Writing is a workout, just like going for a run!
When I was a kid, I had a couple of really good friends, like some really good best friends, but I was really shy other than that.
We were a very funny family. Humour was the tool with which my brother and I tried to get attention. We were always trying to be the funniest.
We can all agree that first loves can be a scary thing, and that growing up is hard to do.
Usually writer’s block arises when something is wrong internally with the story.
It’s only in fairy tales that princesses can afford to wait for the handsome prince to save them. In real life, they have to bust out of their own coffins and do the saving themselves.
I really wanted to be veterinarian, but I got a 410 on my math SATs.
My family, theyre story tellers. My mom is Irish, and my dad is Italian. In my family, we werent allowed to watch TV while we ate – we had to sit around the table and tell stories about our day.
In high school, I wanted to be an actress. Until I got to college and took some creative writing courses. Then I decided I wanted to become a novelist.
I was the kind of kid who couldn’t really stop making up stories during class. I didn’t do very well academically because I was always drawing these little doodles in the margins of my notebooks and I wasn’t bringing home the best grades.
I used to draw and illustrate, but I don’t do that anymore because I just like to write. I like to leave the illustrations to actual professional illustrators.
I really liked drama and being in plays, so when I was playing a character onstage and I could act like somebody else, then I wasn’t scared or nervous, but I didn’t like meeting new people when I had to be myself. That was scary.
I don’t have kids, but in many ways I feel I’ve had them already. I don’t want to say I raised my brothers – that sounds too strong – but actually I do feel like that a bit.
Strong female characters – even if they don’t necessarily make the same decisions that we might – make such great narrative material, especially when there’s an equally strong male character in the mix.
I think if I hadn’t been a writer, I’d have been a teacher like my dad. He was a college professor, and one of my greatest regrets is that he passed away before I was able to prove to him that I wasn’t going to be stuck working at Rax Roast Beef for the rest of my life!
I think you get so wrapped up in the book you’re currently writing, it’s hard to think about anything else. But I know as soon as I’m done with this book, I’ll move on to something else.
No one wants to pursue anything creative anymore, because that’s too risky. They may not get the kind of return on the financial investment they’ve made in their education that they think they should.
I like to think of my books and the movies of my books living in two separate universes. Each is very nice, but only one is correct – the book. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the other versions, and I always do.
My original inspiration was my mom: a few years after the death of my dad, she started dating one my teachers!
My favorite book of all time is Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons.