How long does it take to write one of your books?

Making books, especially graphic novels, takes a very long time. Picture Day was my first full-length graphic novel, and I did every part of the process. I wrote the story, sketched out the pages, drew all the pictures in pencils and inks, and even added all the color.

I started coming up with the idea for Picture Day back in 2019, while I was finishing illustrations for the last two books in the Escape This Book! series. Once those were complete, I really focused only on working on Picture Day in 2020. I finished all the artwork at the end of 2021, and the book came out in 2023. So the whole process from idea to publication took about 4 years, but I was working on it full-time for about 2 of those years.

Now that I’ve made a few more books, things go a little faster. It takes me about a year and a half to take a graphic novel from initial idea to final art. That’s in no small part because I get to team up with an amazing colorist named Liana Sposto. While I’m drawing the pages, she’s gets started on adding the colors. We work on the book at the same time, which helps it get finished sooner!

What age were you when you wrote your first book?

I’ve always loved drawing and making up stories, ever since I was a kid. The first book that I have a record of creating was written when I was 10 years old for a school assignment in 5th grade. It is called Plumpy Flumpy Hamster and it is an epic illustrated story (told in 142 parts!) about a young hamster named Plumpy Flumpy who is a quintuplet and goes on all kinds of adventures. Hamsters featured heavily in my early creative work.

What was your favorite book growing up?

I have a very hard time picking favorites and there were tons of books I loved growing up, but the book I returned to again and again was The Golden Compass (and the other books in the series: The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman. I also read a lot of comics and manga. Some of my favorites that I read over and over (and over!) were Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa, and all the FoxTrot collections by Bill Amend.

Can kids publish their own books?

One time at an event, a young writer told me that they loved writing stories, but their friends had told them that kids’ stories don’t get published. I want to say loud and clear: Yes they do! Kids can get their work published!

I used to volunteer with an amazing group in the Bay Area called 826 Valencia that helps young writers learn the craft of writing and publish their own stories. There are other groups like it all over the country, like The Telling Room here in Maine. If you’re excited about writing and want to share your work, I encourage you to look around and see if there’s a group like that near you! 826 National is a great place to start as they have writing centers all across the United States.