Name: Deb Caletti

Age: Real life: 51. In my head: 37. On bad days: 14.

College & Majors/Minors: Communications/Journalism

Current Location: Seattle

Current Form of Employment: Writer

Where do you work and what is your current position?

Officially: Award-winning author and a National Book Award finalist whose books, He's Gone; Honey, Baby, Sweetheart; The Last Forever; The Secrets She Keeps are published and translated worldwide.

Unofficially: I work at home in my pajamas, writing books for adults and young adults. I have to put on real clothes when I go on tour.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

Being a writer isn't exactly a job you "find." It sort of found me, when I was about seven. It never left. After having various jobs and then two children, I got serious about the dream and the craft of writing. Since I studied journalism, I had only taken one creative writing class in my life. I was an avid reader, however, and all the books I ever read - good and bad - were my teachers (and still are). I wrote one book and was able to get an agent. Four books later, we got a three-book publishing deal with Simon & Schuster that launched my career.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

I worked for an adult education company, and did quite a lot of PR-related writing.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

Read lots and lots of books. Had life experiences that I could bring to my later fiction. Practiced writing stories and plays. Got encouragement for those stories and plays, even though they seem pretty silly now. Tried to be bold. Experienced rejection and realized I could live through it.