I do a lot of school visits and the students always ask how I write and draw every day.

The answer is routine and discipline... and always being ready for inspiration. My day is very regimented. I start each day with a coffee and the newspaper. I make my own cappuccino. (Here's this morning's in my prized Little Nemo mug)

Then I go write until 11, when I grab an apple.

Then I write until lunch. Lunch is spent watching the Food Network (research) or Jon Stewart and Colbert (also research).

Then I'm back upstairs by one, writing or drawing. I don't have word counts. Instead I try to make each day a "volume"business. Just keep going until your back spasms. If my writing is stalled, I draw and vice versa. I don't have a goal for each day, although I can proudly say this approach has had me on deadline for four years now.

Second cup of coffee is at 4. Greet the kids, get after-school snacks served.... then (especially if I'm on deadline) back upstairs until dinner, or prep-time for dinner.

Then it's usually a mix of family time or back upstairs.

Sleep around 11, with the New York Times crossword app. Then fitful slumber with a notebook bedside my pillow to write down the snippets of story ideas or dialogue that come at me at the most inopportune times (read, 4am.)

Sleep, wake, repeat.

A few more Silver Birch pics to share. I illustrated the non-fiction Silver Birch winner Don't Touch that Toad. Cathy Rondina wrote the amazingly funny text, so when we presented she talked and I drew on my shirt.

And here's a smiling me with the award. Thanks to David Carpenter for the pics!