I had a great childhood. I think writers are always better off when they have more twisted childhoods, but I didn't.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I loved writing for kids, I loved talking to children about what I'd written, I don't want to leave that behind.
Writing was something I always as a kid thought would be fabulous and glamorous to be a writer.
I resisted children's writing for a long time. I saw myself as a writer of literary fiction. But I had so much more fun writing kids' books.
I was an only child with a lot of time to kill. I suspect a lot of writers are only children, or only children become writers because it's a way of being alone.
I've always been drawn to writing for young readers. The books that I read growing up remain in my mind very strongly.
I came from a family of incredible storytellers, but I didn't start writing children's books until I was 41 years old.
As is said about most writers, on the one hand, all I ever did from when I was a child was read, and I was a loner, which was furthered by my parents and my upbringing. On the other hand, the more I read, the more I felt this well-known fissure between me and the world.
I didn't know anything about writers. It never occurred to me they were regular people and that I could grow up to become one, even though I loved to make up stories inside my head.
You're meant to have an unhappy childhood to be a writer, but there's a lot to be said for a very happy one that just lets you get on with it.
When I was a child, writing was the worst possible choice of a career in my family. My father had always identified himself as a writer to my mother when they met. When they met, he was writing this great novel, there was no doubt about it.