I Was Behaving, Just Like

The World That Is In Me Is The Only World I Have By Which To Grasp The World Outside And As I Write Fiction, It Is The Chart By Which I Must Steer.

I Woke Up One Morning And Realized That What I Wanted To Say To Everyone - Children, Young People, Adults - Was: Read For Your Life.

Still, I Kept Writing. I Had No Guarantee That I Would Someday Win Awards For Writing. Heavens, The Only Person During That Time Who Seemed To Think I Could Write Something Worth Publishing Was My Loyal Husband. But I Always Remembered The Professor From Graduate School Who Urged Me To Write And Who Recommended Me For That First Writing Assignment In 1964. When I Protested To Sara Little That I Didn't Want To Add Another Mediocre Writer To The World, She Gently Reminded Me That If I Didn't Dare Mediocrity, I Would Never Write Anything At All.

I Love Revision. Where Else Can Spilled Milk Be Turned Into Ice Cream?

That Was The Rule That You Never Mixed Up Troubles At Home With Life At School. When Parents Were Poor Or Ignorant Or Mean, Or Even Just Didn't Believe In Having A Tv Set, It Was Up To Their Kids To Protect Them.