Many times in my life I've been upset about something and said to myself, "Will this matter in two years?" Not even in two months.

Revision is the heart of writing. Every page I do is done over seven or eight times.

I loved teaching. It was my world. I only left because I was overwhelmed with three careers - teaching, writing, and my family.

Sometimes when I visit schools, kids will interview me for the school newspaper. They ask me questions and my answers tend to go on and on, and they try to write down everything I'm saying as quickly as they can. And one day, a kid holds up her hand and said, 'Do you think you could just answer 'yes' or 'no?' Aren't kids wonderful?

When I sit and talk with a person, I'm not always paying attention. I'm looking at the person and saying, 'What is it about his or her life that appeals to me?

All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school.

I'm still writing in my old age. And still loving it. It fills my days. Writing is my salvation. I just get up in the morning, and I'm in this world that I scratch out and begin again and write over - and then suddenly it's lunchtime, and I'm back.