Tag: writer
-
September 25, 2018
Kids ask me all the time which of the books I have written is my favorite. I try to explain that the books are like my kids, and it is impossible to pick a favorite kid. But sometimes a kid (or an adult) will ask which of my characters is my favorite. And when this…
-
September 13, 2018
I did an interview not that long ago which started with the interviewer saying, “You’re such a prolific writer.” I said, “Am I? Gosh, I never think of myself as prolific.” “How do you think of yourself then?” “Slow,” I said. “I think of myself as a very slow writer.” * This morning I came…
-
February 22, 2018
I dreamed a few nights ago that I was standing next to a famous writer. I can’t remember who the writer was; but in any case, I took her hand and said, “I have to tell you the truth. A single sentence of yours saved my life.” I remembered that dream this morning as I…
-
August 1, 2017
When I started sending stories out into the world, I got a lot of rejection letters back. Most of the rejections were just form letters. But every once in awhile, someone would include a personal note. It is impossible to overstate just how much those notes from a real, live person mattered. They gave me…
-
July 27, 2017
Here is another treasure I have unearthed in the cleaning and sorting of the basement: my Disney nametag, complete with my “year pin.” I worked at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center when I was young. I was stationed, mostly, in the giant geodesic dome, Spaceship Earth. And there, the whole world passed before my eyes.…
-
June 13, 2017
When I was at the Sydney Writers Festival, I listened to George Saunders talk about how much he (as a third grader) was influenced by Esther Forbes’ novel, Johnny Tremain. So when I got back from Australia, I searched my (very unorganized) shelves and found my childhood copy of Johnny Tremain (cover price: 95 cents).…