How the journey to try to get traditionally published is starting.

“I have never published a book before. But I also have done many, many things I have never done before.

As I wrote The Mythical Creature Conservatory, several kids asked for the new chapters each time I finished the last one.. I started thinking that maybe other people might like to read this. So I thought to myself, “I’ll self publish this and get a printed copy for Hudson, Denver (Hudson’s little brother), and some friends and that will be that.” But then I finally had something to submit to a few reading groups (previously I was only a reader) and the feedback I got from these fellow writers blew me away. I started to think to myself, “Maybe I should look into traditional publishing….”

“At the beginning of fourth grade, Hudson came home from school and said that he didn’t really like writing. As someone who has written dozens of first chapters, opening scenes, and poem drafts over the years, I set out to show him just how amazing writing could be.

I pitched him an idea: What if there was a main character just like him (quirks and all) who loves Greek Mythology and finds himself recruited into a magical Conservatory where he has to save mythological creatures from going extinct? He loved the idea and quickly named the character (Jack) and his brother (Dash). I set out to write a chapter or two with him, but he begged me to keep writing. For the first time, I decided to see where the story took me (instead of plotting it all out from the beginning, which was a common way for me to get stuck on a project) and the ideas poured out of me…”