Liz Funk, 20, is a first-time author whose career has certainly taken off, with a recent appearance on “The Today Show” to promote her book: Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls.
Funk originally got the idea from observing girls in her high school who seemed “perfect,” she said. “They had the best grades, nice clothes, acceptances to tons of colleges, and they were charming,” she said. “It was like they had no flaws and they were never tired.”
Being a tireless worker herself, Funk spent seven months in 2007 writing Supergirlls, with another three months spent editing and polishing the book with her editor. Once the editing phase was complete, Funk spent even more months doing publicity work for the book.
Ever the Supergirl, Funk admits that she had been beating herself up when she was younger because she really wanted to publish a book before she graduated from high school. “Now that I actually have published a book, it’s a pretty surreal feeling,” she said. “It actually makes me a little self-conscious at times, because there are a lot of my secrets in this book.”
Funk said that sometimes she can get dramatic about the book and feel like people can buy her diary at Barnes and Noble. In spite of self-deprecating remarks, Supergirls is more journalism than personal history.
“I think the research was the best part though,” Funk said. “I got to travel to New York City, Washington, D.C. and Syracuse University and I got to hang out with the cool crowd at the University of Albany.”
One of the book’s “main characters” was a freshman at the University of Albany. “She was well-known on campus, so it was cool to observe how popularity and being recognized on campus accelerated her Supergirl drive even more,” Funk said.
To hear Funk tell it, though, it seems like Supergirl tendencies in high school can be detrimental, rather than beneficial. “I was obsessed with getting into a good college, getting my writing career off the ground, and doing leadership activities and I was anorexic,” she said.
By the time college rolled around, Funk was a full-fledged Supergirl. She dyed her hair blonde, frequently went tanning, and was a columnist for her school paper. “I was really active in the social activities in my dorm (aka partying), went on lots of dates, and desperately wanted to get my career off the ground,” she said.
When Funk was a junior in college, she admits she had a mental meltdown. She had no idea why she mattered outside of what other people thought of her, and what she looked like and what was written on her resume.
“Now I consider myself a recovering Supergirl,” she said. “I still have my hair bleached blonde and I still try to look pretty and have a good career, but I definitely go easier on myself.”
Funk’s plans post-college include spending a month in Paris on vacation, and then getting back to writing books, articles and blogging. She’d also like to try her hand at screenwriting.
Funk’s best advice to girls with aspiring writing careers is to write what you know and write about what you observe in your everyday life. “I don’t think that I would have gotten a book deal if, at 18, I set out to write a book about my opinion on international relations or the economy,” she said. “However, because I speak from the inside of a phenomenon in “Supergirls…” adults were really interested.”
According to Funk, the media is really interested in the lives of young people and trends in Generation Y. “Now is really the time for our voices to emerge and for young people to share what pressures they face and what they’re passionate about,” she said.
For more information on Funk’s book, visit http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Supergirls-Speak-Out/Liz-Funk/e/9781416562634. It is set to be out in March. To visit Funk’s blog, click http://LizFunk.com/blog.
