I read a wonderful quote in my writer's calendar this morning.  It speaks to what draws me as both a writer and reader.  Gustave Flaubert says...

"It's a delicious thing to write.  To be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating."

I was an avid reader as a child (and still am) and loved being pulled into the world created by whatever book I was reading at the time.  It lit a fire in me to strive to create similar excitement in kids reading my own books one day.  There is nothing quite like entering a whole new world when opening a book and turning to the first page.  I still love that feeling and know I always will.

While my books thus far are children's picture books (book signing for the first tomorrow--WOO HOO!), I hope to foster excitement in both the kids and parents reading to them as they turn the page, and someday for the older readers in the chapter books floating around in my head begging to be written.

How do you go about creating your new universe for the reader?