RACHEL COHN

I'm doing an author book report about you. Can you tell me about your life?

Okay, biography schmiography. The truth is, the more interesting stuff in my life tends to emanate from my imagination and then appear in books - real life, not so much. But in the interest of Ye Olde Book Report, here is the basic information.

I was born on December 14, 1968 in Silver Spring, Maryland. I grew up in the DC area (suburban Maryland), but also spent my childhood summers in Western Massachusetts with my grandparents, so I kind of feel like I am from both places.

From the time I learned how to read and write I was always trying to create stories. I grew up surrounded by books and by family who were educators - the desire and encouragement to write came readily in my household. When I was a kid, I loved books by Judy Blume, Ellen Conford and E.L. Konigsburg. (I loved Judy Blume's books so much that I used to actively wish I would get scoliosis so I could be like Deenie.) My favorite books were: Harriet the Spy; Deenie; And This Is Laura; Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Anything for A Friend; From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler; and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Oh, and anything by Jackie Collins or Sidney Sheldon.

When I was seventeen, I took off for Manhattan to attend Barnard College. I graduated from Barnard with a B.A. in Political Science. I thought I wanted to be a journalist, but it turned out I wanted to make up stories about characters in my head instead of report on actual people's stories. A few years after graduating from college, I moved to San Francisco and got an administrative job at a law firm to support myself while I began to seriously study and write fiction. I wrote three unpublished novels before the fourth I attempted, Gingerbread, was published. Since then, writing has been a full-time career - and pleasure.

I currently live in Manhattan - best city in the world! I don't have hobbies, unless the pursuit of a great cappuccino counts as one. I spend a ridiculous amount of time organizing my music library and reading books. If you want to know more about my interests (movies/TV, etc.), please check out my MySpace page (and please feel free to send me a Friend request, too!).

Can You Recommend Some Other Books?

Here is a random and incomplete list of favorite books that I'd highly recommend to you.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels***
by Libba Bray
A Time to Be Born and The Wicked Pavilion
by Dawn Powell
An Actual Life by Abigail Thomas
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Back Home by Michelle Magorian
Boy Proof and The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash
Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey
by J.D. Salinger
Cut*** and Sold*** by Patricia McCormick
Dangerous Angels*** and The Hanged Man
by Francesca Lia Block
Feed*** and Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson
Feeling Sorry for Celia and The Year of Secret Assignments*** by Jaclyn Moriarty
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
I Am the Messenger and The Book Thief***
by Markus Zusak
I Capture the Castle*** by Dodie Smith
I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves
In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, Drunk with Love and Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist
Lady: My Life As a Bitch*** and Smack
by Melvin Burgess
Life Is Funny*** and America by E.R. Frank
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster
My Brilliant Career*** by Miles Franklin
Sleeping Arrangements by Laura Shaine Cunningham
Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley
by Martine Murray
Sweetblood by Pete Hautman
The Grass Harp by Truman Capote
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
The Perks of Being a Wallflower*** by Stephen Chbosky
The Quiet American and Our Man in Havana
by Graham Greene
The Realm of Possibility*** and Wide Awake
by David Levithan
The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Two Girls, Fat and Thin by Mary Gaitskill
White Teeth by Zadie Smith

(***one of my Favorite Teen Books Ever)

For more book recommendations, please check out some of the great teen book lists prepared by the American Library Association.

Can I send you my stories?

I appreciate your wanting my opinion, and I wish I *could* read all the stories by writers who ask me. Unfortunately, I get asked so often and it's just too big a task to read that much. But I thank you for thinking of me and recommend you search for a writing workshop group in your area - and if there isn't one already, start one! Giving and receiving critiques from a fellow group of writers is a great tool for allowing your work to grow.

I need more help with my writing. Where do I go?

Here are some resources for learning about the craft of writing and about publishing.

TeenLit.com (GREAT resource for teen writers)

Links for Writers from TeensPoint.org

Superstar Author Holly Black's Writing Resources

SmartWriters.com/Young Writers

Creative Writing Tips for Teens from About.com

Writer's Market - THE indispensable book for writers (updated annually)

Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishing, Editors and Literary Agents

		::Back To Home Page ::About Me ::MY MYSPACE PAGE! ::BLOG ::Nick & Norah ::Simon & Schuster ::Random House ::Teenreads.com Websites for Some of My Favorite Teen Authors: ::David Levithan ::Patricia McCormick ::Robin Benway ::Libba Bray ::Cecil Castellucci ::Holly Black ::Judy Blume (worship!) ::Jacqueline Woodson ::Wendy Mass ::Rachel Vail ::Megan McCafferty ::Sarah Dessen ::Carolyn Mackler ::Kristen Kemp ::Billy Merrell ::Markus Zusak ::E. Lockhart ::Julie Anne Peters ::Pete Hautman ::E.R. Frank ::Sonya Sones ::Ellen Wittlinger ::Gail Giles ::Ned Vizzini ::Sarah Mlynowski ::Kirsten Smith ::Lauren Myracle ::Daniel Ehrenhaft ::Blake Nelson ::Robert Lipsyte ::David Yoo ::Adrienne Maria Vrettos ::Coe Booth ::Jenny Han ::Robin Wasserman ::Melissa Marr ::Nico Medina ::Bennett Madison ::Justine Larbalestier ::Scott Westerfeld ::Jaclyn Moriarty ::Siobhan Vivian ::Melissa de la Cruz

