Frequently Asked Questions

Where did you get your story ideas from?
Story ideas come to me from all different places. Sometimes, I’ll be intrigued by a story that I’ve read or a piece of news and then I’ll start wondering “Well, what if …” Most stories start with a little glimmer of an idea or a tidbit about a character and the big “What if?” question.
Where did you get the idea for The New Girl?
When I was in elementary school, starting around the fifth grade, we used to sing a song about achdus during line-up. It went something like:
                “Achdus is our goal and we’ll achieve it.
                Friendship’s our reward and we’ll receive it. …”
But I had a lot of trouble with that song because, unfortunately, we had a number of different cliques and there were definitely girls who were left out of the group.
 
How long did it take you to write The New Girl?
I wrote the original story over the course of about six months, but it took several years and numerous rewrites before the book was released.
 
Is it hard to be a writer?
Sometimes. Like anything else in life, if you want to be a writer you have to keep practicing. Read a lot, write a lot and study a lot.

What’s your favorite part about being a writer?
My favorite thing about being a writer is that I am always learning something new. Whether I am working on a nonfiction news story or writing a novel, there’s always some bit of information that requires me to do some research and learn. (The hardest part about that is knowing when to stop, because sometimes the research is so interesting I just want to keep reading and reading.)

I also like having deadlines. I tend to work better when I know my story must be turned in at a certain time.

SaveSave

SaveSave