| Interview with Deborah Reber |
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted
to be a writer?
I actually didn’t put it all together until I was about 28 years old. While working for Viacom in children’s
television, I went to a career seminar over lunch called “Managing Your Career,” and we did this cool exercise
where we had to visualize our ideal work scenario. I had a very clear image of a life where I was working from
home, writing books and articles, and just generally enjoying life. I was able to make that vision a reality about
six years later, and now that I’m writing fulltime, I couldn’t be happier!
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I worked at a number of jobs I video and TV production after I graduated from college. Then in 1998, I got a
job at Nickelodeon, where I managed special projects for the hit preschool series, Blue’s Clues. Part of my job
was coordinating the publishing of Blue’s Clues books with Simon & Schuster. After managing other writers
and editing their work, I decided to pitch one of my own ideas to one of the show creators, and she liked it.
That book ended up becoming my first published book, Weather Games with Blue. I’ll never forget how
exciting it was the first time I went into a bookstore and found my book on the shelf.
About a year later, I decided I wanted to write a book about running for women and girls, and so I figured out
how to write up a book proposal and get an agent. It was a long process, but I managed to sell that book
idea, and shortly after it was published, I realized that I liked writing books much better than working in
children’s television (by this time I was working at Cartoon Network), so I quit my day job to give it a go. I’ve
been writing full time ever since.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
My newest book, In Their Shoes: Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers is the book I wish I’d
had when I was a teen trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I profile 50 women about their
careers, and we get a real inside glimpse at what it’s like to be in that job. What I loved the most about writing
this book, and what I think makes it a great read and resource, is that all of the women I profile are so
incredibly passionate about their work and they love what they do so much that even if you’re not reading
about a career field that necessarily interests you, you can still take away great insight, advice and
inspiration from each and every profile.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
This might sound kind of weird, but I think that a lot of why I write books for young adults is because I’m trying
to “heal my inner teen.” My teen years were really challenging, fraught with insecurity and self-doubt, low self-
esteem and confusion… just like they are for teens everywhere today. In overcoming my own leftover teen
baggage, I’ve had a lot of moments where I’ve wished that I had known about this idea or that way of thinking
when I was teen...how it would have made life much more bearable. So I write these books to share that
insight with young women today in the hopes that it gives girls everywhere useful tools for surviving the teen
years.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
I grew up with my mom, dad and older sister in Pennsylvania, and I’m still extremely close with all of them. I
talk to my mom a couple of times a week and my sis almost every day. Unfortunately, I now live 3,000 miles
away from my family… my parents are still in PA, and my sister lives in Baltimore.
Me? I’m all the way out in Seattle, where I live with my husband, Derin, and our little boy, Asher. Derin is a
web designer, so we both work from home and our offices are about 25 feet away from each other…we have
lunch together just about every day, and help each other out when we need it. My son, Asher, is almost three
years old, and he keeps me very busy. He’s extremely silly, fun, probably has a better vocabulary than I do,
and thankfully loves to read. I especially love reading Blue’s Clues books with him that I wrote…it’s nice to
experience a book with him knowing that the ideas that came from my head eight years ago are now making
a connection with him!
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Ooh… tough question. I’d have to say… a turkey-burger with mac and cheese on the side. Or maybe cheese
fries. No, scratch that. Strawberry flavored-Twizzlers. Yeah…definitely the Twizzlers.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
I go to the bathroom, check my email while brushing my teeth, and go into my son’s room to give him a big ol’
good morning hug.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me
the most?
How organized and de-cluttered I am. I go on frequent clean, purge and organize missions. I’m constantly
reorganizing my closets and storage spaces and getting rid of anything if I’m keeping it for the “wrong
reasons.” I read a book once about “clearing your clutter with Feng Shui,” and I definitely believe that objects
we hold onto have “energy” associated with them. So if I’m holding onto a huge stuffed animal that was given
to me as a gift twenty years ago out of a sense of “guilt,” I’ll clear my clutter and let the guilt go away right
along with it!
