middle school zombies
plus chupacabras, humans
quite the melting pot

So when you're up til 4:30 am everyday, suctioning your wee dude's trach and administering around the clock meds, you find yourself with a whole lot of time. Sure, you're busy with him, but there are pockets of time when you can watch a show or fart around on the computer, or contemplate what it would be like to be a zombie in middle school.

You might think about being a zombie and how zombies have a halting speech pattern. It might strike you that this speech pattern sounds a lot like haiku. So you write down a few of the zombie-speak haiku and they seem sort of funny. You write down a bunch more. Then, before you know it, you're emailing your agent with a middle grade novel, written as an epic poem (with about a bazillion haiku), all about a day in the life of a zombie middle schooler. It's about his relationships with his friends, and the charged atmosphere of the school filled not just with hormonal zombies, but with smartass chupacabras, and Lifers (regular humans) with a chip on their collective shoulder.

Much to your surprise, your agent loves it! He begins shopping it around and BAM, just like that, you have a done deal.

The Neal Porter imprint of Roaring Brook Press is going to be publishing my next book! It's tentatively titled BRAINS, and it's going to be an illustrated novel.

Kick ass!

I'm SO EXCITED! In the middle of all of this, a new book deal. I can't wait for you to read it!