Author Cassandra Clare Visits CBS SUNDAY MORNING Today

Bestselling young adult author Cassandra Clare says she writes books that she would have read as a teenager in an interview with Serena Altschul for CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH Charles Osgood to broadcast today, August 18, 2013 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.

"I think I'm writing for, like, the imaginary me," Clare tells Altschul. "You know, like, I'm writing the book that I would have wanted when I was 17 years old."

Clare's books have been translated into more than 30 languages and there are more than 24 million of them in print today. On August 21, 2013, a movie version of her novel City of Bones is set to hit theaters.

Clare, whose real name is Judy Rumelt, started writing City of Bones in a tiny Brooklyn closet that served as her bedroom. She worked at the Hollywood Reporter during the day and wrote the novel when she was off. The inspiration for her first book came from walking around New York City after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, she tells Altschul.

"It felt like New York was at war," she says. "And I remember thinking... how I kind of wished there was a magical race of people who could protect the city. You know? And I think that was where I got the first idea of maybe I could create a world in which there were these - sort of - Supernatural protectors."

Eight books later, she now lives in Massachusetts with her husband and three cats. When she's not writing, she designs dresses, she tells Altschul.

"I write every day, and I write to a word count, usually," she tells Altschul. "And then only when I'm done with the words can I, like, knock off and do whatever I would do with my life."

Altschul's interview with Clare will be broadcast today, August 18, 2013. CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

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