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I'm older than you think. Kids tell me they expect me to arrive at their school in a flak jacket and black lipstick, or at least to have some visible body piercings. But I'm just somebody's chubby mom, and even two people's grandmother. Don't hold that against me, because I made a promise to myself long ago never to grow up totally. My children, who did grow up, can attest to that vow.

Guess how dull my childhood was. As a very small kid I lived in the Dominican Republic one year, but otherwise, I stayed pretty close to my hometown of San Francisco. Imagine a time when TV flickered only 3 hours a day - black and white, on a screen smaller than your monitor. Of course, there were no computers or video games or cell phones, so what's an only child to do? Well, every Saturday morning I walked 12 blocks to the nearest San Francisco Public Library branch and checked out a stack of books which I began reading on the walk home, dodging motorcycles and cars with blaring horns. Saturday afternoons I went to the movies. That cost 20¢, plus a nickel for a Licorice Twist.

All those years I made up stories, too. In seventh grade I won an essay contest on the topic, "Use Your Garbage Can." It's safe to say that essay stunk. As a sophomore I wrote a satire on the most popular kids in my school, firing off every snide observation I could. It was pretty cold, but somehow it got published in Teen magazine, which certainly didn't help my popularity. If you could go back and find that story (which I hope you can't), you'd see that I understood and lived the awkwardness and mixed feelings that define being a teenager. I've never forgotten.

Determined to be an adventurous bachelor girl who had exotic romances all over the world, I met my future husband, Tom Ruby, the very first day of college at the University of California, Berkeley, during the tumultuous '60s. Five years later we were married, and we still are. Meanwhile, I finished my degree in English and a master's in library science. That's how I got to know books for teenagers - as a Young Adult librarian for the Dallas Public Library. What I read way back then was so poor that I figured it would be a cinch to write books for young people. Boy, was I wrong!

Our sons were born while their dad was working on his Ph.D. in psychology. Can you beat this? - three sons who've never been in trouble, three fabulous daughters-in-law, two brilliant granddaughters, and a husband I've grown up with over the last 40 years.

David, our oldest son, is a lawyer and financial consultant and is married to Lee Ann Merrill, who analyzes water policy and creates all sorts of things in the Seattle area, from gardens to purses. They generously made me a grandmother to Jocelyn in December, 1998. Kenn is a quality assurance analyst in Cincinnati, a contributor to Chicago Tribune, and is plotting out his first novel. His wife, Julie Jacobson-Ruby, encourages him every step of the way while working for a healthcare textiles firm as a benefits executive. Jeff, our youngest son, is also a writer, both as a dining editor for Chicago Magazine, and on his own. For his newest book, Everybody Loves Pizza, he and his wife Sarah Abella (an inspired educator) downed more pizza than you'd ever care to consume. They're the parents of Hannah, born in March of 2005. And these nine people are the ones I love most in the world.

I've had lots of jobs. I've been . . . a waitress in a truck stop restaurant, a statistical typist, the director of a summer day camp and a Hebrew school, an art and music librarian, full-time mother, community volunteer, and office manager for a psychologist. I don't relish any of those jobs as well as my real job, which is writing, visiting schools to talk about writing, and teaching writing. You see the trend, here?

Anything else you'd need to know about me you'll find in my books. So, read on!