I've been influenced by poets as diverse as Dylan Thomas, Lewis Carroll, and Edgar Allan Poe.

Then I decided to draw from and on my own imagination, and everything came out perfect.

I'm mostly influenced by life, what's around me, and my own childhood.

I'm working now on a collection of Shakespearean sonnets, about 100 of them, that I may publish if anyone's interested. My take on life is a little different from the bard's.

When I began writing, I didn't read any other children's poets... I didn't want to be influenced until I'd found my own voice. Now I read them all.

I accept challenges, I have always done that in writing.

We all need ways to express ourselves, and poetry is one of mine.