It’s out!

It’s out! My first original graphic novel is on bookshelves! People have been asking me how I feel, which is a very good question, and I would also like to know the answer to that one. Because I am full of feelings! It’s hard to put this many feelings into words.

So here are some pictures.

This is a photo from 2015. I was in grad school working on my thesis project. It was basically about the ways in which cartoonists can poach animation principles for their own benefit. As part of the thesis, I drew twenty pages of a comic which (in theory) would serve as an example of this.

Those thesis pages became part of a book pitch. I made a little folder that you could tie shut in a way that was supposed to resemble a yo-yo. You see it, right? Right??

Anyway, I pitched this book in 2015 to David Saylor at Graphix. He introduced me to the editor Cassandra Fulton, and they asked me to test for the Baby-Sitters Club series. I signed up for two BSC books and two originals, one of which was Freestyle.

So… it’s been in the ether for a while!!

Here is a photo of tiny baby Gail [sic] meeting their childhood hero, Ann M. Martin.

The next five years were spent working on BSC books, meeting wonderful BSC fans, befriending two beautiful bunnies, growing roots, and learning to be a better person and cartoonist. Also, I slept sometimes.

Here is a sketchbook page from 2020, right before I finished Logan Likes Mary Anne!, and also right before everything shut down.

Do you know how sometimes, when you listen to a song, that song can take you right back to a time and place? Maybe you listened to that song a lot while reading a specific book, or when you were with one person, or when you got cozy in your favorite chair.

Freestyle is that for me. It’s a story that I carried with me from grad school to the BSC, through the pandemic, through moving and pregnancy. I look at these pages and I can feel all of the moments and people that helped it become real.

Here is a photo from a very chaotic time.

But, seriously, I’m very, very grateful to have been able to make this book. I am so thankful and honored by all of the people who have put their own time and skills and love into this with me, who have made Freestyle so much more than I would have been able to achieve on my own. If you pick it up, please take a moment to read through the acknowledgments in your best Oscar-thank-you-speeching voice. I’ll also reiterate a few here, because it’s my blog and there are no rules:

Thank you, Patrick! Juggling a deadline-having cartoonist and a tiny baby is a Herculean feat and you sure did do that.

Cassandra Fulton: I cannot come up with enough ways to say thank you. Thank you for believing in me and being a wonderful editor and friend. Working with you has been one of the greatest joys of my career.

K Czap: your colors deserve five billion awards and your comics deserve five billion more. You made this book gorgeous. You made it a dream. I am constantly in awe of you, thank you.

Phil Falco, Shivana Sookdeo, and Carina Taylor: this book would literally not be book without you. You put so many hours into making this readable and fun to look at and I can’t get over how cute the cover and jacket are, oh my goodness. Look at the little guy on the spine! You did that! You did all of this!! Thank you!!!

Judy Hansen, world’s most powerful agent: thank you for all of your support and guidance through everything. You are an angel.

Librarians! Teachers! Thank you for putting graphic novels into kids’ hands. Thank you for hanging in there. Thank you for every kind word over the years – you always bring the best energy!

My beloved friends and family!!! I would not be here without you.

And you, reader. I hope that if you have something you’re into, whether that’s yo-yo or breaking or drawing goofy comics, that you keep at it as long as it’s bringing you joy. I hope that you find people to share your wonderful self with. It really is the absolute best.

Thank you for listening to this song with me.

<3 gale

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