Kyleah asked Laurie Halse Anderson:

Hi Laurie. I am a sophomore in high school. I'm a very big fan. I aspire to become an amazing author such as yourself; I first read your book, Wintergirls, when I was in 9th grade. It inspired me immensely. I try as hard as possible to write like you, but I'm not as quite good as you are. Could you please explain your process and how you get some of your ideas? I would truly appreciate it. Thank you.

Laurie Halse Anderson Be kind to yourself! I wrote a dozen novels before I wrote Wintergirls and had been working on my writing for 20 years by that point.

I've never really understood exactly where my ideas come from. Generally speaking, I write about things that confuse me or make me upset. There are MANY things that fall into that category!

I don't worry at all about the quality of the writing during early drafts.... I just try to get the ideas in my head down on paper. Then I revise many times. My editor usually doesn't see the book until draft 5.

Be patient and keep trying. The more you write, the better you'll become!!

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