(Guest post by Marcy Dermansky)

Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson is one of the books that made me want to be a writer. I loved everything about it so much: the writing; Anne, the teenager protagonist; the complicated relationship with her mother. I loved the cover. I wanted to be able to create something like that. Basically, all of the short stories I wrote in my early twenties were about sad beautiful girls wanting more, and there it was, perfect in a book.