Thinking about it now, I'd also bet that math classes helped me get used to working through a problem step by step--you see, I was always horrible in math, and thought I was just plain bad at it. But after a couple of years of college I decided that I wanted to minor in Math just to prove to myself that I *could* do it. It didn't come naturally, but I ended up enjoying it (yes, actually enjoying it!) and I learned to be patient and pick something apart according to the rules I'd learned. And really, that's the same thing I do in writing, when I switch to rewriting mode. I'm a terribly messy, by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer, so I have to work hard to get my mss into a readable shape.
It's funny; nowadays I can neither translate a French poem nor solve an equation above high school level, but I can write a novel. Who'd a thunk it?
SR: 10. Can you discuss any current or future writing projects?
AM: I'm doing rewrites on a novel due out in fall of '05, called BEATING HEART. It's half from the point of view of a teenaged boy, and half from the point of view of a dead girl. I'm currently finishing up a first draft of a novel tentatively called NIGHT ROAD, which is about vampires, although I hate to use that word because they're not vampires, really.
SR:11. What do you see as the biggest problem facing today's young people?
Wow, I have no idea. Maybe it's that the older generation tends to see them as a group rather than as individual people with individual problems?
SR: 12. Do you see a benefit in using your initials instead of your full name?
I use my initials because I don't want to be dismissed by any reader who doesn't want to read girly books. And because I view my books as being separate from me; once they're out there, they have to stand alone. They're public property, and aren't related to my private life, my family life. You know, I'm just a middle-aged suburban mom sitting around in my ratty old shorts from Target, trying to avoid doing the
