The more you write, the more possibilities you see for stories in things that happen to you, that people tell you, that you read about in the paper, or just imagine. In one way, all of these ideas are a blessing. I never have to go searching for something to write about.
[...] The absolutely most favorite thing is the moment a character comes alive for me on paper, or where a place I am writing about suddenly seems real. There are no bands playing, no audience applauding. It’s a very solitary moment, but something akin to giving birth. “I’ve got it!” I say to myself, and from then on, the writing’s a joy.
– Newbery Medal-winner Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, born today in 1933