Judith Jaeger

Unlike most writers, I wasn't much of a reader because of problems I had with reading comprehension. But once I decided to be a writer, I started to read, in order to learn about writing. Up until my sophomore year of high school, I'd mainly read Agatha Christie novels. So, I started my study of literature with something light'Anna Karenina.

I majored in English at Mount Holyoke College, where the demands of literature courses prompted me to train myself to read and comprehend what I was reading. I became an avid reader and received high honors for my thesis, a two-act play titled "Grandmother's Flower Garden." The play was produced at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as part of a drama festival.

After college, I worked for a couple of years as a reporter for the Southbridge Evening News, one of the smallest daily newspapers in Massachusetts, before becoming a writer and editor in the University Communications Office at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Driven by my dream to become a novelist, I enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt. I wrote "The Secret Thief" as my master's thesis and earned her MFA in January 2004.

Behler Publications accepted "The Secret Thief" for publication after approximately 70 rejections'far fewer rejections than I thought it would take to break into the publishing industry. I tell my students and the members of the writing group I run that if they're trying to get published and are sick of getting rejected, chin up. I'm proof it can happen. The best advice about writing and publishing that I received and that I can offer aspiring writers is'Persistence is everything.

Visit www.judithjaeger.com to read more about "The Secret Thief" and learn more about me, Judith Jaeger.