How many books have you written?

I have had 100 books published so far. My first was A Big Day for
Scepters, which came out in 1977. You can see the whole list under
my Complete Bibliography.

Where do you get your ideas?
My ideas come from a lot of different places ­ my imagination, my
experiences when I was young or even ideas inspired by other books.
I pretty much do all of my writing in an office in my house.

Do you ever get stuck when you're writing?

Not if I can help it. One thing I do to avoid having that happen
is to skip all around a story if my ideas in any one part are running
out. Another thing I do is to knowingly write something dumb just
so that I can keep going. (I always try to remember to fix the dumb
parts later).

Do you ever start writing something and then decide
it isn't any good?

Of course. But taking a deep breath and experimenting with an idea is
part of the writing process. It's perfectly fine to decide that a story
isn't working. I just put it aside and start something else. (If I'm lucky,
I'll figure out a way to use parts of the discarded story in something else.)

Why do you write so many different kinds of books?

I don't know. I do know that every story fits best into one format, so,
for example, it's not good to stretch a picture book idea into a novel
­ or cram a novel into a picture book. When I first think of an idea, I'm
never sure what kind of story it will turn out to be. I guess I just happen
to have a lot of different-sized ideas.

Does it take a lot of discipline to write?

I'm not sure if "discipline" is the right word (and besides it's tricky to
spell). Writing is hard and fun at the same time, and writing children's
books is the best job I can think of having. So if I didn't do it, I'd
have to do something I'd like less. That certainly helps keep me focused.

What's the longest book you've ever written?

The Wilder Summer is the longest at 164 pages.

What's the shortest book you've ever written?

Well, even my shortest books are still 32 pages, but My Loose Tooth
has the fewest words - 170.

How long does it take you to write a book?

It all depends on the kind of book. Generally, I spend 4-6 months on all
the drafts of a picture book or easy reader. A chapter book tends to
take longer, anywhere from 6-9 months. However, I do work on more
than one book at one time.

What's your favorite kind of book to write?

I don't have any one favorite. I really like the variety. Being able to try
so many different kinds of books has helped me stay enthusiastic about
every book I write.