So nice to meet you!

Hi, I’m Deb Sarah. I have to confess, I feel a bit naked and exposed standing up here on stage in front of you for the first time, knowing you’re looking me up and down and checking me out.

Oh my God… you’re staring at my thighs, aren’t you?

Quick, a distraction! Let me tell you about myself: I’m a former newspaper reporter and current mother of three young boys – essentially, the jobs are the same in many ways. My environment is messy and cluttered, people are always yelling about something, and I’m tempted to keep a fifth of whiskey in my desk drawer, just like those good old-time reporters (note to Child Protective Services: I don’t really keep whiskey there. I’m more of a chocolate martini girl. Vodka shots if it’s been an especially trying day).

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, when I penned the groundbreaking Miscellaneous Tales and Poems and confidently sent it off to publishers. I followed up with a letter on Raggedy Ann stationery, demanding to know when my opus would be gracing bookstore shelves. I never heard back – possibly because I never actually SENT that letter on Raggedy Ann stationery (surely the material was publishable, though. Surely). My young niece discovered the letter tucked between the pages of one of my old Nancy Drew books a few years ago, and I carried it in my briefcase like a talisman when I went to New York to meet with editors interested in my debut novel. For me, it’s the best reminder that dreams do come true (though Brad Pitt has yet to show up at my door in nothing but a loincloth and a toolbelt, asking if I need anything fixed. Perhaps it’s only G rated dreams that come true).

So, my novel (insert huge, goofy, still-can’t-quite-believe-it’s-true-grin here). It’s called The Opposite of Me, and it’s about fraternal twin 29-year-old sisters who couldn’t be more different — or so they think. It’ll be published on March 9, 2010 by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, under their Washington Square Press imprint.

Let’s see, what else might you want to know about me? I’ve got a website where I do drawings for a book and chocolate every month (yeah, that got your attention, didn’t it?) I love all animals, even ones that might bite me for no good reason. I think kids are funnier than professional comics. My minivan is so dirty that a 10-year-old boy once asked me if he could use a carseat so he didn’t have to sit directly on the seat. I adore books that make me both laugh and cry, and when I find something really funny, I tend to laugh so hard that I cry, causing my husband great confusion and the desire to go do something simple and manly, possibly involving a chainsaw.

I can’t tell you how honored I am to be a part of this sisterhood, and how awed I am by all the Debs that have gone before me. They’ve set the bar very, very high. I’ll do my best not to drag it down too much!

September 1st, 2009 | Posted by Sarah Pekkanen | 2009 Debs | 25 Comments