I grew up in Queens, New York, but now live in Northern New Jersey with my podcaster husband, film-obsessed son, book-munching daughter, two self-absorbed parakeets, and a well-behaved corn snake. After working in video post-production, children's entertainment, magazine production, and non-fiction writing, the time came to work on my dream job: writing YA fiction. I love world building and creating characters I wish I could meet in everyday life. Well, many of them, anyway; a few are a little too "off," and it would be better for them to stay within the realm of imagination. My muses include coffee, chocolate, and reading the work of authors who, to me, have something unique about their work. For example, I can read Barbara Kingsolver's vivid language over and over. Wally Lamb's characters haunt me. As far as the Young Adult genre goes, Stephenie Meyer did a phenomenal job with complex characterization in The Host. I admire the plotting Michael Grant has done with his Gone series, and I'm digging into Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games, finding the plot to be more satisfying than the characters at the moment, but I'm not too far in yet.  I want my own writing to leave readers longing to meet my main characters in real life, too. So far, Treehugger has gotten real nice reviews and I'm hoping the characters have something to do with that.