How Cecilia Ahern Got Her Start

Posted on January 2, 2008

Bestselling author Cecelia Ahern is best known for her novel, P.S., I Love You, which is now a film starring Hilary Swank, but she is also the co-creator and producer of the ABC show Samantha Who? starring Christina Applegate. Cecelia discusses how the show came about.

I want you to tell me your secrets of success.
With "Samantha Who?" [ABC's] head of comedy development, Amy Hartwick, got in touch after reading "P.S., I Love You." And she asked if I'd like to do a TV show. I knew she'd liked the way I wrote the stories I'd told, and the positive side that comes through, and all my stories about women on journeys about self-discovery -- but every week? So I came on the idea of someone who knows nothing about themselves. . . . I figured out [Samantha] was a terrible person too. That's the twist. She figured out she was a horrible person.
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I left college to write the book. I got my degree but -- and my mom and dad were like great, brilliant, write a book. I had a story to tell for myself. I think a lot of parents would be: "Do something where you get paid, do a proper job." They're very open-minded and that's been very helpful. I could have gotten embarrassed and put my pen down and gotten a job that I'd hated.
Did your father ever worry about what you might write?
No -- he knew I was writing fiction. I told him all along what I was writing, but it was a very private thing. I wrote "P.S., I Love You" in three months. I hibernated and wrote all night and slept all day. They just let me go with the flow. . . . It was a funny time looking back on it. When I got my book deal I rang him up and told him and he said, "What's it about again?" And I said, "It's fiction, don't worry, I'm not revealing any secrets."

Ceclia's father is the prime minister of Ireland, so it's only natural that he would be wondering what she was writing about. But Cecilia's books aren't of the Mommie Dearest sort at all -- she actually gets along quite well with her parents. Her latest book is There's No Place Like Here.