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I was an A student and I liked creative writing.

I loved reading and writing, and teaching was the most exalted profession I could imagine.

I used to want to be a children's writer, because I would have all these great ideas when I was little, and I'd write them and draw them, and turn them into class.

Like most people, I was not able to start selling my stories right away. So I had many other jobs along the way to becoming a writer, including toy maker, gravedigger, cookware salesman, and assembly line worker. Eventually, I became an elementary teacher and worked with second and fourth graders.

I had the most incredible English and literature teachers in school, and it really influenced my love of storytelling. It's what made me excited to study journalism in college. I love editorials and documentaries. All of that came from being given the opportunity to lose myself in good writing when I was a kid.

I loved teaching. It was my world. I only left because I was overwhelmed with three careers - teaching, writing, and my family.

I wrote as a kid, but I never wanted to be a writer, particularly. I had been drawing and painting for years and loved that.

The core of my career is my teaching and my writing.

I took an MA course in creative writing a couple of years back, and I was definitely in the bottom of the class.