My First Publication Was A Haiku In

All My Books Take A Long Time To Research. I Spend Several Months Researching Before I Start Writing, And In The Middle Of Writing I Often Have To Stop And Look Up Stuff. At My Local Library, I Am One Of The Best Customers! The Research Takes Several Months.

I Do Think That Part Of Literature's Job Is To Comment On And Participate In The Social Issues Of The Time.

I Used To Sit Home With My Computer And Write. After The Newbery, I Probably Spend More Than Half My Time On The Road.

My First Publication Was A Haiku In A Children's Magazine When I Was 9 Years Old. I Received One Dollar For It! I Gave The Check To My Dad For Christmas, And He Framed It And Hung It Over His Desk.

Each Of My Books Has Taken Me A Different Length Of Time To Write - Eight Months For Seesaw Girl, Eight Months For Shard, Three Years For When My Name Was Keoko! The Publisher Takes Another Year And A Half To Work On The Book, So Altogether Each Book Can Take Up To Three Or Four Years To Publish.