For In Some Ways The World Was

My Theory Is That I Decided To Be A Writer When I Was About Seven, But Of Course It Is Not As Simple As That. Like Most Writers, I Had To Work At Other Things To Earn A Living And Wrote Mainly In The Evenings, Often Very Late At Night, For Many Years.

If A Job's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Twice.

Writing For Young Children I Find I Often Use Particular Jokes With Words And Exaggerated, Funny Events, But Some Of These Haunt The More Complex Stories For Older Children Too.

Reading Is Very Creative - It's Not Just A Passive Thing. I Write A Story; It Goes Out Into The World; Somebody Reads It And, By Reading It, Completes It.

When I Was A Child I Had A Best Friend Who Lived Across The Road From Me. When Her Mother Died Unexpectedly It Was Like Losing A Member Of My Own Family. I Think I Am Still Affected By The Memory Of That Loss.