Who are your writerly crushes?

I have two writerly crushes, and I was thrilled to actually spend time with one of them only last week! My favorite author is Bret Easton Ellis and I was fortunate enough to interview him when he came to Australia to promote his new book "Imperial Bedrooms", a sequel to the debut novel that made him a literary superstar 25 years ago, "Less Than Zero."

I was a bit nervous about meeting him but he was just the most lovely person you could ever meet: kind, funny and generous. He's even more of a hero to me now because he is so supportive of up-and-coming writers. It made me feel inspired about my work again and ready to dive back into another manuscript. It's so wonderful when your heroes turn out to be fantastic people. Meeting Bret was definitely one of the high-points of my life.

My other literary crush is the gorgeous, down-to-earth, regular joe Mr. Stephen King. I started reading King when I was nine and he has been an enormous influence on my work. I'll be in New York in a few weeks and we plan on driving to Maine to see his house! Tragic, I know. Is it wrong that I want to give him a cuddle?