For the record, Judy Blume is one of my writing heros, as is Beverly Cleary and Shel Silverstein

'So you write children's stories?' I am trying very hard to think of somebody who, upon learning that I write, has not asked that question. Nobody (well, mostly nobody) has been condescending, rude, or trying to belittle me. In fact they seem genuinely curious and interested.They must be, because more often than not, the person has found out what I do with my time from somebody else, not me. Yet I find it awkward. And can't shake the feeling that nobody asks this question to Richard de Nooy or Louis Greenberg - both of whom are, to the best of...