About Me
The Short Version
I grew up in a tiny one-stoplight town in Pennsylvania, where I could be found swimming, playing clarinet, memorizing lines for the school play, or—most often—with my nose in a book. I've been writing since I was little but studied theatre in college and grad school. Now I live in Washington, DC with my brilliant playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey.
The Long Version
I've wanted to be a writer since I wrote a story about my grandparents' cabin in Mrs. Eisenhart's class in fourth grade. In fifth grade, I got in trouble for reading under my desk while the teacher was talking. Then in sixth grade I read Gone with the Wind. It changed my life. The characters of Scarlett and Rhett leapt off the page; they were flawed and clever and fascinating. In high school, I wrote three sprawling historical romance novels full of kissing and banter. In retrospect, they were dreadful (I had not been kissed myself at this point), but it didn't matter; I fell in love with creating characters and writing into the wee hours of the morning. I also played clarinet in the marching and concert bands and tenor sax in the jazz band; edited the newspaper; was copy editor for the yearbook; and acted in a bunch of school plays. My favorite role was Beth in Little Women. I died splendidly.
I left my tiny one-stoplight hometown (Biglerville, PA) to attend Washington College. Within my first week there, I had auditioned for two plays. Writing mostly fell by the wayside because I was spending thirteen hours a day in rehearsal. The drama department at Washington College was amazing; it taught me to value creative collaboration, ask questions, and give tactful feedback (all skills that have been crazy-useful in my writing career). I directed a production of Elie Wiesel's The Trial of God for my drama thesis and wrote a play for my English thesis. It was at WAC that I met my husband, Stephen Spotswood, and a fabulous group of friends who are still my besties.
After graduation, I moved to Washington, DC. I got my M.A. in Theatre History & Criticism at Catholic University while I interned in literary management at a few different DC theatres. Eventually I realized that I loved theatre, but not enough to make a career out of it. It was a scary thing to admit. I coped by rereading all of my favorite books from childhood. L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon books led me to reading some of the brilliant YA that's being published now. In 2007, I started writing my own YA fantasy, Inheriting Garolass, about a portrait-painting girl who discovers her family's link to a world where artists are considered enemies of the state. This manuscript helped me snag my awesome agent, Jim McCarthy at DGLM. Unfortunately, Garolass didn't sell—but the next book did, in a pre-empt from Penguin for the whole trilogy.
Now I live in a hipster neighborhood in Washington, DC with my brilliant playwright husband and a very cuddly cat named Monkey, and I am a full-time author.
25 Things I ♥
The color pink * roses, especially red ones * theatre * Autumn * Earl Grey tea * Snow Patrol * cardamom cookies * really most cookies * napping with my cat * swimming * Diet Coke * New Orleans * Modcloth dresses * the sound of bells chiming the hour * board games * Twitter * stationery * hot-stone massages * butternut squash & goat cheese ravioli * browsing in bookstores & libraries * my grandparents' cabin in the middle of nowhere * drinking wine & brainstorming on my porch * Mumford & Sons * historical house tours * my Macbook Air (named Roo after Ruby Oliver)
7 Things I Do Not ♥
snakes * vines (too much like snakes) * mushrooms * temperatures over 90F * bleu cheese * Bikram yoga * anything fake-grape-flavored
A Handful Of My Favorite YA Books
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and the Ruby Oliver series by E. Lockhart
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Anna & the French Kiss and Lola & the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
The Forest of Hands & Teeth series by Carrie Ryan
Chime by Franny Billingsley
If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Plain Kate by Erin Bow
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
