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

Do you all have a living room floor or a bedroom floor? Then you can write a book.

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

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?

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

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.

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?