A Real Person with Real Problems

Question:

Omigod your books are the greatest!! I could live with only two things: an Alice book and a comfy chair! Your books are so real its shocking! I find a lot of the time I am thinking about the book and picturing me in the book, or thinking what would Alice do right know or even pretending I am Alice if you know what I mean. The thing I love about Alice is that she is like a real person with real problems. Not like all those fairy tale books were everyones life is perfect! Now i do have some questions for you that I would love if you could answer!  How long does it take to right an alice book? do you have to edit them a couple times? where do you come up with the ideas for your books? Is it some thing that randomly pops into your brain or do you have to think about it for a couple days? And one more question: What was the age group intended for the books? I am 12 and I love all the books from start to end! Please please please reply and never stop wrighting! The Alice books are truly the best books in history!

Question:

Wow!  The best books in history?  I’m delighted you love them so much.  The Alice books are read by people of all ages, even grandmothers, even guys, but are probably most popular among girls 12 to 17.  Still, I get mail from college girls who take the whole series to college with them.  I get ideas from my own experiences, things that happen to other people, that I read about, but mostly out of my imagination.   It takes about six months to write an Alice book, a shorter time period than for most of my novels, because I know Alice and the setting so well.  I revise them about six or seven times before they become final.