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you
could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Wait… I want to answer the tree question! I would be a Ceibo tree… it is the most incredible, tall, beautiful,
strange looking tree I’ve ever seen. It’s the official tree of Guatemala. Look it up and see for yourself!
Okay…onto the color question. I would definitely be green. Not only is green my favorite color (in just about
every shade), but it’s also a color that denotes “calmness,” and this is a quality I’d like to have in just about
every situation.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
I definitely loved Speed Racer as a kid… he was so CUTE, cool, and drove fast cars. Which cartoon
character is most like me? Hmmm, I’d have to say Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls because of her can-do,
go-get-em attitude.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
Tough question. I love New York City and learning about it’s history, so I think I’d love to see it in the 1800's ..
when Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park really was a meadow for sheep, and horse-drawn buggies made up
the traffic on a dirt and grass Park Avenue. Wouldn’t that be cool to see?
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re
writing?
I have very eclectic taste in music. Some favorites are the Indigo Girls, Frou Frou, Imogen Heap, Badly Drawn
Boy, 80’s dance music, Oingo Boingo, the soundtrack from Rent, and John Mayer. I don’t usually listen to
anything while I’m writing, but I do listen while I’m running, and it’s during those runs that I solve a lot of my
writing problems, so it definitely factors in.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you
saw at the theater?
Favorite TV shows… definitely! I’m a reality show junkie, and I love American Idol, Amazing Race, The
Apprentice and So You Think You Can Dance. I also never miss Grey’s Anatomy, ER, 24 and Lost. My
favorite movies are John Hughes classics like Some Kind of Wonderful and Pretty in Pink, A Room With a
View and Woody Allen’s classic Crimes and Misdemeanors. Last movie in a theatre? Hmmm…that’s going a
ways back. I think it must be Dreamgirls. (I definitely need to get out more!)
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Know that everything happens for a reason. When challenges arise, there is always the potential that
something positive can come from it, even if it’s hard to imagine at the time.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I’m working on a new nonfiction book for teens about how to de-stress their lives. It should be a good one!
Again, thanks for joining just at TeensReadToo.com!
to be a writer?
I actually didn’t put it all together until I was about 28 years old. While working for Viacom in children’s
television, I went to a career seminar over lunch called “Managing Your Career,” and we did this cool exercise
where we had to visualize our ideal work scenario. I had a very clear image of a life where I was working from
home, writing books and articles, and just generally enjoying life. I was able to make that vision a reality about
six years later, and now that I’m writing fulltime, I couldn’t be happier!
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I worked at a number of jobs I video and TV production after I graduated from college. Then in 1998, I got a
job at Nickelodeon, where I managed special projects for the hit preschool series, Blue’s Clues. Part of my job
was coordinating the publishing of Blue’s Clues books with Simon & Schuster. After managing other writers
and editing their work, I decided to pitch one of my own ideas to one of the show creators, and she liked it.
That book ended up becoming my first published book, Weather Games with Blue. I’ll never forget how
exciting it was the first time I went into a bookstore and found my book on the shelf.
About a year later, I decided I wanted to write a book about running for women and girls, and so I figured out
how to write up a book proposal and get an agent. It was a long process, but I managed to sell that book
idea, and shortly after it was published, I realized that I liked writing books much better than working in
children’s television (by this time I was working at Cartoon Network), so I quit my day job to give it a go. I’ve
been writing full time ever since.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
My newest book, In Their Shoes: Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers is the book I wish I’d
had when I was a teen trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I profile 50 women about their
careers, and we get a real inside glimpse at what it’s like to be in that job. What I loved the most about writing
this book, and what I think makes it a great read and resource, is that all of the women I profile are so
incredibly passionate about their work and they love what they do so much that even if you’re not reading
about a career field that necessarily interests you, you can still take away great insight, advice and
inspiration from each and every profile.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
This might sound kind of weird, but I think that a lot of why I write books for young adults is because I’m trying
to “heal my inner teen.” My teen years were really challenging, fraught with insecurity and self-doubt, low self-
esteem and confusion… just like they are for teens everywhere today. In overcoming my own leftover teen
baggage, I’ve had a lot of moments where I’ve wished that I had known about this idea or that way of thinking
when I was teen...how it would have made life much more bearable. So I write these books to share that
insight with young women today in the hopes that it gives girls everywhere useful tools for surviving the teen
years.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
I grew up with my mom, dad and older sister in Pennsylvania, and I’m still extremely close with all of them. I
talk to my mom a couple of times a week and my sis almost every day. Unfortunately, I now live 3,000 miles
away from my family… my parents are still in PA, and my sister lives in Baltimore.
