I was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a seaside town north of Boston. Most of my family still lives there — I have four big brothers and two sisters! All of them have families of their own now and when we get together, we are one big noisy crowd.

My dad loved sports. One of my earliest memories is watching the 1957 World Series on TV with my dad and my brothers. I was four years old and the TV was black-and-white.

My dad was my Little League coach and my brothers were my teammates in backyard football and "driveway basketball."

When I turned eighteen, I left behind my sports-happy childhood and headed to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. I've always loved U.S. and world history and I made history my major in college. I also love sports history because of all the great dramas and big personalities. That's why I weave real sports history into all my stories.

After I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, I went to George Washington Law School in Washington, DC.

Shortly after I graduated, I met Peggy Jackson, a journalist. We got married two years later and now have two grown children. Our son is a college baseball coach and our daughter is a college student. When they were in elementary school, I coached their baseball, basketball, and soccer teams – more than 30 teams in all!

I was a lawyer for many years and retired from practicing law so that I could write for kids full time. And I’m glad I did.  I get to spend a lot more time writing and I get more time to visit schools and talk with kids about my books. I also speak at a lot more conferences and meet more cool teachers and librarians.

That's my life in a nutshell. Here are some answers to questions that kids most frequently ask me:

Some of my ideas come from own childhood — I lost my favorite glove just like Jamie in The Golden Glove. Some of ideas come from my experience as a coach — Brendan in Playoff Dreams is a lot like a kid I saw on another team. He was a crackerjack player who was frustrated that his teammates kept messing up.

I don't know if there was any one moment. When my wife was a reporter on a local paper, she suggested that I try writing movie reviews. The editor liked the idea and I had a lot of fun doing it. Who wouldn't? I was getting paid to watch movies! And it was so cool to see my name in the newspaper. I guess that's when I got the writing bug.

When my son was little, I read sports books aloud to him and I thought, "Hey, I can write books like this!"

Lots of stuff happens in your life. The difference between you and a writer is that a writer writes it down. You can start now. Keep a journal and write your story! You will love reading it when you are older. When you write assignments for school, show them to someone else and listen to their comments and then make changes. My first drafts are never my final books. I make lots of revisions to get it right. One more thing: read a lot. Good readers make better writers.

Six months from start to finish. First I outline the story in a notebook. Then I go back and put in more details. The notebook is pretty messy by the time I'm finished outlining! But the outlines are crucial. When I sit down to write, I constantly consult my notebook. I write for an hour a day until I get a story that I'm proud to send to my editor.

I played soccer, baseball, football, basketball, golf, and tennis as a kid. But my favorite sport to watch is baseball. And my favorite sport to play now is golf (it's cooler than you think).