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.

To me, family is everything. I want children to realize how important their families are and what a support system a family is.

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.

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

I have no special talent, you know. I never took a writing course before I began to write.

If you have a friend, things are better than if you didn't have a friend.

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