cruising through a whole stream of parodies on YouTube when I clicked on one by a girl named Braeton Brescia, who went by the username SoCalhco888. I started watching a bunch of her videos and thought they were hilarious, and through the recommended up next list that runs along the side of the YouTube screen, I discovered more YouTubers, like iJustine, Smosh, Brittani Louise Taylor, Andrea Russett, and a guy named Shane Dawson. He was singing along to Tik Tok on the radio in a car, so he hadnt technically done a parody video, but he seemed really funny so I watched another one of his clips. And then another. And then another.

Maybe two hours went by before I came up for air. Heres the thingeven though I had some really solid friends, I was pretty sheltered. I didnt go to parties and no one in my circle was particularly wild. Watching YouTubers like Shane, I felt like Id suddenly made new friends who said all of the crazy, insane things that everyone thinks about inside, but doesnt have the guts to say out loud. I couldnt believe that this world existed and Id never known about it. Actually Im pretty sure no one in Alabama aside from me even knew what YouTube was at that point.

I still had my old account from back in the days when I used to watch Hannah Montana videos, but Id only ever used it to save videos I liked. I noticed that there seemed to be these whole micro-communities within the comments sections, and that the YouTubers themselves would sometimes even join the conversation. I started leaving little comments of my own, and would be thrilled and shocked when someone replied to something I wrote, or gave my messages a thumbs-up.