Not so much a question as a comment. I notice that often when you leave a book or leave a company, I have never seen you write anything disparaging about that company. I'm sure there's been times you wanted to, but I'm impressed with this outward cool an

Thank you…truthfully, a big part of it is how I feel when I see a creator I like doing that about a book or show that I loved. They have every right to do it, but it gets in my brain, “this person hates this company,” or whatever the case is, and that can really interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

So, it’s a big deal to me that I don’t do that for readers. The other truth is, I can’t really think of a time when I have left a company mad. I have left BOOKS angry, but I didn’t think it was the entire company’s fault, you know? All the companies I have worked for have been very nice.

It’s mostly that reader thing. I used to apologize every time a certain pair of issues I did, as a fill-in for a popular book. I didn’t like how they turned out, and I would apologize to everyone who brought them to me to sign.

I didn’t know how selfish and thoughtless that was.  One day, a young kid came up with those two issues and I made a comment that I didn’t like them, and the kid, who had been excited and smiling, got a sad look on his face, and said, “this is my favorite story.”

So, to soothe MY little hurt feelings, I had been apologizing for these books, when this kid bought these comics, read them and treasured them enough to bring them to a con and wait in a long line, and this obnoxious writer says she doesn’t like those issues?

I felt like the world’s biggest jerk. Still bothers me. But I never did that again. It shouldn’t be about me, it should be about the kid who waited in line. Bleah, there’s no training manual for this stuff, you have to learn it as you go.

The reader’s experience is delicate and important. I hate to have it filled up with backstage nonsense, if that makes sense.