What makes you want to write a poem instead of another kind of writing, like an essay or a letter?

For me, poems are like photographs. I get an urge to capture a thought or a feeling, but instead of taking a picture, I write a poem. Other artists choose different ways to explore their ideas. For example, painters make paintings, composers write music, and dancers choreograph movement. The creative impulse to explore an idea is the same, but the expression can happen in infinite ways.

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Where do you get your ideas?

Sometimes ideas come from my own life experiences, like being an exchange student in The Secret to Belonging. Other times ideas come from things I see or read about. The idea for ALONE came after my daughter and I read the novel Island of the Blue Dolphins and then researched the real "Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island" in our Mother-Daughter Book Club. I kept thinking about her living alone on the island, and I wondered what might happen if a modern-day seventh grader was left behind in a Colorado town. Then the idea for AWAY came from readers asking questions about the evacuation and the imminent threat in ALONE. 

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How long did it take you to write ALONE?

I started writing the book about eight years before Simon & Schuster/Aladdin decided to publish it. Not every book takes that long to write, but it took me time to figure out the best way to do it. I first wrote it in prose and third-person voice. Then I revised the whole thing and rewrote it in verse and first-person voice. That felt much better.

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What are your favorite books to read?

I like to read many different genres. I especially love fiction, memoir, history, and mystery. I listen to a lot on audio, and I always have lots of books stacked around the house. I had to get more bookshelves because my husband was afraid the tower of books on my nightstand might topple over and crush me. 

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What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Besides reading, you mean? I love to travel, and wherever I go, I explore until I find a local bookstore. I always buy at least two books (one book of poetry by a local poet and one other book I'm excited to read). Then I take a picture of the store so I can remember it. I have a collection of bookstore photographs from all over the world.