I am still inspired by the books I read as a child, books by fabulous authors like Diana Wynne Jones, CS Lewis and Rosemary Sutcliffe.
Now I use the excuse of being a children's writer to read lots of new children's books too. Recently I have thoroughly enjoyed books by Vivian French, Geraldine McCaughrean, and Mike Wilks.
Writers that I don't yet read to my own young children, but love reading myself, include Michelle Paver, Nicola Morgan, Charlie Higson and Anthony Horowitz.
Books by any of these authors, and many many more, remind me that some of the best, fastest, most exciting and most original stories are being written right now for children and young adults.
But I try not to get my ideas for stories from books other people have already written. I am inspired by yellow newspapers wrapped round bits of old trainset, books about geology and sailing ships, captions on calendars, fairy tales and fables, conversations with small children, and pretty much anything else I see or hear.
I think I've always been a writer. I remember writing a story about going to see Peter Pan when I was in Primary Two and making it into a tiny book. And I used to write stories in the middle of the night and push them under my Mum's bedroom door. I still write stories in the middle of the night. But I don't push them under doors any more.
When I grew up, I thought I ought to write for grownups, so I wrote short stories, some of which got published in books and magazines, and one of which even won a prize (the Canongate Prize in 2001).
But when I had children of my own, I started to have ideas for children's books, so I left lots of short stories half-finished and wrote children's stories instead. And I enjoy writing adventures and fantasies more than anything else I've ever written (but don't tell anyone that, just in case I write a grownup novel some day and want people to take it seriously!)
I write all the time. Every minute of the day. Walking to the library, or sitting on the bus, or chopping up onions. Once I start to write a story, I live in it. The characters are with me all the time, and I listen to their conversations, and I am always trying to get them out of whatever dark and dangerous tunnel I left them in last night. This can be a bit worrying for my friends and family, because I sometimes mutter to myself as I walk down the road, and often scribble weird words on my hands, and carry at least six notebooks in my bag so I can write down ideas and solutions for whatever story I am in the middle of and not get them all mixed up. Then I go home and type up my ideas when everyone else has fallen asleep.