So You Want To Be A Writer? Here's my advice: 1. Read. All the time read. 2. Try not to think about "the big picture" of completing a longer work like a novel - the prospect can be overwhelming. Try to pace yourself one chapter or story at a time, so that all the smaller goals can be achieved, and eventually result in a bigger one. 3. Go to an isolated place like a library where you can write without distraction - no TV, no phone, no Internet. 4. Promise yourself when you go that isolated place you will write at least 500 words, even if those words are "I don't know what to write" over and over. Almost certainly, the mere act of the typing will turn into the act of storytelling. 5. It is okay to bang your head against your wall/computer/wrist, etc. in complete frustration. Just please be careful. Then go back to trying, trying, trying. 6. Read more. Good luck! Me at age sixteen. Obsessed with Prince and eyeliner. MAIL Snail mail can be sent to me c/o: Author Mail: Rachel Cohn Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 1230 Avenue of the Americas, 4th fl New York, NY 10020	I'm doing an author book report about you. Can you tell me about your life? Okay, biography schmiography. The truth is, the more interesting stuff in my life tends to emanate from my imagination and then appear in books - real life, not so much. But in the interest of Ye Olde Book Report, here is the basic information. I was born on December 14, 1968 in Silver Spring, Maryland. I grew up in the DC area (suburban Maryland), but also spent my childhood summers in Western Massachusetts with my grandparents, so I kind of feel like I am from both places. From the time I learned how to read and write I was always trying to create stories. I grew up surrounded by books and by family who were educators - the desire and encouragement to write came readily in my household. When I was a kid, I loved books by Judy Blume, Ellen Conford and E.L. Konigsburg. (I loved Judy Blume's books so much that I used to actively wish I would get scoliosis so I could be like Deenie.) My favorite books were: Harriet the Spy; Deenie; And This Is Laura; Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Anything for A Friend; From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler; and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Oh, and anything by Jackie Collins or Sidney Sheldon. When I was seventeen, I took off for Manhattan to attend Barnard College. I graduated from Barnard with a B.A. in Political Science. I thought I wanted to be a journalist, but it turned out I wanted to make up stories about characters in my head instead of report on actual people's stories. A few years after graduating from college, I moved to San Francisco and got an administrative job at a law firm to support myself while I began to seriously study and write fiction. I wrote three unpublished novels before the fourth I attempted, Gingerbread, was published. Since then, writing has been a full-time career - and pleasure. I currently live in Manhattan - best city in the world! I don't have hobbies, unless the pursuit of a great cappuccino counts as one. I spend a ridiculous amount of time organizing my music library and reading books. If you want to know more about my interests (movies/TV, etc.), please check out my MySpace page (and please feel free to send me a Friend request, too!). Can You Recommend Some Other Books? Here is a random and incomplete list of favorite books that I'd highly recommend to you. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels*** by Libba Bray A Time to Be Born and The Wicked Pavilion by Dawn Powell An Actual Life by Abigail Thomas Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt Back Home by Michelle Magorian Boy Proof and The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger Cut*** and Sold*** by Patricia McCormick Dangerous Angels*** and The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block Feed*** and Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson Feeling Sorry for Celia and The Year of Secret Assignments*** by Jaclyn Moriarty Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell High Fidelity by Nick Hornby I Am the Messenger and The Book Thief*** by Markus Zusak I Capture the Castle*** by Dodie Smith I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, Drunk with Love and Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist Lady: My Life As a Bitch*** and Smack by Melvin Burgess Life Is Funny*** and America by E.R. Frank Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster My Brilliant Career*** by Miles Franklin Sleeping Arrangements by Laura Shaine Cunningham Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley by Martine Murray Sweetblood by Pete Hautman The Grass Harp by Truman Capote The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers The Perks of Being a Wallflower*** by Stephen Chbosky The Quiet American and Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene The Realm of Possibility*** and Wide Awake by David Levithan The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Two Girls, Fat and Thin by Mary Gaitskill White Teeth by Zadie Smith (**one of my Favorite Teen Books Ever) For more book recommendations, please check out some of the great teen book lists prepared by the American Library Association. Can I send you my stories? I appreciate your wanting my opinion, and I wish I could* read all the stories by writers who ask me. Unfortunately, I get asked so often and it's just too big a task to read that much. But I thank you for thinking of me and recommend you search for a writing workshop group in your area - and if there isn't one already, start one! Giving and receiving critiques from a fellow group of writers is a great tool for allowing your work to grow. I need more help with my writing. Where do I go? Here are some resources for learning about the craft of writing and about publishing. TeenLit.com (GREAT resource for teen writers) Links for Writers from TeensPoint.org Superstar Author Holly Black's Writing Resources SmartWriters.com/Young Writers Creative Writing Tips for Teens from About.com Writer's Market - THE indispensable book for writers (updated annually) Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishing, Editors and Literary Agents