I stay in contact with kids, and that is a lot of fun for me, not only to get their letters but to meet them in schools and see that the books really have engaged their hearts and imaginations. That's what makes it so worthwhile.

Once you're imagining being the main character, and you're having the conversations and actually being there, the magic in fiction writing takes over.

So much of writing is discovery. Sometimes I feel like a rat in a maze, trying to discover the way out. My little heart is beating, and I'm racing down a path thinking, this is the route, it will get me there, as I turn this way and then that.

One day I get to that spot where I've discovered the secret to the maze, and then I've got free running the rest of the way. It's a great feeling.

An image often propels the novel, gets it started. For me, it's an image that has a lot of emotion connected to it.

Some of the best things that have happened in my stories have happened seemingly of their own accord. The writer becomes a listener, just writing things down as they come.

Dreams aren't practical, but we can't live without them.