Erica Sussman Is a Morning Person: An Interview

When Cold Kiss sold, I had no idea how lucky I was that Erica Sussman, Senior Editor at HarperTeen, was the one who acquired it. Selling was awesome enough on its own, but then I figured out that Erica is funny, friendly, incredibly easy to work with, and an incredibly thoughtful editor who made Cold Kiss a much better book. She agreed to answer some "not hard!" interview questions just for fun. Read on, even though she cheated and skipped the first question entirely. I totally took points off for that.   

Me: What famous author from any period in history would you have loved to work with?

Erica: Umm…I have no idea, so I’m using my “skip” privileges. (What? I don’t have those? Yes I do. Because I said so.) Lalala. Moving on!

Me: What would you love to do if you weren't an editor?

Erica: My dream was always to run a summer camp. I had the best summers of my life being a counselor at a sleepaway camp, so if editing didn’t pan out, I’d try to head right back to that world.

Me: What's your favorite part of being an editor?

Erica: Getting to spend my days talking about and thinking about children’s books. Getting to work with authors. Getting to spend time with awesome colleagues as we all work together to put out the books. So basically: everything.

Me: What did you want to be when you were growing up? 

Erica: When I was really little, my dream was to become a professional jazz dancer. I’m not even quite sure what that means, but that was my goal all through elementary school. It’s probably a very good thing I did not pursue it past fourth grade.  

Me: What was your favorite book or author when you were growing up?

Erica: I was obsessed with The Baby-Sitters Club books. Loved loved loved them. I read them each a bazillion times and this year when my parents moved into an apartment and I was forced to clean out my childhood room, I packed all of the BSC books and brought them home with me. (I’m not sure my husband is quite as happy to have them around as I am…)

I also always loved The Twenty-One Balloons, which I still reread every so often. It’s pretty perfect, that book.

Sweet or salty? Salty!

Batman or Superman? Umm…Batman! I think? Yes. Batman.

Morning or evening? Morning!

Cowboys or pirates? Ha! Um…cowboys? I could never  hang out with pirates on their ship, I’d spend the whole time throwing up from seasickness.

Disney or Pixar? Tie!

Favorite song to sing aloud to in the car. “This Kiss” by Faith Hill. (True story: I got to this question and was like, “Oh no, I sing everything in the car!” but then this song just popped into my head. And I don’t think I’ve even heard it in years.) 

Favorite guilty pleasure TV show. Am I allowed to say Dawson’s Creek here, even if it’s been off the air for so long? Maybe that makes it more of a guilty pleasure now…

Favorite guilty pleasure snack. Cheese. Any kind of cheese.

Many thanks to Erica for playing along, especially as busy as she is!