A Is for America

I love my job. There, I said it. I mean, who wouldn’t? I get to go to work in my pajamas, eat cold pizza for breakfast if I want, and make up stories all day. And hey, if I’m watching a movie or reading a book, that’s not goofing off–that’s called research.All right, it’s true, there is a lot more to it than that. I work hard. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. To get paid for doing what you absolutely love–that’s success in my book. I’ve been writing stories since I was seven years old. Some of them were even published–in the school newspaper. Hey, that counts! I went to a performing arts high school and studied theater and music. Then I moved to Ohio to attend Oberlin College, where I got my degree in English and studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. After college, I hit Manhattan and got my first job as an editor. I thought it would be so glamorous! It wasn’t. But I did learn a lot of really important things, like how to write contracts, file in an organized fashion, walk not run, check facts, not use office time to talk to my boyfriend, secure photo permissions–you get the idea. Soon, though, I was reading and editing manuscripts. Now that was cool. I was an editor for more than a dozen years, before I moved away from the city to a place where there were more cows than editors.So, I went back to my roots and I started writing again. I think it worked out pretty well. I hope you do, too. Oh, and if you want to know some quirky things about me, I made a list.5 Things I HateFois grasThe word “tasty”Driving slowSmall talkSmall mindedness5 Things I LoveChocolate-covered pretzelsSinging in the rainMarathon movie-watching on a rainy dayBroadway musicalsSpringer spaniels

Gerald Kelley received his BFA from Texas Tech University and is the illustrator of My Name Is Bob by James Bowen and Garry Jenkins (the picture-book version of the New York Times bestseller A Street Cat Named Bob). Charles Dickens is one of his favorite writers, but Gerald doesn’t much care for gruel. He lives in Denver, Colorado.