My insides still turn over when he looks at me that certain way.

I was sick all the time, one exotic illness after another, which lasted throughout my twenties. My worst decade. But from the day the first book was accepted, I never got sick again. Writing changed my life.

I can't let safety and security become the focus of my life.

Its all about your determination, I think, as much as anything. There are a lot of people with talent, but its that determination.

I love to talk with children. I try to visit schools but it's hard for me to travel when I'm trying to write. Some authors are able to do both.

Why are we acting as if we're angry. Are we angry?

It didn't happen in the 70s. So I had a whole decade when I was writing these books and maybe there was a little bit here or there but there was no big effort to ban books.