After a brief, and at that time futile, attempt at writing picture books, I stumbled onto the contemporary novel for young people and knew I had found what I truly wanted to do. I sat down to try to write one. The main character, of course, was a twelve-year-old girl, the time in my life that had been most difficult for me.

Now my life is defined, in every way, by my writing. After twenty-eight years, I left my marriage, but that only made the writing more urgent . . . my means of support as well as my passion. I also teach part time in a Master of Fine Arts program in Writing for Children and Young Adults through Vermont College. For twenty years I lived with another woman, my friend and my partner, Ann, but now I am finding a life alone. And to my great delight, I now have grandchildren.

What else to say? Only that I feel profoundly blessed. Blessed to be able to do this good work and to provide myself a livelihood doing so. Blessed to have readers. Blessed to work with developing writers who love writing for young people, too. And blessed, all these years later, still to be able to mine both the pain and the delights of my childhood.