Today at Quotable Tuesday I am very proud to host the illustrious children’s book author Donna Jo Napoli. I say illustrious because she is the author of so many wonderful books for children and young adults that they could form their own galaxy. Her writing ranges from contemporary fiction to fantasy to historical novels. She also writes mathematics tales and science tales as well as books geared toward helping Deaf people learn to read.

When I asked her what quote or quotes inspire her as a writer, she said, “I don’t know where I heard this, so I can’t really put it in quotes. But I know I heard it, and I believe it, and it helps me. So I will put it in quotes.

“Anything can be made better.”

“I love it because it allows me to stop. That is, I know that I could work on something forever if I let myself. I could spend a whole lifetime trying to write a perfect sentence. But there is no such thing as a perfect sentence. So I can write my very clumsy imperfect sentence — and go on breathing as i write the next imperfect one.

“I got two rejections in the past month — both on the same ms. Does that stop me? What do you think? I mean, come on. Someone out there may like it…. it’s my job to find that someone. And if I don’t find that someone pretty soon, then I’ll make the ms. better and send it out anew. That’s the name of the game. Persistence is at least half of it.”

So true. So very, very true. Thank you, Donna Jo, for joining me in the quiet corner of the cyber world.