A little about me:
Paragraph Version
I grew up in Sanford, North Carolina, in a small house with a big square driveway where I used to spend hours bouncing a ball and making up stories. I would usually tell these stories quietly to myself, so to anyone walking past, it looked like I was talking to an invisible friend. (For what it’s worth, only one neighbor ever said anything about this to my parents—and she was very old and spent a lot of time looking out her window. We both had unique hobbies.)
When I wasn’t making up stories in my driveway, I was having adventures with my brother and the other neighborhood kids, usually on our bikes or in a tree. I also loved to read, and I still do.
I should say that my childhood wasn’t all reading, story-creating, and adventures. I also watched more TV than I was supposed to. And fought with my brother sometimes. And grumbled about doing my chores.
But I have always thought there’s nothing quite like falling under the spell of a good book. (I still remember the maximum number of books the town library allowed patrons to check out in one visit: eight. So I would check out my eight books, read them as quickly as I could, return them, and get eight more.)
I’ve also enjoyed writing for as long as I can remember. My parents and many great teachers encouraged my writing, and starting at a young age, I dreamed of growing up to write books for kids. I feel pretty lucky that now I get to do just that!
After spending several years living in Brooklyn, New York, I now live in New Jersey with my husband and two daughters. We have a dog named Sadie, who likes to interrupt my writing by chewing our shoes and asking to go outside about one thousand times a day. But we love her anyway.