As I write this, my debut picture book, Not Quite Narwhal, is on the brink of publication. There’s so much to be excited about and thankful for, and I’ve found myself spending a lot of time reflecting on what brought me here. The truth is, I didn’t grow up dreaming of being an author-illustrator or a storyteller of any kind, but when I think about what books meant to me early on and how my love of them has grown over time, it feels obvious that I should find myself here now. Not obvious that I would be able to make this into a career – such things are never a given – but that my interests would fit together in a way that made picture books my favorite medium.

Many of my earliest book related memories were made with my grandpa. He retired right around the time I…