Q&A When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

I always enjoyed writing and coming up with stories. However, as a kid, writing was but a means to an end. I wrote for school and for fun, but not expecting it to be a passion in the future. My passion was in art. I wanted to draw comics. Pre-teen me was all about being a cartoonist or comic artist. I wanted to give Todd McFarland a run for his money one day.

I never could find my own style... or rather, I didn't realize that I had my own style and I kept trying to figure out why I couldn't fully emulate any of the artists that I admired. I wish someone took me to the side and said, "Could you imagine Akira Toriyama feeling grumpy because Goku doesn't look 'anime' enough? Imagine coming up with the designs for Avatar the Last Airbender and quitting because it doesn't look 'Sailor Moon' enough."

Next to accepting my own style and owning up to who I am as an artist, I was troubled by the fact that I was planning on doing a series as I go. I was going to "pants" my way through a comic series. In high school, I had quite a few kids coming to me to see what happened next in my comic. I loved the look on their faces as I dropped new panels on them! I loved how eager they were to get the next page. I even loved how some of them seemed to think it was WAY deeper than it actually was.

Eventually, I realized that I had forgotten things and left plot holes. Either nobody noticed, or they thought it was part of my plan... but there was no plan... at least not in the smaller sense. Sure, I had a few goals, but I didn't meticulously plot my course.

For reasons better explained another day, I began planning for the comic I intended to make for The Dreamer. When I began, it was more like writing a story board. Years later, it evolved into a book. I stopped explaining scenes and started describing them. I enjoyed writing, and my few readers enjoyed reading! I realized that I loved writing as much as I loved drawing... maybe more. Being in my 30s before I realized this, I was late to the game. Even so, I'm glad I finally got here!