List Version

I grew up in a small town.

My mom was a pediatric nurse. She painted pink clouds on my bedroom ceiling.

My dad was an editor, teacher, and librarian who brought home the best books for my brother and me to read.

Charlotte’s Web is one of my very favorite books of all time.

When I was a kid, I used to spend a LOT of time making up stories while I bounced a basketball in my driveway.

I don’t like coffee, but I love coffee ice cream.

I have a husband and two daughters who make me laugh, ask me brilliant questions, and give me ideas for stories.

I believe I am an amazing singer. Strangely, though, no one else has ever commented on this.

I try to write almost every day, but some days I feel like all I do is open and close the back door for the dog.

I am terrible at the board game Clue.

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.