Fifty Things About You May (or May Not) Want to Know About Me

1. I was born on June 15, 1971.

2. I am a Gemini, which, if you know anything about astrology, explains a LOT.

3. I am the oldest of eight children – four girls, four boys.

4. When I was six years old, an older boy dared me to eat a worm. I did. It was everything I thought it might be: cold, slimy and gross. I don’t recommend it.

5. My mom told me that when I was really little, I used to walk around with a piece of paper and a pencil, look at things and then make scribble marks on the paper. (My dad was a newspaper reporter. It must have been in the blood.)

6. I had a favorite blanket on my bed with a pale orange, super-soft underside. I called it “Peachy” and couldn’t go to sleep without it.

7. When I was seven, I found a secret hiding place in the crook of an apple tree alongside an old dusty road. I used to sit there and watch people walk by underneath – or stare up at the sky overhead. For hours.

8. I loved school.

9. My favorite subject was reading.

10. One of my favorite foods growing up was chopped chicken liver on matzoh bread. (Sounds gross, I know, but trust me, it’s better than worms.)

11. When I was ten years old, I swam two lengths of an Olympic-sized swimming pool – underwater.

12. When I was fifteen, my family moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

13. In 10^th grade, I read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I remember finishing the last page, closing the book, and deciding, right then and there, that I was going to become a writer.

14. My very first job was as an ice-cream scooper at a place called DJ’s in the Poconos. I wasn’t very good. I dropped a lot of cones and gained 15 pounds. But it was a lot of fun.

15. I went to King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and took every English and writing course available.

16. At twenty years old, I decided to get married.

17. In 1992, I moved to Long Island, New York to start a “new life.”

18. On February 13, 1993, during a terrible blizzard that dropped eighteen inches of snow in New York, I had a baby girl. Life as I knew it became INFINITELY better.

19. For awhile, my baby and I lived in a battered women’s shelter in Long Island, until we could return back to Pennsylvania. This experience would later become the inspiration for Hershey Herself.

20. After returning to Pennsylvania, I decided it was time to get serious about writing.

21. I wrote a memoir about my experiences growing up in a religious commune, found an agent and waited.

22. And waited. Forty-eight rejections slips later, I got a letter from my agent which stated very kindly, but very firmly, that we were “done.”

23. I wrote another book about a girl named Lily Sinclair who loves shoes and decaf coffee. This time, I sent it out by myself and waited.

24. And waited. Seventeen rejections later, I decided maybe I needed some more direction with my writing.

25. I was accepted to Goddard College in Plainfield Vermont and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing in 2003.

26. The most important thing I learned at graduate school was not to give up. No matter what. Just. Keep. On. Working.

27. I got married again and started another book. About a girl named Hershey.

28. I found another agent. She sent Hershey Herself out to numerous publishing houses. The rejections began to come in.

29. I had another baby and started another book. This one was about two girls, one named Honey, the other named Agnes.

30. A year later, I finished The Patron Saint of Butterflies and sent it to my agent.

31. Two weeks later, she called and told me Bloomsbury had made an offer on the book.

32. The next day, she called back and told me Simon & Schuster had made an offer on Hershey Herself.

33. Two weeks later, I gave birth to a baby boy!

34. I am working on another book right now. (I don’t believe in spoiler alerts, so I won’t tell you what it’s about.)

35. I teach high school English to a completely fabulous bunch of 7^th, 8^th and 9^th graders at Meyers High School in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

36. I have a Wall of Fame in my room which lists a student’s name every time they get a perfect score on one of my tests. The third time their name gets on the Wall of Fame, they get a present from me.

37. If the temperature outside is at least 40 degrees, I try to run a few miles every morning.

38. My favorite shows on TV are Law & Order: SVU (I would be happy watching Chris Meloni do anything), Everyday Italian with Giada DiiLaurentis on the Food Network, and Project Runway.

39. I love, love, love clothes.

40. I think I may also have a shoe addiction.

41. I have the greatest mother-in-law any girl could ever hope for.

42. I love going to the movies, but I am a little bit of a movie snob. With the exception of Airplane and Naked Gun, which both have the ability to make me laugh until I choke, I don’t like stupid movies.

43. I am a Democrat – and a huge Barack Obama fan.

44. My favorite authors are Laurie Halse Anderson, Roland Merullo, Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, Louis Sachar, Frank McCourt, and J.D. Salinger.

45. My favorite books are The Catcher in the Rye, Speak, A Little Love Story, Like Life, Angela’s Ashes, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and White Oleander.

46. Out of all my brothers and sisters, I am the only one who still lives in the area.

47. I know now that it doesn’t matter where you live; it matters what you do where you live. And you can write anywhere.

48. I love sliced avocados sprinkled with sea salt.

49. I have not tried chopped chicken livers on matzoh bread since I was about eight years old.

50. Same goes for worms.