to volunteer a week and working with the most amazing kids,
kids with leukemia, and this kid Eric changed my life.
Eric didn't live to see his sixth birthday,
and Eric lives with me every day.
So after this experience, my art teacher, Mr. Shilale,
he brought in these picture books,
and I thought, "Picture books for kids!"
and I started writing books for young readers
when I was a senior in high school.
Well, I eventually got to the Rhode Island School of Design.
I transferred to RISD as a sophomore,
and it was there that I took every course that I could on writing,
and it was there that I wrote a story about a giant orange slug
who wanted to be friends with this kid.
The kid had no patience for him.
And I sent this book out to a dozen publishers
and it was rejected every single time,
but I was also involved with the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp,
an amazing camp for kids with all sorts of critical illnesses,
and it's those kids at the camp that read my stories,
and I read to them, and I saw that they responded to my work.