I use a computer, but before I begin each new book I keep a notebook. I write down everything that comes to mind during that period before I actually begin. It might take months or weeks. That notebook is my security blanket so that I never have to face a blank screen (or blank page). But I print out often and my best ideas usually come with a pencil in my hand.

I don't really know exactly how it happened but I don't like the idea that I would ever have said I'm going to write about racism or puberty or bullying.

That's my anxiety dream. I go to the library and all the books on my subject are out.

You think everything can be magically cured with vitamins?” “Everything but us.

Nothing teaches you as much about writing dialogue as listening to it.

I didn't know I was really a writer until I read it in the New York Times. And then I thought, "Oh my god, maybe I can really do this". That was a review of "Margaret."

When I started to write, it was the '70s, and throughout that decade, we didn't have any problems with book challenges or censorship.