Where
were you born?
Dallas, TX, on my mother's birthday. She was sick of being pregnant with
me, and so demanded the doctor induce labor. The question is: Was I done
cooking and, if not, can I blame all my life's problems on that?
Is
that where you grew up?
No, I grew up in Arlington, which is smack between Dallas and Fort Worth.
It was a relatively new city back then, but we lived kind of in the country.
For a while, we had a couple of horses, a cow and chickens, and our street
ended in a dirt road by the creek. Later, they built through it all the
way to the highway. Today Arlington has one of largest malls in the state,
super-sized high schools, amusement and water parks, and is home to the
Texas Rangers and soon, the Dallas Cowboys. I imagine it's a lot like
living at Epcot Center.
Do
you have any siblings?
I have two older sisters. Only one beat me up as a kid. It is this same
sister who would pay me a quarter to play Life with her.
Where
do you get your ideas?
I have a freakishly sharp memory from junior high and high school. I also
keep my ninth and twelfth grade year books by my desk, both of which I
often refer to while trying to ignore the hairstyles of the 90s.
The
mom in Class Favorite does lots of embarrassing things to Sara. Did your
mom ever do stuff like that to you?
Like most moms, mine did embarrass me, but nothing like what poor Sara
Thurman's mom did. In sixth grade, when I was forced -- forced! -- to
wear glasses, my mother pressed her face to the window of my class to
see if I was wearing them. When she saw that I wasn't, she called me outside
did a lot of finger shaking at me. I could see my friends in other classrooms
watching it all go down. Still, I won the war since I got contacts the
very next year. Lesson: be persistent!
How
did you get your agent?
The first thing I did -- after writing the entire book -- was I headed
out to the bookstore and bought a book of children's book agents and started
marking agents who took books like mine. Meanwhile, a girl from my writing
class had just been to a seminar about new agents and sent me his contact
info. I had already sent out my query letter to maybe five other agents
when I sent my letter to Steven. I had a typical from there:
First, he asked for the first five chapters; when he decided he liked that, he asked for the rest of the book. Finally, he asked if I'd be willing to change my character's ages to make them a bit younger -- tween instead of teen. Only after I had done that did he agree to represent me. It was a long process, many weeks (a couple of months?), and I've known writers who got to that last stage -- edit your book to the agent's taste -- only to then be turned down. It's harsh, but that's how it is.
Favorite
books and authors?
I love any books by Deb Caletti, Maureen Johnson, Sara Zarr, Carolyn Mackler,
Rachel Cohn.
Books
I read and loved:
Feathered by Laura Kasischke
What Happens Here by Tara Altebrando
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
Wild Roses by Deb Caletti
Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Favorite candy?
Cherry Mash. It's a Texas thing.
Favorite
thing about being an adult?
I can buy and eat candy whenever I want -- even mere moments before dinner.
Is
it true that you once met Bill Clinton?
No, it's true that I twice met Bill Clinton. And I have to admit, it was
super cool!
Do
you have any special writing habits?
Saturday and Sunday mornings I sleep in a little, then head to the kitchen.
I clean dishes while the coffee brews (pumpkins spice or crème
brulee flavors). I may make a couple of biscuits with honey or veggie
sausage. When it's all done I sit down at the table and read, eat and
drink for about an hour before I pull myself away and head to the computer.
With a little luck, I'll work for the next four or five hours. If I feel
the need to get out of the house to write, I have a particular library
I like to write at, or a café. Once I'm settled, I basically stare
at the page until I'm so bored that there's nothing left to do but move
my fingers over the keys.
Why
do you write for teens and tweens?
It's the only thing I was ever really good at. In my first college writing
workshop, I turned in a story about a girl in high school. The class raved
about it, but I felt a bit silly -- everyone else had written dark stories
about adults. So, the next week a wrote what I thought was a really deep,
dark story about a successful woman in Los Angeles who seemed to have
it all but leaps to her death off a downtown building. It was as awful
as it sounds. After the class nicely butchered my story, someone said,
"Why don't you write the stuff like you did last week?" The
class agreed, and I've never gone back. Lesson: write what you know.
