All the art you do not see

Yesterday, Quiet Karima released.

As I usher a new book into the world I thought about the distance between creation and publication. A year after painting the book (the script took years) I have perspective and calm. I’m learning to let go of the parts of author life I have little control over (marketing, promotion, sales) and focus on the work. The work is rewarding, the rest is rife with structural inequities that are known and hard to pierce. Fortunately the work is plentiful.

Including work I don’t often share.

I drew this postcard for a banned books event. We signed and sent over 200 postcards with the support of Authors Against Book Bans and the Oakland Public Library.

Authors hard at work

The lovely crew of authors and librarians at the postcard party - book banning is awful but community is powerful

Last year I was invited to contribute a comic to Civics in the Classroom, a project through the department of education in New York.

In this broad reaching and forward thinking initiative, they tap on professional comics creators for work on a wide range of topics. Young people are reading and digesting information differently. These comics bridge the gap between old standards of education and new.

Additionally, because NYC serves over 1 million students, the print run is the largest I’ve ever had! Over 100,000 copies were printed and given to students for free. The comics are available here.

Sketches for an upcoming picture book

As fall finally arrives in California, I will spend the rest of the year drawing final art for an unannounced picture book with LOTS of dogs. And thumbnail my next graphic novel, Unfinished.

Very loose and early thumbnails for Unfinished

I will be in Oklahoma later this month for the NSK jury meeting and lit festival. Then Boston briefly in November for NCTE. And I’m preparing to pitch a few books in October, too.

I draw and write so much and so often I can forget to pause.

Reflect.

And revel.

Making and releasing books, postcards, short comics is a dream I had. I live in that dream. Every day.

It’s wild. Wonderful.

And I’m so grateful.