My office is on the second floor and is a converted spare bedroom. It’s very square and compact, but everything’s pretty much within reach. My workspace is a corner desk with one side against the window wall and another jutting out into the room, like a peninsula. I get the morning light, which I prefer for writing. Outside the window I see a field of straw-yellow grass with a pump jack methodically pumping oil, and a view of the Budweiser plant. I’m not much of a beer drinker, but I do like the smell of the wafting hops.

My days have been less structured since I moved to Fort Collins, Colorado (AKA Fort Fun) where it’s very active and outdoorsy, and I’m finding things I’d rather be doing than sitting at my computer. But a more typical workday is to be at my computer by 8:30 a.m. to do some kind of publishing-related work such as writing, internet surfing/research, marketing, emailing with my editor and writer friends, and generally trying to “get things going” in the business either by creating new stories or marketing opportunities. This happens basically until noon. Afternoons and weekends I sporadically edit, read, check facebook and emails, and write when I’m inspired. So it’s part discipline, part winging it.

My plastic dinosaurs because I found them for 19 cents at a thrift store and they make me smile. (My interest in dinosaurs has been rekindled since my book, How to Raise a Dinosaur, came out.)

A pen and ink drawing of the front of the New York Public Library that I bought from a street artist when I was in New York City for an SCBWI conference. I love the reminder of the power that that building holds–knowledge–and thinking that my books may be IN THERE.

The third thing is my computer. Not the physicalness of it, but that it provides access to the outside world where I can stay in touch with writers and friends, do research at my fingertips, and that it’s like having a really smart brain that remembers everything and a really anal secretary all wrapped up in one.

I think the only ritual-like habit I have is to check my emails first to help me warm up for the morning writing time.

The hum of my computer. I tend to be easily bothered or distracted by noise, so I don’t have music or a TV show going on while I work. I want to be able to hear the editor in my head. 

If I’m frustrated with a story and feel the need to really sink my teeth into something – be it editing or solving a story problem – then I prefer snacks that crunch, like tortilla chips or Terra chips. A nice way to celebrate finishing work, say after school visits or on Fridays when the traditional work week wraps up, is with a glass of wine.

The conditions under which I can really focus are when I’m working on a story that is moving and grooving for me, and when my husband is out of the house and my cat’s not meowing at me. Deadlines also help. So does needing a paycheck.

Once in a while I’ll scribble down the initial idea to capture it before it’s gone. And I may write a few key notes about the idea. But since I have terrible handwriting and can’t always decipher my notes, I mostly I write on the computer. 

I’m pretty organic versus structured. If something excites me, or if my brain immediately starts projecting images and playing out the story in my head, then I know it’s a story idea I want to develop further. I am toying around with an idea for a novel right now, and this time I wrote some key information about the characters and some potential chapter points on big note cards, and I think that has helped organize my thoughts. I will occasionally do a dummy for a picture book if I can’t quite get a handle on editing it.

If you were forced to share your workspace but could share it with anyone of your choosing, who would it be and why?

Maybe Philip Pullman because he seems like he’d be a quiet man, and too focused to want to stop and talk with me. But that I’m sharing my space at all is only because someone is forcing me.

Everyone is on their own path to publication. The other is replace weak adverbs with strong verbs.