Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: Oh boy, this is a big question! Most authors I know have trouble answering this one. We get our ideas from all over the place, from dreams and daydreams, to current events, to stories our kids tell.

Q: Where did you get the idea for Forts?
A: I wrote Forts just before the pandemic hit. It was a panic-write, actually, as I had been asked to do a reading at an art gallery and I knew I needed one more piece, and the reading was only a few weeks away. It was towards the end of the first Trump administration, and I needed a lot of self-care to recharge. I remembered how forts had always been a place to feel safe, so I wrote a prose poem about forts for the reading. That went well, so I continued to revise it. This was the piece that landed me with my agent, and it was the first book we went on sub with!

Q: Where did you get the idea for Cassini’s Mission?
A: I’ve always loved space, and so was drawn to a show on Netflix called Seven Days Out, which documented the seven days before several big events. One of the events was the end of the Cassini mission. I watched that whole episode with my jaw on the floor. I couldn’t believe how many things there were about this amazing mission–one of the most successful in NASA history–I hadn’t known about! At the end of the episode, I cried. Then I made my family watch it and I cried again, and I knew it was calling to me.

Q: How long does it take to write a picture book?
A: Forts took about a month. The version in the final book is about 90% similar to my first draft. For Cassini’s Mission, I got the idea in 2019, researched and started writing it in 2020, went through about twenty drafts before I finally had one good enough for submitting to editors in late 2021, and my editors and I continued to make edits to it until basically the day before it went to the printer in 2024. The final version of the book is almost completely different from the very first draft.

Q: That’s a huge variation. How long does it normally take to write a picture book?
A: There is absolutely no normal whatsoever. Each book takes as long as it takes, and how long it takes and how many drafts you went through are no indication of quality.

Q: Can I interview you?
A: Sure! Feel free to contact me. Be sure to include your deadline and any additional information you need.

Q: Tree fort or pillow fort?
A: Tree forts for getting close to nature. Pillow forts for year-round coziness.

Q: What is your favorite planet?
A: Other than Earth, I’m not sure I have a favorite planet. However, my favorite world (planet, dwarf planet, or moon) in the solar system is definitely Enceladus. It’s gorgeous!

Q: What is your favorite NASA mission?
A: This is such a hard question because I love so many of them. As a twin, I empathize most with the Voyager mission, which sent twin spacecraft to the edges of the solar system. They’re still going more than 40 years later. But of course, I love the Cassini mission, too. And who doesn’t love those Mars rovers.

Q: How did you learn to make macarons?
A: I highly recommend the book Macaron School by Camila Hurst. She has a section on her website with a lot of the tips you’ll find in the book, but I think the book is well worth having.