When I was in third grade, I wanted to be an actress. By the time I was in seventh grade, I discovered I had a bad case of stage fright.

So I became not an actress, but a writer.

As a writer, I pretend to be the characters in my stories. Some days I’m a dragon, other days I’m a bear. Some days I’m seven, and other days I’m seventy.

Here are a few of my favorite characters—

A 5-year old who loves to pretend but is afraid of starting school—“Who Shall I Be Today?” in the September 2006 issue of Dragonfly Spirit.

A student trying to remember important information—look for the article “A Good Way to Remember” coming soon in Hopscotch.

An eight-year old battling a grape soda explosion—“The Secret Ingredient” in Children’s Hood.

Here are some other characters I’ve written about—

Paige saving the library from the jaws of an ending-eating raccoon (Edgy Wallop and the Endings).

Sarah deciphering the clues in an old letter (Sarah’s Search).

Nico and Riff-Raff the giraffe setting out to rid the woods of ogres (Ogres, Ogres, Stay Away!)

When I’m not writing, I’m reading—reading about hundreds of characters and their adventures.