Are You There, Judy?

JEWISH I grew up attending a Conservative synagogue. I went to Hebrew school for about three minutes; it was a bad experience because of a cruel teacher. For me, religion is very private, very personal, just like in Margaret: God as friend, as confidant. I never felt God in synagogue, but I often felt close to the idea of God when I was on my own. Today I like to celebrate the holidays, anything that brings the family together. I believe in history, in the personal stories, what happened to people because they were Jews, even if they didn't practice Judaism. I'm proud to be a Jew, but I worry about fanatics within any organized religious group. My grandson is a half-Jew and I hope that some day he'll be interested in finding out more about his history.

For me, being Jewish is about feeling a part of something...it's inside of me.

KAYAK In the summer, I kayak everyday. One afternoon, I was out in my kayak when suddenly there was this loud and frightening noise; it sounded like a gunshot. Next thing I know, I see all these people running down a hill in their very best clothing. Then I could make out that there was a bride and groom. They, along with everyone else, jumped into the pond. When I realized it was a celebration, I said to myself, 'I'm going to start my book [Summer Sisters] at a wedding.' I came back and wrote the wedding scene immediately, just as I saw it.

LARRY My son Larry says I'm the least analytical person he knows. Other than that, we're a lot alike.

MIAMI BEACH I became ritualistic in the third and fourth grades. This was when I was living in Miami Beach, separated from my beloved father for months at a time. I invented a series of chants and made bargains with God to keep my father and my family safe, to protect us from fire, from robbers, from sickness, bargains to keep my father's plane from crashing. I never told anyone I took on this burden. When I left Miami and went back to New Jersey in fifth grade, I let go of the rituals. Looking back, those two years in Miami Beach were the most interesting and important of my childhood. I wrote about it in Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself.

NOW Right now I'm working on four chapter books. They're for ages 6 to 9 and based on characters I created years ago in a picture book, The Pain and the Great One. The first book will be out in September. It's called Soupy Saturdays and it has deliciously funny illustrations by James Stevenson, the New Yorker cartoonist. The brother and sister in this book are loosely based on my daughter Randy and son Larry when they were young. I've always wanted to return to these characters, who are among my favorites. Randy and Larry, who are grown now, still sometimes refer to each other as ‘The Pain' and ‘The Great One.' My grandson finds that hilarious.

OTHERWISE KNOWN AS SHEILA THE GREAT Sheila has all my childhood fears: dogs, thunderstorms, swimming. But unlike me, Sheila covers her fears with bravado. The book is dedicated to the memory of my father and our special game of hide and seek.

PROCESS When I'm writing, I go off into my little room. I get in there in the morning and write for two to three hours on my laptop. When it's going well, I'm off in that other part of the brain. In the zone. Two hours go by and I'm thinking, ‘Where was I all this time?' In the afternoon, I might come back to do e-mail or read over what I've written. I'm a big rewriter. My process hasn't changed that much over the years.