People say, 'What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?' I say, they don't really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they're gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.

Normally, I spend a week on the outline and take two weeks to write the book.

I've had a very sheltered life. What can happen to you if you stay home writing all day?

Read. Read. Read. Just don't read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different styles.

Well, I hate it when authors come into a school and they say to kids, 'Write from your heart, only write what you know, and write from your heart.' I hate that because it's useless. I've written over 300 books - not one was written from my heart. Not one. They were all written for an audience, they were all written to entertain a certain audience.

Sometimes it helps to scold yourself, to give yourself advice.

Making my class laugh and getting in trouble. I was the class clown.