Without peanut butter, I might starve.
Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret.
I like one hair, tuna fish, the smell of rain and things that are pink. I hate pimples, baked potatoes, when my mother’s mad, and religious holidays.
We must, we must, we must increase our bust.
She wondered if all the firsts in her life would go by so quickly, and be forgotten just as quickly.
Why are we acting as if we’re angry. Are we angry?
When I was growing up, I dreamed about becoming a cowgirl, a detective, a spy, a great actress, or a ballerina. Not a dentist, like my father, or a homemaker, like my mother – and certainly not a writer, although I always loved to read.
My insides still turn over when he looks at me that certain way.
Moms come up to me at book signings.
Something awful happens to a person who grows up as a creative kid and suddenly finds no creative outlet as an adult.
But if you aren’t any religion, how are you going to know if you should join the Y or the Jewish Community Center?
My characters live inside my head for a long time before I actually start a book. They become so real to me, I talk about them at the dinner table as if they are real. Some people consider this weird. But my family understands.
Its all about your determination, I think, as much as anything. There are a lot of people with talent, but its that determination.
My mother was my greatest fan.
I wanted to write honest books for kids because I didn’t have those when I was a kid.
The only thing that works with writing is that you care so passionately about it yourself, that you make someone else care passionately about it.
You’ve got to enjoy whatever you can and forget about the rest.
Do not let anyone discourage you. If they try: get determined, not depressed.
When I started to write, it was the ’70s, and throughout that decade, we didn’t have any problems with book challenges or censorship.
Nothing teaches you as much about writing dialogue as listening to it.