1. Have you always wanted to be a writer?

ME: Um…for a brief moment in time (ah, my young and foolish days) I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. This is mainly because I overdosed on episodes of The West Wing. When I realized 1. I would never be a valedictorian, 2. Harvard would not put up with me (or accept me, let’s be honest), and 3. That I tend to panic over important paperwork, I did some reevaluation.

2. When did you first start writing?

ME: I wrote my first novel in high school for my Senior Project. It’s still sitting under my bed but I hope eventually it will be on the shelves with my other works.

3. Why did you write an autobiography at the age of 19?

ME: I have an obsessive compulsive disorder called trichotillomania that has led me to pull out my eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair. I wanted to honestly discuss that as well as the major events that have shaped me into the person that I am. It’s not all doom and gloom, I swear!

4. How did you find the courage to write about personal stuff like depression, anxiety, and trich?

ME: At first, I pretended that the only people who would ever read it were my lovely editor and my mom. That made writing it easier. The scariest part was telling the people at Lewis & Clark because I feared that this would make me just as isolated in my loser status as I had been in high school. But then all these people started telling me that they pulled or that they knew someone who did. And I made some really amazing friends who knew my biggest secret and liked me anyway. So when I was writing the end it hit me that trich is honestly just one small aspect of my life that I had let rule me for way too long. And the more people I shared my story with, the less power it had over me

5. When is your next book coming out?

ME: AWKWARD will be released by KensingtonTeen in the spring of 2012. It’s a YA novel about how a high school girl tries to cope when her embarrassing moment goes viral and makes her an overnight celebrity.

6. Do you have a writing ritual?

ME: Yes. I stare at the screen and then procrastinate until I’m feeling nice and guilty. Then I start pounding away at the keyboard. Or hunt and pecking away, to be honest. My typing skills suck.

7. If you could meet one celebrity who wo–

ME: JULIE ANDREWS! Sorry, did I interrupt there? I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that Julie Andrews is lovely and talented and I have desperately wanted to meet her since elementary school. Plus she is so classy that evey now and then I daydream about meeting her for high tea in some really fancy hotel. “Why, yes, Julie, I would love a scone. And you?”

Except, I’d say something classier than that, hopefully.

Everyone should read her novel The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.

8. Who are some of your favorite authors?

ME: Well, besides Julie Andrews, I’m a big fan of Meg Cabot, Gordon Korman, Tamora Pierce, and about a gazillion romance authors, including Nora Roberts and Julia Quinn.

9. What has been one of your favorite college experiences?

ME: So many to choose from! But participating in The Vagina Monologues has to be in the top ten list. I loved the people who were involved and we raised a lot of money for some excellent causes. Plus for about a week afterwards my freshman year people would stop me to say what a great vagina I was. I think the cafeteria staff got the wrong impression of me.

You can check it out for yourself: Marni Vagina Monologue Here!

But I’m warning you: it’s pretty awkward.