I’m starting a new feature. Every Wednesday, we’ll chat with a Young Adult or New Adult author. Today our guest is Shea Berkley from Entangled Teen.

Welcome to Chris Cannon Writing and Ranting. When did you start writing?

I’m not exactly sure when I started writing. Probably around five or so. Before that I was basically an oral story teller, though I did shy away from complex sentence structures due to my inability to talk. (sigh) Okay, I’ll be serious, but just so you know, that’s not nearly as fun for me. 

 I developed an interest in creative writing in high school that translated into being an English major in college. Nothing I wrote back then was really from my heart. Then, one day years later, after a fairly stressful day with the little fallen angels I had birthed, I decided to write down a scene I’d dreamt about the previous evening. That dream expanded until I had a novel length story on my hands. No one was more surprised than me that I wrote it, or that I enjoyed the experience.

How long did it take you to sell?

 Years, like somewhere around ten, give or take. Before I finally sold, I’d been close to selling too many times to count. No joke. This business is crazy, and I don’t believe a thing anyone tells me until it’s in contract form. Period. It’s never a done deal until it’s a done deal.

How did you sell (what’s your Call story)

My agent and an editor she had pitched my book to were on a conference panel of several agents and editors and they started talking about my book (an epic fantasy), which the editor’s son loved and told his dad he’d be crazy not to buy, and my agent sold the book right then and there in front of the whole crowd. I was told by a friend who’d attended the conference the place went nuts seeing a deal go down right in front of them. It’s a pretty cool story.

Have you ever had any fan-girl moments when you met a favorite author?

I’m not really into the whole “idol worship” thing people do with movie stars or their favorite authors. I admire many writers, but I’m not particularly gushy. I just tell them straight up, “I love your work,” and then move on…though I have had a few strange encounters with Nora Roberts that I won’t share to save myself from complete and utter embarrassment.

Do you have a book coming out? When? What’s the title, genre, etc.

 THE FALLEN PRINCE, the second in the Keepers of Light series which is a fantasy, is my most recent release, along with a compilation book of faery tales in the villain’s point of view called, ONCE UPON A TIME: THE VILLAINS. The last in the Keepers of Light series, THE RISING KING will be coming out the summer of 2014.

What’s your go to comfort food when writing stresses you out?

This sounds incredibly cliché, but Chocolate is a daily necessity for me when I’m writing. Peanut M&Ms, Toblerone, Dove caramel filled chocolates, Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hostess cupcakes (they’re back and I’m so excited! You seriously have no idea how excited I am)…so yeah, I could name tons more, but I’ll just leave it at those so you don’t think I’m a total fatty.

Walking Dead or Dancing with the Stars?

Walking Dead all the way. It’s an amazing series, well written and the acting is awesome. I nearly fainted when a friend of mine suggested there was really only one emotion on that show. You have to be deaf, blind and brain dead to think that…um…but I totally respect his opinion, and we’re still friends, at least we will be when he apologizes and changes his opinion. J