I've been writing, in one way or another, for as long as I can remember.
From Sarah Dessen
I was so thrilled that I was having a girl, because I just am so girly myself, but I think the teenage years are going to be very interesting.
I'm always hopeful. I feel like I'm at the prom sitting against the wall waiting for someone to ask me to dance.
I'm famously secretive about my work. Nobody reads my books till they're finished.
I love YA, and it's been a really good fit for me. But at some point, I would like to try something else: a collection of short stories, or writing about something other than high school. A lot has happened to me since I was eighteen.
I think my mother characters have changed a lot since Sasha was born, just because I understand what a hard job it is now, and I'm coming at it from another angle - like you just love and care about this person so much, and just want to protect them from everything.
Teenagers are a great audience and they are fearless about asking what they want to know.
When I was a teen, I was never really into the captain of the football team or the student body president. The guys I liked were quirky and different: They listened to music I'd never heard of, never had lunch or gas money, and could always make you laugh.
I don't live in New York or California. I'm in the grocery store, at the park with my kids, and I'm a normal person. I'm feeding my chickens and agonizing about my next book!
I love writing about the summer between high school and college. It's the last gasp of really being a teen.
2 perspectives
1 perspectives