Hi. I'm starting a new set of blogs, along with the agent-editor interviews. When authors "break-out" (which should probably have a copyright symbol beside it with an ode to Donald Maas) meaning they hit a best seller list after some years of writing, I think its worth hearing about them. So to kick off this subject--please welcome Alyson Noel

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So how does it feel to BREAK OUT, as they call it in publishing? (again bow to Donald Maas)

Surreal, amazing, and definitely a dream-come-true moment! The day after EVERMORE was released and my publisher informed me it had gone into another printing and had a shot at the New York Times Bestseller list—I could hardly breathe! Then as the week progressed it went into two more printings and made the Bookscan, Borders, and Ingrams bestseller lists. At the same time, A TV option we’d been negotiating for the last three months seemed to be nearing a conclusion, so I spent most of the week glued to my computer and phone waiting for updates. And so, in the tradition of watched pots refusing to boil, the one day I’m forced to leave the house for a dental appointment is when all the good news came in! On my way to the dentist I learned that Spring Creek Productions and Warner Horizon had optioned the rights to all five books for a TV series, and I was literally in the dentist’s chair, mouth full of instruments, when my editor called to tell me I’d debuted at #3 on the New York Times Children’s Paperback list! (And yes, I answered the call—my hygienist is a kind and patient woman!). Then by the time I got home I learned it hit #84 on the USA Today bestseller list—and I nearly fainted!! Needless to say, a lot of champagne was consumed that night!
 
Could you tell us a little about your writing life--how you got started? Your agent tale, and ultimately, selling to houses?
 
The moment I finished reading Judy Blume’s, ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET, in the sixth grade I knew I wanted to be a writer too. But aside from really bad poetry penned in junior high, short stories written in high school, and the odd writing class taken as an adult, I mostly just talked about writing rather than actual doing it. It wasn’t until the events of 9/11, when I was working as a flight attendant in NYC and figured a career change might be in order that I finally got serious and enrolled in some online writing courses where I worked on expanding a short story I’d written a long time ago into a novel. It was through that class that a fellow student led me to my then agent, and after revising the book one more time, he sold my debut novel, FAKING 19, in a two-book deal to St. Martin’s Press.  So, all in all it took around 2.5 years from seriously sitting down to write to the first sell.

How will this affect your life? It’s said 75 % of writers still work a day job---will this new success permit you to write full time, if you aren’t already?
 
I’m not really sure what, if anything, will change, other than I get to put New York Times Bestseller next to my name (which, trust me, excites me beyond belief!). But I’ve been writing full time ever since my airline offered voluntary furloughs a few years back. And, in the grand scheme of things, the laundry will still have to be done, the dishwasher unloaded, the trash taken out, deadlines met . . .so I’m just enjoying the rush for as long as it lasts!

Tell us about your books, what inspires you?
 
I love writing in the young adult genre because I have a real affection for those years. I love how they’re so full of dichotomies: wanting to fit in versus wanting to be your true self, wanting to break free from your parents yet liking the security of home—those years are chock full of possibility and struggle and so ripe for story telling!

As for the inspiration behind EVERMORE, well, a few years ago I lost a three people I loved in five horrible months, and just when the dust began to settle from that, my husband was diagnosed with leukemia and it felt like my entire world was crashing down. A year later, when he was in full remission, I wrote SAVING ZOE and CRUEL SUMMER, both of which explore the subject of grief and unavoidable change. But when it came time to write my next book, I realized I wasn’t finished exploring those themes, though I wanted to do so in a much different way by giving it a paranormal twist and pushing the boundaries between life and death, and the story of EVERMORE came pouring out of me
 
 
Breaking in, let alone breaking out is so very difficult in publishing? How did you persevere and what kept you hitting the keys?
 
In the beginning it was a mixture of pure stubbornness, complete naivety, and a total aversion to the word no! Seriously. I was so green, I had no idea what I was up against, but I just kept plugging along, determined to see it done. Though I have to give my husband the bulk of the credit—he served as my number one cheerleader/dark cloud eraser, always boosting me up whenever I was tempted to quit!

And now: Well, I just love what I do—I love telling stories that, hopefully, readers will connect to. And while it requires a lot of time alone, a lot of time away from family and friends—I can’t imagine doing anything else!

Bio:
Alyson Noël is the New York Times and USA Today best selling author of: FAKING 19, ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS, LAGUNA COVE, FLY ME TO THE MOON, KISS & BLOG, SAVING ZOE, CRUEL SUMMER, FIRST KISS (THEN TELL)- an anthology, and the IMMORTALS series including: EVERMORE (Feb 09), BLUE MOON (Aug 09), and three more titles for 2010.  Her books have won the National Reader’s Choice Award, NYLA Book of Winter Award, TeenReads Best Books of 2007, Reviewer’s Choice 2007 Top Ten, and appeared on the CBS Early Show’s “Give the Gift of Reading” segment. Her titles have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Hungarian, and Romanian. She lives in Laguna Beach, CA with her husband.