Are you a writer or do you dream of becoming a writer? When I was a kid, I wanted to write and illustrate books when I grew up (I also wanted to be a teacher, an astronaut, and a politician). But I didn’t just dream of writing. I spent a lot of time actually doing it. I wrote research articles for the newsletter my brother and I founded. I also wrote a lot of imaginative stories. Thanks to my mom, a couple of them still exist. So don’t just dream it–do it!






As a kid I used to like dressing up. A lot. And not just for Halloween. Here are a couple of examples. I still like dressing up. When I was a teacher, I dressed up at every opportunity. But these days it’s usually just on Halloween.

I also loved to draw and paint. I’ve always loved animals, particularly cats, and the cat above (front and center) is a classic example of how I drew cats. I actually still draw cats that look like that!