Chiggers: The Timeline
or, What Were You Doing for the Last Two Years, Hope?

October, 2005: Immediately after completing Gray Horses, I began writing the script for Chiggers. I didn't know much about the story, but I knew it would be set at summer camp. After the intense navel-gazing of my first two books, I was ready to write something snappy and fun.

December, 2005: I completed the first draft of the script late in the month. A couple rounds of edits with close friends (Thanks, Sara and MK!), and I was ready to pitch it.

January, 2006: I drew a small batch of preview pages to accompany the script, and gave them to my fantastic agent, Judy Hansen. She took the story and pitched it to a number of book publishers.

Late spring, 2006: The book sold! Hurray!

October, 2006: After receiving notes from my editor, Ginee Seo, I finalized the script. I was even more excited about the book than when I finished the first draft, which was a good thing, because I started to draw right away and didn't finish until . . .

June, 2007: Drawing a graphic novel is a test of endurance! Even my two previous books, each around 100 pages, didn't prepare me for Chiggers, which is 171 pages of art. In order to complete the book with my sanity, I had to completely restructure my work schedule. I work fairly regular work hours, 9-5, Monday-Friday; I'm a working stiff just like everyone else. Not glamorous, but I can accurately predict how long I'll need to draw a book, and I get weekends off.

December, 2007: Even though I finished drawing the body of the book in June, it wasn't truly complete for another six long months. What was I doing all that time? Correcting the art, copyediting, working with a letterer (the amazing Jason Azzopardi), finishing frontmatter (stuff like the title pages), and drawing the cover. Somewhere in there I also moved back to the US from Nova Scotia, Canada. And wrote the script for my next book.

June, 2008: The book is finally published! The End.

The End?

Well, sure, except for all the promotion I've got lined up for this summer: Interviews, comic conventions, book festivals, signings, and library comics panels. And did I mention I've been drawing my next book since February? A cartoonist's work is never done.