Interview with Sarah Dessen from Horn Book

Here's a sample:

RS: You have very fervent fans.

SD: They’re fantastic — they buy the book the day it comes out and read it incredibly quickly and then immediately e-mail me and ask when the next one is due! It’s really the highest compliment. Young adults are an amazing audience to be writing for because you’re catching people at their most enthusiastic about reading. Adults are a little more reserved. I still get excited about good books, but I don’t get jumping-up-and-down-screaming excited. It’s such a passionate time, adolescence. I remember the feeling in high school, and even in middle school, of reading a book and really connecting with it on that elemental level of “somebody understands me.” It’s so powerful. It’s a great market to be writing for because you connect so strongly with your audience.

Ok, so...that's so me. I confess that I do squeal and sometimes jump up and down when the book I've been dying to read appears at the library. It's an endless source of entertainment for the ladies in the Cataloging/Processing Dept. This has also been known to happen at conferences or just after I meet a wicked cool author (I try saving this until I'm not longer in front of them.) But my fan girl usually wins. I just think it means that I'm in the right job - and maybe I've never grown out of my teens years. But I'm ok with that.

Read the rest of the interview here.