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

I should be concentrating on writing pages.

Well, when I was 13, for my bar mitzvah I received my first typewriter. And that was special.

I'm obsessed with radio. It's a good start to Sunday morning.

It's my job, too, to keep up with pop culture and what the kids are into 'cause you don't want to sound like an old man trying to write for kids. I spend a lot of my time spying on them.

Most fears are basic: fear of the dark, fear of going down in the basement, fear of weird sounds, fear that somebody is waiting for you in your closet. Those kinds of things stay with you no matter what age.

At least I can write.