Daniel Hayes' books have already established a tremendous following. His books have already won many awards and honors, including three Best Books for Young Adults citations from the American Library Association, the International Reading Association Young Adult Choice, and many more.

Recently I spoke to the 53-year-old children's book author, who told me that getting published was his biggest challenge. He offered  some advice and spoke of his career.

Rose DesRochers:  At what age did you become interested in writing?

Daniel Hayes: It wasn't until college that I decided I wanted to be a writer (to the amusement, I suspect, of some of my professors). I remember rereading books like Huckleberry Finn and Great Expectations and being so amazed by them. I'd read these books when I was younger, but at the time I didn't realize how clever, how intelligent, and how funny writers like Mark Twain and Charles Dickens really were. I read plenty of books and studied writing styles so that I could become one of these people - a writer. It was years before I really developed my own voice, meaning my own style of putting ideas into words. After I finished my first book, The Trouble with Lemons, a story told by 13-year-old Tyler McAllister, friends would read it and say things like, 'That's really amazing! It sounds just like you.' Perhaps what's more amazing (other than the fact that I sound like a thirteen-year-old) is that it took so long for me to learn how to sound like myself.

What was your first big break as a writer? Tell us about your journey to become a published author.

My first break came when I was able to land an agent. I had written two books, and waiting to hear from publishers was taking forever. I decided I could speed things up by getting an agent and I didn’t realize just how difficult that could be. After about 15 agency rejections — most saying things like, 'After you become established as a writer, we’d be happy to represent you' --  I received a note from one saying he liked the sample I sent him and he’d be willing to read one of my books. I sent him my first, which luckily, he liked. After what seemed like a long six months, he had found me a publisher.

How many rejections did you get before you found a publisher?

I’d say around a dozen or more. After I landed an agent, the rejections started coming faster and faster because my manuscript wasn’t sitting around publishing houses in the huge pile of unsolicited manuscripts. This enabled me to find a publisher faster, but it was a little discouraging at the time as I’d open an envelope from my agent and it would contain three rejection letters. I remember one editor asking my agent about his wife and kids, and then launching into the blunt observation that my characters were amateurish and that he needed to tell me about psychological reality. Evidently her psychological reality was different from mine. I can live with that.