Second, there are so many magical places in books that you can't go to, like Hogwarts and Middle Earth, so I wanted to set a story in a place where children can actually go.

If I was a book, I would like to be a library book, so I would be taken home by all different sorts of kids.

I don't like to eat the same dish every day, so I read very different things.

My grandmother told stories; she was very good at that.

That first writing session, what Dan Hill calls a creative blind date, is always a real challenge, and you bring that back to your partner when you return to writing with them.

When I auditioned for Tim Robbins for 'Cradle Will Rock,' the young girl who read with me was very young, and I said to Tim, 'I'm sorry, but I don't have enough imagination to pretend this girl is my husband!' And he said, 'Well, I'll read it with you.' Which was very nice; he was the director. And I ended up getting the part.

Many of the best teachers I know are being laid off because their unions value seniority over intellect, passion, creativity, and drive.

I have a vision of artists putting into film, drama, literature, music, and paintings great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon.