Queestion for Jennifer O'Connell

[MegCabot]

Jennifer, I have a question I never thought to ask you while we were working on this collection. What made you think of doing this book? Also, how did you select the authors who were involved? And how long, once you got the essays, did it take you to put this book together?

Sorry if this has been asked before, but there are a lot of posts here, and though I did look, I didn't see this one!

Meg Cabot
www.megcabot.com

[jenniferoconne…]

Hi Meg:
I'd just finished my third adult novel and was about to start my first teen book (which I write as Jenny O'Connell). I was sitting at my desk figuring out how to write like a "girl," when it occurred to me that all of my "adult" characters in my books are what I'd imagained Judy Blume's characters would be like when they grew up. So I thought, "Everything I needed to know about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume." And it just sounded so right I immediately emailed my agent and asked what she thought of the line. She loved it (being a Judy fan herself).

So I had to figure out what the heck it was - a novel, a collection, fiction, non-fiction, and I decided it should be a collection of essays from other women authors who I thought might feel the same way I did. I also wanted authors who would be able to write honestly, with humor, and have no fear. I also wanted to work with writers I liked and who would make the project fun.

Reading all of the essays was so much fun. I was so afraid they'd end up being too similar - after all, we were writing about the same books. But they were all so different because each of the writer's experience was so different.

So that's the story!
J

[MegCabot]

Wow! That's so cool! I had no idea. What a great idea.

You'd think I'd have thought to ask when you asked me to be part of this book, but I was so busy thinking of what I was going to write about it, never occurred to me! Thanks for sharing....

Meg