The Early Years
I grew up about 80 miles east of Dallas, in the small town of Sulphur Springs, Texas. And it was there, at Lamar Elementary, that I wrote the first story that I remember sharing with the public: The Ozzie Bros. Meet The Monsters (you can see and read the whole thing!). It was inspired in equal parts by Star Wars (recurring dialogue: "Let's get out of here!"), the Muppets, Abbott & Costello, and the movie-monster books I loved to check out from the school library.
I grew up with one older brother. Our mom taught high school French and Spanish, and our dad was an optometrist who died when I was eight. When I was a teenager, I loved writing with my friends, whether it was making up parodies of superheroes and soap operas or putting out an award-winning student newspaper.
It was that love of being part of a writing community that led me to the University of Texas at Austin, where I immediately joined the staff of The Daily Texan (and eventually graduated with a degree in history).
A few years later, I stumbled into another group of Austin writers — children's writers. Here's how that happened:
