Teenagers and goal-setting - I need a reality check

They will if they want it bad enough. But, that's the "magic" truth about everything.

A thought: Have you participated any writing contests like NaNo? Perhaps if the assignment was presented to them in small, personal contest style chunks?

If you want somewhere to do some beta testing, I can hook you up with a few rural high schools. PM me.

Kids who bought your book themselves may be driven enough to actually do the writing...kids whose parents bought the book for them may not even read it, much less do the writing.

Don't know how helpful that is...

This really depends upon your target market. I think that you need to make certain assumptions about your target market. Is it a safe assumption that your readers will use the advice and activities in this book as a real guide? If this ‘assignment’ works in an independent study environment, and you know that it is motivating, I would think that it would be a wonderful addition. As an added bonus, think of the writing practice they are getting for all those essays.

Keep us updated on the progress. Even though it is quite a few years off, my eldest is starting to think about college.

If you're still looking for feedback, are you going to have samples, examples or detailed explanations of what the letters should be like? Easy enough in your workshops to explain/demonstrate what you're looking for, but when the student is sitting alone in his/her room, they might need more guidance. I remember similar assignments when I fretted over whether the teacher meant a real person I knew, a real person I admired, but would never meet, or a historical figure, as well as tone, level of detail, etc. (I was a worrier, but the kind of student who is looking for this kind of book might well be a worrier, too)

A book like that sounds like a great idea, as does the essay/letter writing technique. I graduated recently so I definitely know the stresses of writing those essays and trying to figure out what to do. I'd think that teens would do the exercises because if they bought the book then they want to learn it. Even if a parent buys it for them they'd probably look into it. Many times, especially now, parents will force their kids to study for the standardized tests and write essays for practice, so even relunctant teens would end up using it (though, I think it sounds like a good idea and that people would try it, reglardless of parent forcing...). Like frimble3 said, samples or examples would probably be good, just because it's nice to see how someone else did something before you try. I wasn't really a worrier in high school (or now, for that matter) but I'd still want to see if I was on the right track.

also, congrats on the sale