Once 'Walk Two Moons' received the Newbery Medal, I decided to write full-time. Partly because there seemed to be an audience out there who wanted to read what I wanted to write, and partly because I could now support myself financially through writing.

I cannot just write a frivolous book, a la-di-da book. Everything isn't la-di-da. There is something that's going to pull you up short. I want to reassure young readers. I want to comfort them, to not fear the unexpected.

A person isn't a bird. You can't cage a person.

As readers can probably tell from my books, I love the outdoors.

And what did I think when I was small and why did I forget? And what else will I forget when I grow older? And if you forget is it as if it never happened? Will none of the things you saw or thought or dreamed matter?

Read a lot, live your life, and listen and watch, so that your mind fills up with millions of images.

Life is like a bowl of spaghetti. Every once in a while, you get a meatball.