Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

Yes! I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't always know I wanted to be a children's writer. Growing up, I read young adult novels and my favorite stories were Dicey's Song and Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. But, I didn't make the connection that there was a person who was writing the stories--a writer! I thought to be a writer, you had to write for adults. I was glad to find out I was wrong! 

Where do you get your ideas?

I get my ideas everywhere! But, my characters seem to have a couple things in common. The main characters tend to be artistic and the theme of my stories are often about moving from a broken place to a place of healing. I facilitate a teen poetry workshop with youth in juvenile detention and they are often the inspiration for my teen characters.

 What writers inspire you?

My favorite writers as a teen were Madeline L'Engle and Cynthia Voigt. I loved L'Engle's "Meet the Austin Books."  Today, my inspirations tend to be the authors I studied with in the Vermont College Masters in Fine Arts Writing for Children and Young adult program including: M.T. Anderson, Liza Ketchum, Ron Koertge, Sharon Darrow, Lisa Jahn Clough, and Kathi Appelt. It has also been fun to read books coming out by Vermont College students who I knew while in the program!

What advice do you have for young writers?

Read! Read! Read! Read everything you can and pay attention to how a character is developed, a story's structure and plot. Also, find a published writer to mentor you and work with on your writing. It's so important to have others support and believe in us along the path, and mentorship is a great way to learn how to become a writer.