I write because I must. I can't stop. Part of that is purely practical and selfish. Writing keeps me from taking the stacks of prescription drugs any psychologist would happily prescribe if I admitted everything that's wrong with me. I can write myself out of a depression and into a place of possibility. I like being in my writing cave. Personal therapy aside, I write for children because I believe in that unknown delight just around the corner, behind the next bush...and I believe in sharing delight when you find it. And because I need to feel a childlike hope that the world holds potential for good, when the horror of real life seems too big. I believe all children need that. Big people, too, if they would admit it. Which is one of the reasons I love fantasy, that most symbolic of genres. Fantasy is not escape, it's distance on reality, a chance to step back and see what's possible, without getting sucked into the boredom and bleakness of grown-up views on wh...