Bestseller Laurie Halse Anderson Penned Speak and Fever 1973 for Teen Readers

Award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson, best known for "Speak" and "Fever 1793" visited with middle school students, where she shared her journey of becoming an author. Her newest book, "Prom," just debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List.

"When I was a kid, I had a hard time learning to read. I was one of those kids that got pulled out of class for extra reading support. Plus, I was always in the back of the room because I was tall, and my mind would begin to wander," said Anderson.

At some point, this and a particular quirk led her to write. "I also have voices in my head - voices that aren't mine. Characters show up in my head and start bugging me. If I write books about them, they go away and leave me alone. So really, I became an author because I was being nagged by imaginary people. And that sentence right there shows why it is unlikely I will hold any other job."

She said, "I thought everybody was like that for most of my life. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to only have my voice in my head. Wouldn't that be lonely?"

Anderson said she never liked school, except for History. "I got to high school, and I hated it. We were in a wealthy school district, but we were the poor family so I wasn't able to fit in. Some people will say they are the best years of your life - those people are lying to you." Plus, "I wanted to read books for fun. I didn't want to analyze them. But, History - History is the science of gossip. You're finding all about the business of dead people."

Anderson said people should do two things when graduating from high school - get a passport and leave the country. Anderson did just that, graduating high school early and then spending time on a Danish pig farm. "The pig farm was so much better than high school," she said.

At 18, upon returning from the pig farm, she realized she didn't want to pay for something she didn't like - school - and so she got a job at the mall. "If you need motivation to go to school, get a job at the mall. It was so boring. I was begging to go to college by Christmas."

Enrolling at a community college, she said she applied herself in classes because classes cost money, and she was frugal. She surprised herself by making straight A's, an accomplishment that "convinced me I was smart. I always thought I was sort of dumb."

From there, she attended Georgetown and, after graduating, eventually worked her way in to freelance writing and then on to authoring books. Working a day job, "Fever 1793" took her five years.

Anderson admitted, "When it comes to my own work, I'm fairly obsessive." And, "my first drafts are terrible. No one sits down and has it perfectly come out of their fingertips."

An eighth grade boy commented on "Fever 1793."

He said, "I thought it was a good book. It's about a great epidemic that happened in 1793 in the City of Philadelphia, and the epidemic was yellow fever. Mattie and her family are forced apart with the chaos of Philadelphia, and it was really hard times. I liked the History side of it. It kind of intertwined with what we were learning in History at that time."

Of the presentation, he said he liked "how she explained all of her thoughts and the process she went through with her books. She was really upbeat and enthusiastic." He said he was "surprised - I didn't expect her to be that eccentric."

Anderson described "Speak," which was made in to a movie for Showtime, as an "honest book about high school and what it's like to be depressed. Bad things happen to everybody, and it's very hard to talk about it when bad things happen. It takes a lot of sheer courage to speak up."

Anderson said she usually cries at one point in every one of the books she writes. "If you are caught up in the emotions in a book, usually the feelings have come from something in that author's life."

An eighth grade girl said "Speak" is "geared more toward teenage girls because I think teenage girls can relate to it more. It's about this girl going through trials and tribulations. She's really an insightful character. It's a really dramatic book that you get hooked on easily."

Of Anderson, she said, "She brought a good presence to the audience, and she was interested in what we thought about the book. I liked how she explained to us how she comes up with the characters and their personalities. I imagined her to be kind of the way she was because authors have interesting imaginations. She was really nice. She communicated with the audience."

The girl said, "I've always wanted to write. She gave me more inspiration, and she gave me a wider view on the process of what goes in to writing a book and that helped me. She made me realize how much work you have to put in to write a book."

Although books take Anderson much less time to write these days, she said it is still so significant, "it better entertain me. Based on my family history, I have about 40 years before my brain turns to mush. I can write about a book a year now so God-willing I have about 40 more books in me."

Anderson's advice for aspiring writers:

1.) "Read everything you can get your hands on. Become a critical reader. Figure out what you like, what you don't like and why.

2.) Write. Don't make excuses about how you don't have time. If you care enough about it, you'll make time, even if it is only ten minutes a day.

3.) Be courageous and strong enough to revise your work.

4.) Be nice to your parents. If you are trying to make a living in the arts, you're going to be living in their basement for a while."