There would be times when I got so much work that I didn't have time to write. School interfered with writing more than writing with school.

I loved Madeleine L'Engle as a child - 'A Wrinkle in Time.'

I do think, in general, children are so perceptive, and they watch and they get so much, and that's wonderful. And it's also difficult for them because they see so much, but they don't understand.

I was born on an even keel. Family lore says I never cried, even at birth. I felt at ease on earth, in the right place. And like many children, I took comfort in life's regularity: Every few days it rained, the school bus came and went, and my parents were rooted in their union.

Oh, I'm a pretty bad poet. This has been corroborated by others.

I researched children's rights, divorce law, and parental kidnapping. Millions of children and parents are touched by the inadequacy of the legal system to deal with the human heart.