When I started out back in Louisville there was Harry Collins. He was my first teacher. He saw that I was so obsessed with magic that he taught me the love of magic.

My dad was a high school teacher and made no money.

I want to clear up a few myths about myself. People have written that I was a kindergarten teacher and a former Miss Texas and neither is true.

I loved almost everything about being a teacher but I was an unusual teacher.

Writing I'm convinced should be a subversive activity - frowned on by the authorities - and not one cooed over and praised beyond common sense by some teacher.

After this I took private lessons in Italian from an elementary school teacher. He gave me themes to write about and some of them turned out so well that he told me to publish them in a newspaper.

My painting teacher in high school used to say 'I can't paint like I want to but through practice I'll get better.' But I don't think that's true. I think sometimes you just can't paint.

Thus the standard library will serve as both a tool and as a teacher.

Yes I was actually an acting teacher for a while.

I grew up singing. My mother was a music teacher.