I felt like I had to be conscious of myself as a girl for the first time. I had to be more feminine. I had to look a certain way. And it's something that you want to suffer in silence, but I would go onto movie sets and they would bring out bras that were basically binders, because there were continuity problems between months.

I didn't want to be a former child actor for the rest of my life, although in some ways I suppose I am. I am going to be that.

The thing is, with writing, it's form or content. You need to write about something interesting or you need to write about it in an interesting way.

I'm in my late 20s, and people are coming around to it again. I think they're realizing how much this stuff affects them. I think all the time about how much Judy Blume affected me, or Beverly Cleary. And I think that now some people are starting to come around and get more of an appreciation for [my stuff].

Children change a lot in terms of personality. Camaraderie that you feel with somebody might not be there a year later. That group might not have the same chemistry. So I completely understand why they're rushing into it, because they probably feel like they have to.

It's easier to see children as mini adults than it is to imagine or to remember what it is to be a child again.

Of course I didn't have a boyfriend then. I didn't even have a camp boyfriend then [at age of 13].