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When were you born?
I was born on 30 October 1955 in San Francisco, California, and attended Lafayette Elementary School in San Francisco. Then my family moved to New York City, where I attended William H. Carr Junior High School. This is a school picture of me from my junior high school days. After that we moved to Houston, and I went to Westchester High School and on to Rice University.What would you do if you weren't a writer?
I wanted to be a paleontologist when I was in first grade. But what I actually wanted to do was go on adventures searching for dinosaur bones all over the world, and then write books about those adventures - so I really wanted to be a writer even then. When Dinosaur Hunter was published by HarperCollins and Time Travel Trap was published by The Fiction Works, I finally got to realize my dream of writing about the excitement of finding dinosaur bones.Why do you write?
I write to make sense out of my life, and out of the world around me. I write to explore new ideas, and I hope my readers will explore those ideas along with me. I want my books to make readers question their assumptions and consider new ideas. But mostly I write because I have ideas and characters in my head who are clamoring to be let out. I write because I have to write those ideas down and give those characters life. I write because I can't not write, any more than I could not breathe.Why do you write for kids?
Some grown-ups have asked me if I'm going to start writing for adults now that I've been published for kids. Well, I have written for adults -- Creating Characters Kids Will Love shows adults how to write for kids. And I started out as a journalist in Houston. But I found I prefer writing for kids. I wanted to write to challenge readers to question their assumptions, and I discovered that a lot of grown-ups don't want to question their assumptions. They've made decisions, and they want to feel comfortable with them. But kids are still finding out who they are, like I am, I guess. They're the perfect audience for me, because they want to consider new ideas in order to decide for themselves which ideas they agree with and which they don't, and how they want to live their lives.
What do you like to do other than write?
I like doing jigsaw puzzles. I live near a small lake, and I like watching the water, and looking at the ducks and geese and herons. I also like feeding the squirrels and chipmunks. I used to love gardening, but my allergies got worse and worse, and I ended up sneezing and wheezing so much that I had to give it up. I still like looking at other people's gardens, though - from a distance or through a window. I like traveling. I've lived in California, New York, Texas, Indiana, Montana, and even in England for a year. I like playing computer games on my Mac almost as much as writing stories on it. Here I am, playing on my Mac, with a tyrannosaurus buddy (I was serious about wanting to be a paleontologist!). I also like to read. I read kids' books and adult books, both fiction and nonfiction. I enjoy reading biographies, and I like history. I also like to read mysteries and scary books and realistic adventure stories.Why do you write ghost stories?
I write ghost stories because I love history. Sometimes when you read a textbook, history can seem kind of dull, because it seems to just be a lot of names and dates. But all those names were real people, with real problems. When I make one of them a ghost who interacts with a modern character, I hope readers will see that the names in the history book were real people, and will become as interested in the kids and adults who lived in the past as I am. I also hope that readers will think about the ways history can impact on the present: your family's history, your nation's history, and even prehistory.Who inspired you to be a writer?
My father used to tell me stories while we went for walks. I loved his stories and I wanted to make up stories that were as good as his. This is a picture of the two of us getting ready to go for a walk. See how small I was? I couldn't even write yet! But I could make up stories already, and my father told me what good stories they were. I guess you could say that he inspired me, even though he didn't realize he was doing it. My parents thought I should grow up to be a doctor.Did you have brothers and sisters to play with, and make up stories with?
No, I was an only child. One of my writer friends recently suggested that maybe I made up stories so I could have someone to play with -- the characters in my stories might have been my imaginary friends. I didn't think of it like that while I was doing it, but maybe I did. If so, I'm still making up those characters (or imaginary friends) today. So if anyone tells you you're too old for imaginary friends, don't believe them.Did your teachers encourage you?
I had one teacher in high school, Mr. Reveley, and one teacher in college, Dr. Huston, who both encouraged me. Most teachers just wanted me to do homework. Dr. Huston taught English, so it makes sense that he would be a good mentor, but Mr. Reveley didn't. He taught physics and calculus, and he still took the time to read my stories and encourage me. So don't expect your teachers to inspire you only in the classroom. They can surprise you by thinking about you and wanting you to become good at what you enjoy doing, even if it doesn't have anything to do with the class they teach.How can I become a writer?
You should read lots of different kinds of books and think about what you like about each one, and what you don't like. You should write every day. This could be writing a story or a poem, or writing in a journal. And you should never give up. Lots of grown-ups told me I would never succeed at being a writer because it was too hard. But my husband told me to follow my dream and to work at it with everything I had in me. I did that, and you can do it too.
Are there questions you would like to ask me? Please do! E-mail me with your questions, and I'll try to include answers to them the next time I update this page.
