I did keep detailed journals from about fifth grade on, and every so often as I was growing up, I would re-read them and reflect on the previous years of my life.

When I was doing 'Smile,' I was looking back at pictures of myself and going, 'Thank goodness I couldn't do the sprayed-bangs thing! Everybody's so embarrassed by that hairstyle now, but I was never cool enough to pull it off!'

Typically, a book is published and gets one season in the sun. Eventually, you write another book, and maybe your old books get a bump, but my books seem to keep being discovered and recommended to new people of all ages.

I prefer drawing the things I've written to handing them off to another artist. Turns out I'm a huge control freak - and because I write in thumbnails, the art is already happening by the time I start writing!

When I began teaching, my colleagues and I quickly realized that our students didn't have access to the same resources we had growing up. We knew there were supplies and resources that could help our students, but our school district simply couldn't afford them.

I was reading at a third-grade level until the age of 30 before I made the decision that I was going to learn how to read.

I personally do not believe 'Premam' has influenced anyone in any way; it has just portrayed characters and is one man's story where he falls in love with his teacher, and I don't believe people would use this as a reason to imitate it.

Global education is not a zero-sum game. The rise of universities in Asia will be a benefit to the entire world.