I write stuff for a living. Mostly novels for young adults and kids, but also grown-up stuff, short stories, essays, journals, and overly ambitious to-do lists.

Before I wrote stuff for a living, I spent ten wonderful years as a high school English teacher.

I have three daughters and one son.

I knew I was going to marry my husband halfway through our first date.

I was a vegetarian in high school, except that I hated vegetables. So a more accurate description is that I was a mozzarella stickatarian.

My great-great uncle killed John Dillinger outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Our family sold his gun at auction in 2009 for a modest sum.

My mom's sister is married to my dad's brother (yes, it's legal, and it's more common than you think, especially in Chicago, which is a very small town that just so happens to be inhabited by three million people.).

My favorite poem in the whole world is William Butler Yeats's "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven."

My favorite poem in this particular moment is Yu Xiuhua's "Crossing Half of China To Sleep with You."

I read about a book a week.

One of my greatest goals in life is to visit all fifty states. I've got eight left to go. So if you own a bookstore in Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Utah and are interested in doing an author event, LET'S TALK.