Q. Do you write everyday?

I try to get up every morning at 5 or 5:30 and write while my family is still asleep. I like working at this time because the house is quiet and for much of the year it's still dark. I feel most creative at this time, maybe because I've been doing this for nearly a decade now! Then I often write at other times throughout the day. I need to write everyday. If I don't, then I feel as if something is wrong.

Q. Why do you write for kids?

I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't plan to write for kids. It's just something that happened. I feel very connected to the 12-year-old voices I use in TALL TALES and NO CREAM PUFFS - probably because that was a very powerful time in my life. I remember clothes I wore, ways I felt, things people said to me. I remember where my desk sat in sixth grade, what I liked to eat for lunch, how it felt to have that first boyfriend. And so writing from a 12-year-old's voice feels natural, not forced.

Q. Where do you get your ideas for your books?

My books are a melting pot of personal experiences, imagination and stories I've heard that I've then twisted and turned. When I was growing up I played little league baseball with all of the boys in Indiana, just like Madison in NO CREAM PUFFS. I had a crush on one of the other boys who played and I worried about getting beaned (as Madison does). But I didn't have a dad who abandoned the family nor do I have an older brother. Like Meg in TALL TALES, I wanted to be a writer and have a best friend, but we didn't move around every couple of years. But that's what's so fun about writing fiction. You make things up!

Q. Do you have a favorite character?

I like them all, but I'm pretty partial to Madison. She's a lot like how I was as a kid, out riding her bike all over town, in love with Lake Michigan, a good athlete, trying to figure out the social rules. But in many ways I think she's a lot braver than I ever was!

Q. When you sit down to write a book, do you always do it the same way?

When I start on a draft, I try and always go forward. I don't like to go back and rewrite until I'm finished with a draft, even if it's full of holes. Some books just pour out of me, such as a still unpublished novel called TREADING WATER. I thought of this book while running on a treadmill. I jumped off, started writing, and stayed with it until I finished four months later. Other books, like NO CREAM PUFFS, take so much longer. Sometimes I'm in agony trying to pull it out of myself.

Q. What do you do when you get stuck?

I make myself sit in my seat and get something on the page! Afterward, I like to go running and think about what I'm writing. And I love to drive and listen to music. There is something very calming and inspiring about driving. I always carry a notebook with me in case I think of something. If I have a thought and don't write it down, I might forget it.

Q. What advice do you have for kids who want to be writers?

Write, write, write. Write in a journal and/or a notebook. Record your thoughts and feelings. Record conversations. Make up stories. Write for school newspapers. Enter short story contests that you find through writer's web pages. And read. Read everything you can until you find something that interests you. Fiction? Nonfiction? Mysteries? Fantasies? If you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader. The two go hand in hand. Learn to be critical when you read. How does the author set up the story? What works and doesn't work? Learn to pull the story apart to see how it's put together