In 19 91, i went to mc dowell for the first time. That was the first artist's residency that excepted me. Since then, you have written over 30 books. These include picture books, books for young adults, books for adults and poetry. You're usually working on more than one book at a time. How do you develop the story ideas? When do you know that this is something i want to pursue for a book? Pretty early on, like, i have the idea for the story, and i have the characters voice. And of course it falls apart. I think a lot of my books are character driven. But i do have a sense of place and some