The second big thing is to remember that everything you write counts, even if it doesn’t get published. There is no one right way to get published, or one path, and other people’s’ journey is no indication of what yours will be. The number one big thing is to remember that everyone’s path is different.

What do you say to writers who want to be traditionally published one day? I also do a fair amount of writing in bed. I am lucky enough to be part of a community called the Writer’s Room of Boston, which gives me a space to write, so I do a lot of work from the sixth story of an old skyscraper near the harbor, looking out on a fire escape that is so picture perfect I want to climb out on it with my ukulele and sing Moon River. So I do a lot of writing late at night and on weekends and on my lunch breaks. I am not–I actually have two other jobs (lucky for me, both are book related). So for the first time again.Īre you a full-time writer? When and where do you write? So I started writing, sort of for the first time and sort of again. And it was so much fun that it reminded me how reading as a kid had inspired me to write. Since I spent a lot of time in airports and bus stations, I started reading for fun for the first time since I was in middle school. But I never really thought about being a writer as a career until I was living in the UK and doing a lot of traveling. When I was young, I wrote a lot, and in high school I wrote fanfiction and terrible poetry. She currently calls Boston home.ĭid you always know you wanted to be a writer? When/How did you decide to be a writer?ĭefinitely not–when I was in high school I wanted to be an actress, I majored in history in college, and worked in children’s theater and public radio before I found my way to writing. On a perfect day, she can be found enjoying all three. She loves Diet Coke, sweater weather, and Star Wars. Botolph Club Foundation, will be published on Septemby Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Award, as well as an Emerging Artist Grant from the St. Her young adult historical fantasy novel, THIS MONSTROUS THING, which won the PEN-New England Susan P. She holds an MFA from Simmons College in writing for children and young adults, and her short fiction for children and teens has appeared in Inaccurate Realities, The Friend, and The Newport Review. Twitter: Lee is a reader, writer, bookseller, unapologetic fangirl, and fast talker.

Today I’m delighted to share with you another interview with a debut YA author! Meet Mackenzi Lee, author of THIS MONSTROUS THING (coming 22d September 2015 from Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins).

This monstrous thing by mackenzi lee