I was born in 1972, and grew up in a small town in southern Virginia, and I do mean small - we didn't even have a post office! My parents were both teachers, and they both taught at the local high school. You can guess what's coming. Yep, that's right. I ended up having both my parents as teachers, and actually took classes with my father for three years. As nightmarish as that sounds, it actually wasn't so bad. In a high school as small as the one I attended, it was pretty much a given that if I took certain classes, I'd have my parents as teachers, so it wasn't really a shock to see them listed on my class schedule. Plus, when I was in class, they both treated me like I was any other student. In fact, my mother made me give up my seat because I talked too much! I still haven't forgiven her for that. (If you read this, Mom, I'm just kidding, I swear!) After I graduated from high school, I went to college. I had all these huge plans involving a glamorous career (in what, I had no idea, I just knew I didn't want to live in the middle of nowhere) and I'd also sworn I'd never get married. Naturally, I ended up majoring in European Studies, which prepared me for only the most unglamorous of jobs, and met my future husband when I was a freshman. Speaking of jobs, I've had a bunch over the years - I've been an editor (I didn't say I was a good one!) and an office manager (which is a fancy way of saying secretary). I've also sold hardware, pantyhose, and even worked for a dot.com company when they were as prolific as weeds. (I burned cds, and the job was just as boring as it sounds.) I write young adult novels, and frankly, don't ever see myself writing anything else. I read a lot, and I love all kinds of books, but young adult books hold a very special place in my heart. Being a teenager is both the most amazing and the most frightening thing - there's so much going on with you, your friends, your parents, and handling that and school and having to think about your future... it can be really exciting, but it's also a lot to deal with! It always astonishes me when people talk about how easy it is to be young, because it isn't easy at all. I remember some of the books I read when I was growing up so vividly, not just because they were wonderfully written, but because what was in them really spoke to me. I believed authors like Judy Blume knew exactly how I felt in a way no one else did, and writing books like that, books that really speak to you, is my dream.