"I actually sat down and started three Alexanders at the same time. Two of them went in the trash and..." — Judith Viorst

A rebel. That was me when I was younger. What was a rebel from New Jersey? A rebel was moving to the Village, not sleeping with top sheets, not eating a hot breakfast in the morning, not having 20 rolls of toilet paper and 10 boxes of Kleenex.

My first published writings were trying to take scientific concepts and make them clear for a general audience.

I not only wanted to write when I was 7 and 8, but I sent stuff out when I was 7 and 8. I sent it out... and I couldn't believe that they would turn down my poems about faithful dogs.

It's very hard when I've seen a couple of people very beloved in my life with terrible degenerative diseases.