Dana Reinhardt
As a child
I hated wearing dresses. I kept pet rats. My father had to carry me out of Pete's Dragon because I was crying so hard; I was a big softie. The first book I remember reducing me to tears was Bridge to Terabithia. I cried for days but it made me want to be a writer, so I started my own book. I wrote eleven pages and then lost interest and I killed off all my characters in a massive earthquake. You might be able to tell from that last sentence that I grew up in Los Angeles, California.
As an adult
I wrote my senior thesis in college on the young adult novel, then went to work in a New York publishing house. I sat in a cubicle. Nobody knew my name. After that, I went to law school and spent three years figuring out that I didn't want to be a lawyer. So I started working in documentaries. I worked in this field for the next six years. Then I finally sat down and wrote my first book, A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life. Nobody dies in an earthquake.
As an artist
I like to write in the mornings. Lately, because I have two young children and the house feels chaotic even when they aren't in it, I go and write in the coffee shop around the corner. I was just selected customer of the week, which means I can drink all the coffee I want for free.
Things you didn't know about Dana Reinhardt
- I'm afraid of thunder.
- Until I was seven, I thought you were born without nostrils and a doctor would take a drill and bore holes in your nose.
- I found my dog on a beach in Mexico.
- I was asked to join a book club and then was kicked out before its first meeting.
- I hate all condiments.
- I was voted athlete of the year in sixth grade and promptly stopped playing sports.
- My best friend married my brother.
- My pediatrician predicted I'd be 5'11". I'm 5'2".
- My favourite album is Joni Mitchell's Blue.
- I spent a summer at a boarding school in England where I drank my first beer.