Write, write, and write some more. Think of writing as a muscle that needs lots of exercise.

How often is the passing of one storm only a prelude to another.

The main plot line is simple: Getting your character to the foot of the tree, getting him up the tree, and then figuring out how to get him down again.

Childrens books change lives. Stories pour into the hearts of children and help make them what they become.

All writers write about themselves, just as the old storytellers chose to tell stories that spoke to and about themselves. They call it the world, but it is themselves they portray. The world of which they write is like a mirror that reflects the inside of their hearts, often more truly than they know.

The magical story is not a microscope but a mirror, not a drop of water but a well. It is not simply one thing or two, but a multitude. It is at once both lucid and opaque, it accepts both dark and light, speaks to youth and old age.

Language helps develp life as surely as it reflects life. It is a most important part of our human condition.