Me? I’m all the way out in Seattle, where I live with my husband, Derin, and our little boy, Asher. Derin is a
web designer, so we both work from home and our offices are about 25 feet away from each other…we have
lunch together just about every day, and help each other out when we need it. My son, Asher, is almost three
years old, and he keeps me very busy. He’s extremely silly, fun, probably has a better vocabulary than I do,
and thankfully loves to read. I especially love reading Blue’s Clues books with him that I wrote…it’s nice to
experience a book with him knowing that the ideas that came from my head eight years ago are now making
a connection with him!
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Ooh… tough question. I’d have to say… a turkey-burger with mac and cheese on the side. Or maybe cheese
fries. No, scratch that. Strawberry flavored-Twizzlers. Yeah…definitely the Twizzlers.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
I go to the bathroom, check my email while brushing my teeth, and go into my son’s room to give him a big ol’
good morning hug.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me
the most?
How organized and de-cluttered I am. I go on frequent clean, purge and organize missions. I’m constantly
reorganizing my closets and storage spaces and getting rid of anything if I’m keeping it for the “wrong
reasons.” I read a book once about “clearing your clutter with Feng Shui,” and I definitely believe that objects
we hold onto have “energy” associated with them. So if I’m holding onto a huge stuffed animal that was given
to me as a gift twenty years ago out of a sense of “guilt,” I’ll clear my clutter and let the guilt go away right
along with it!
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you
could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Wait… I want to answer the tree question! I would be a Ceibo tree… it is the most incredible, tall, beautiful,
strange looking tree I’ve ever seen. It’s the official tree of Guatemala. Look it up and see for yourself!
Okay…onto the color question. I would definitely be green. Not only is green my favorite color (in just about
every shade), but it’s also a color that denotes “calmness,” and this is a quality I’d like to have in just about
every situation.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
I definitely loved Speed Racer as a kid… he was so CUTE, cool, and drove fast cars. Which cartoon
character is most like me? Hmmm, I’d have to say Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls because of her can-do,
go-get-em attitude.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
Tough question. I love New York City and learning about it’s history, so I think I’d love to see it in the 1800's ..
when Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park really was a meadow for sheep, and horse-drawn buggies made up
the traffic on a dirt and grass Park Avenue. Wouldn’t that be cool to see?
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re
writing?
I have very eclectic taste in music. Some favorites are the Indigo Girls, Frou Frou, Imogen Heap, Badly Drawn
Boy, 80’s dance music, Oingo Boingo, the soundtrack from Rent, and John Mayer. I don’t usually listen to
anything while I’m writing, but I do listen while I’m running, and it’s during those runs that I solve a lot of my
writing problems, so it definitely factors in.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you
saw at the theater?
Favorite TV shows… definitely! I’m a reality show junkie, and I love American Idol, Amazing Race, The
Apprentice and So You Think You Can Dance. I also never miss Grey’s Anatomy, ER, 24 and Lost. My
favorite movies are John Hughes classics like Some Kind of Wonderful and Pretty in Pink, A Room With a
View and Woody Allen’s classic Crimes and Misdemeanors. Last movie in a theatre? Hmmm…that’s going a
ways back. I think it must be Dreamgirls. (I definitely need to get out more!)
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Know that everything happens for a reason. When challenges arise, there is always the potential that
something positive can come from it, even if it’s hard to imagine at the time.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I’m working on a new nonfiction book for teens about how to de-stress their lives. It should be a good one!
Again, thanks for joining just at TeensReadToo.com!
