What were you like as a teenager?

I was a music and drama geek and lived for musical auditions every fall – I had the lead role in Oklahoma!, Brigadoon, and Carousel and I miss singing and acting very much.

What were your favorite books as a kid?

Richard Adams’ Watership Down, David Eddings Belgariad and Malloreon series, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, Piers Anthony, anything with horses.

If you had one wish, what would you wish for?

Good Health for my loved ones.

What musicians have influenced your writing?

Florence and the Machine, Bat for Lashes, Chopin, Foster the People, the Kills, the Horrors, Shiny Toy Guns, Beck, Radiohead, Rick Bain and the Genius Position, Nine Inch Nails, the National, Yeasayer, Lykke Li, mixes that David Levithan makes for me

What are you looking forward to about YALLFest?

Meeting teen and catching up with writing friends

What is your favorite kind of pie?

Tie between Rhubarb and Blueberry