I love that when you're writing your mind is sort of figuring things out on its own, without you directing it.

I don't think about it that much, but sometimes I am surprised by that. I sometimes wonder why I didn't turn out to be the kind of picture-book writer who has stuffed animals that go with their books. That would be okay with me.

In some ways I'm very structured.

I do like to be surprised.

Some of it just involved thinking about, for example, the different kinds of science, what chemistry is.

If I could make a career out of drawing little girls hiding in corners, I would do really well.

I creep over to my chair and sit there with my notebook and my thermos of coffee. It's my best time for thinking, because I haven't started thinking about anything else yet, and the thoughts can kind of go in and out of my head.