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Holly Cupala
Bio
My first documented story (my mom can verify) was about a doughnut, who, when devoured by a hungry canine, took a roll, er, stroll through the dog's stomach, which—conveniently—was in the form of a town with pizza street, candy street, cookie street…you can tell where this is going. Even then, my first grade teacher predicted that I would be a writer. Or a good kisser, since that was my general strategy for acquiring boyfriends. (Personally, I'm glad the writing thing panned out, because I prefer kissing only my wonderful spouse.)
I wrote a bunch more in elementary, middle school, and high school, the height of which included two novels: Stolen Love and Playing the Field, two teen romances written long before I actually experienced teen romance (haunting poetry, of course, followed the real life ones). My friends read them page by page, risking everything—or at least detention—and spurring me further. Yes, I still have them. No, you may not read them.
Somehow, while I was in late high school and early college, I got this idea in my head that to be a real writer, I had to write something meaningful (read: completely depressing) for adults. I think this may have had something to do with my completely depressing boyfriend (whew, again, a close call). So I put away my dog stories and fairy stories and crazy Irish rebel stories and…didn't write anything but term papers. For a long time. Because suddenly there was all this pressure, and I completely lost the joy of writing.
During that time (here's the credentials part, for those who care), I studied Comparative Literature as an undergraduate and then a graduate while secretly working on a picture book (which, sadly, is still languishing in my files), all the while trying to think of the subject for my Great American Novel. Between those two ventures, I met my now-husband, who pestered me to take a workshop in finding my calling. I finally did, where I (duh) realized that I really wanted to be writing for young people. So I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), found some fellow writers to critique me, wrote a lot of bad stuff, got better, and even started writing some stuff good enough to be published (credits include Cricket, Spider, and Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul II. I received an SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant for Tell Me a Secret (then titled Brimstone Soup), met my awesome agent, and he sold the novel to our top choice right here at HarperCollins!
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