I do have trouble starting books. I have ideas that I have trouble starting to write. But I'm the kind of person who tends to finish everything she starts out of sheer stubbornness.

Kids are really tougher than adults, but we tend to forget this in an affluent society that lets kids indulge themselves.

To see what books were available for my older students, I made many trips to the library. If a book looked interesting, I checked it out. I once went home with 30 books! It was then that I realized that kids' novels had the shape of real books, and I began to get ideas for young adult novels and juvenile books.

It's so great to be able to write from home. My bread is rising downstairs, and I'm upstairs writing. I have a writing room that my grandchildren consider one of their playrooms.

I know it's a cliche, but I didn't want to work in an office.

If you spend your time away from work looking at emails and making sure your inbox went down to zero, that's not an effective way to spend your time as a CEO or an entrepreneur. Often times, those emails aren't that important.

Lone Gunmen' was my first job, and I got a little cocky, thinking I'm brilliant and don't have to work that hard because it comes so naturally.

I'm a hard-working girl. I go to the office. I work a normal 9 to 5 job most days.