Where Do Ideas Come From?

During my classroom visits, I get asked all the time where my ideas come from and I honestly don't know. For one thing, I get ideas at the most oddball times... it's one of the reasons I always travel with a pen and paper with me- except when I drive and if you know how well I drive you'd know that's a good thing.
But what do you do when you can't think of any ideas? For instance, last week I couldn't think of one idea for this blog so I admit- I let last week pass by without one. But I think if the kids start asking me what I do when I can't think of idea I would honestly answer that I just wait. Get away from the computer, go do something else, forget about writing and 9 times out of 10 something will pop up. Like this blog- ten minutes ago I didn't have an idea and now- here it is.

When Back To School Is In The Air

It is true that both my children are in college. My son is a senior at Ithaca College and my daughter is a junior at Northeastern (you can see them singing with me at www.ibelivebunny.com). Even though I no longer watch them get on and off the school bus, it always feel like September is a time to start the calendar anew. The air is crisper and the days a bit shorter and it feels like its time to take a fresh look at things and jump back into work after the warm, summer months. When I do my Author Visits at schools, I encourage my students to always carry a Writer's Notebook with them just like I do. For me, these are one subject spiral bound notebooks I buy in a myriad of colors. I always wonder as I put them in the cart what will eventually be written on all those blank pages. Will the blue one be a book on oceans? Will the red one be a new book for the Cat in the Hat? Will the pale green one be a new story for The I Believe Bunny? As I stand at the check out line I watch moms with their kids holding pens, paper, and notebooks like mine. Soon those pages will be filled with notes, ideas, scribbles and squiggles. About what? We'll soon find out. It's a wonderful time of year.

When Children's Characters Jump from the Page to the TV Screen

Over the years, I've been part of the production team on a number of television shows that have been spun off of classic children's books. I was at Random House when we produced a Christmas special for HBO Family of "The Country Mouse and City Mouse". Not only did the book come to life onscreen, but it starred John Lithgow as the suave, sophisticated City Mouse and Crystal Gayle as the charming, sweet Country Mouse. I wrote three songs for the show that Ms. Gayle recorded and I was spell bound when she walked into the studio with hair that truly did sweep the floor! A few years later I became the Head Writer on "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures" which was a rollicking good time. Later, I was asked by Scholastic Productions to help bring the best-selling "I Spy" books to television. It was so challenging to duplicate Jean Marzollo's rhymes that we spent hours doing what she seems to do so easily. I was also part of the writing team for "Clifford" and "Clifford's Puppy Days" and am delighted that yet again that children's books that are near and dear to my heart, "The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library" have become a television series that begins airing this Monday, September 6th on PBS Kids. It's a thrill, to say the least.