'Focus and follow through'

 

“If TV's getting in your way of writing a book, then you don't want to write a book bad enough.” – Andrea Seigel

 

Born in Anaheim, CA on this date in 1979, Young Adult novelist Seigel grew up in California and then did her writing education on the East Coast (at Brown and Bennington).  She says she’s a great example of how an introvert can be successful in an extrovert’s world.  

 

The author of four novels, she also has become a successful screenwriter (her most recent being 2022’s “The Silent Twins”), and two of her books – The Kid Table and Everybody Knows Your Name – also have been turned into films.  She said that while she studied writing in college, her love of books began as a young girl. 

"I'd go to the library so I could sit in a big, quiet room and listen to pages being turned," she said.  "There was a boring librarian who everyone in fifth grade hated. But I loved her because when she would read us stories in her soft voice, she'd turn my head into a snow globe."