K. Michael Crawford

I like to see the world in a silly way and when I come across something whimsical it has a major effect on my writing and art. Maurice Noble, a Disney Animator, told me once that if you want your work to be 3-D then you need to have a 3-D life. Lots of experiences and lots of adventures. So with that in mind, I go on lots of adventures, even if it has nothing to do with what I am working on. You never know when or where you will get inspiration from and it can come in the strangest ways. Years ago, I went to the Cryptology and Spy Museum around the same time of year and a friend asked me why I went there. I told them I didn't know, but I just wanted to go and see them. Well, as it turns out, I used what I learn at both of those museums in my latest books. Most important thing I found out is that I would make a really good spy. And that's an important skill in life.  So if this Children's Book Work doesn't pay off I have a new career path. When I create, I take things in from all different sources and then my mind mixes them up. When the time is right, my brain spits out an idea in the funniest way.

With my books, I try to fill in spaces that are lacking in Children's lives. I noticed over the last few years that kids were losing their imagination. So I created The Mystery of Journeys Crowne and Batty Malgoony's Mystic Carnivale, so that kids could increase their imagination.