Allow me to congratulate you on your very astute powers of observation.

The draft that finally goes to my editor doesn't get into her hands until I have read it out loud innumerable times - sometimes into a tape recorder - to make sure that it sounds right.

Magic is always impossible.... It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it's magic.

Love!' said the princess. She stamped her foot. 'Why must everyone always speak of love?

No one cared what she wanted. No one had ever cared. And perhaps, worst of all, no one ever would care.

Mercy Watson was a character that had been in my head for a long time.

The funny thing is, when I've gone through the relentless editing process, my editor and I are amazed the Mercy Watson books still make us laugh. The same jokes that made us laugh the first time around still make us laugh in the 16th rendition.