I started thinking about [ what book is going to go next] when I was working on As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth.

Often they do go back and forth the whole way, and I don't know until the very end what the last line of the book is going to be. That was true here - the very last line of the book was the last thing that happened.

A long time ago, I had an idea to make a book for preschoolers who had older siblings who were going to school.

I had a general outline of subjects. The way I start my days is my husband brings me a thermos of coffee up to the bedroom.

I felt ten years old and a thousand years old, but I didn't know how to be my own age. I had never felt that way before, but now I feel like that a lot.

In some ways I'm very structured.

I remember when I was working on All Alone in the Universe, and Robin Roy was my editor. When I first sent it to her, she said kids this age don't want pictures in their books.