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I love writing for young adults because they are such a wonderful audience, they are good readers, and they care about the books they read.

I'm a writer and this is what I love to do.

I'm working with published authors and some very young undergraduates and lots of people in between. They are lovely people, and they can write.

I think new writers everywhere need opportunities to get published.

If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.

I want to say that I really appreciate that readers are willing to work with my tendency to write in several different genres and for different age groups.

I always talk to my students about the need to write for the joy of writing. I try to sort of disaggregate the acclaim from the act of writing.

With my writing, what I want to do is humanize the young people I write about.

I always encourage people in the early parts of their career to focus on writing. If you can communicate clearly, if you can articulate a thought, if you can write a great story, then you're going to be successful.