Alison Pace is the author of If Andy Warhol Had A Girlfriend, Pug Hill, Through Thick and Thin, and City Dog. Her new novel A Pug's Tale was released today. Congratulations, Alison! To celebrate and to get to know her better, we asked Alison about how she started her writing career. Enjoy!

What was your favorite book(s) when you were a child? I was a big fan of Where the Wild Things Are, Little Women, and Little House on the Prairie. After that, pretty much I wanted to read anything that came my way.

When did you start writing? The first story I remember being very into, and proud of, was when I was in third grade. Then I wrote all the time, journals, series books about horses, overwrought poetry, second-person essays were big with me, too.

What kind of writing did you start with? (short stories, poems, articles, etc.) See above, but once I got serious about writing as an adult, I started with novels. I think all of the forms are very different...I just spent a few years writing essays. I thought they'd be easier, shorter. So much more challenging for me than novels.

When did you decide to become an author and how did you know it was the right career for you? Oh, I don't think I ever decided, I think I just wrote my first book and thought, you know, I like this, and I'm going to try and get an agent and see if it could get published. I never really know if being a writer is the right career choice, but it's by far the thing I am best at, so I keep trying and keep writing.

What was the most challenging part of starting a writing career? What was the best part? Worst part: The not-knowing. Best part: knowing that people read and love and are sometimes very touched by my work.

Describe what it was like to see and hold the first published copy of your first novel. Were you relieved, excited, anxious? How did you celebrate the launch? It was awesome, lovely to hold the first book. It's lovely to hold any book for the first time. There's a terrific feeling of "wow, I did this." Friends had a big party for my first book launch...I like a big party very much and it was a wonderful night...all my friends were there.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? Keep writing! Believe in yourself. Ignore all the people who tell you it's impossible; it's really not.
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What do you think of our interview with Alison? Be sure to leave a comment to let us know and pick up your copy of A Pug's Tale. Alison will join us again later in the week to answer our 20 Questions. Stay tuned!