We caught up with the brilliant and insightful J De laVega a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, J thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
Growing up, books were my safe space. I devoured them by the hundreds, yet none of the girls looked like me. Even worse, the books I did see myself in were ravaged with pain, tokenism, or model minority exceptionalism. When I had children I made it my mission to create stories that accurately depicted the world they lived in. I drew communities that looked like our own with familiar faces. I am strong believer that presence creates possibilities. That seeing someone that looks like you allows you to see yourself in that role or position of power. Every story I create is built upon this idea. I tackle untouched conversations like colorism and mental health. I want to start hard conversations within our communities that begin the process of decolonization. In my upcoming book Wepa (lil’libros, spring 2023), my main character Mia has ADHD, but instead of empathy she’s met with indifference and annoyance. She’s told she talks too much or is too busy. When the book was given to my draft group so many of my readers were able to connect to this feeling of being “too much” and feeling the need to suppress this side of themselves. I want to both push BIPOC characters front and center with accurate depictions, and also have these hard conversations within our community so we can heal.
J, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is J de laVega and I am an author and illustrator of children’s literature. I currently reside in Southern California with my partner and our two children. When I’m not creating books, I’m working on building my stationary company and dreaming about owning a farm. In 2017 I worked in a well known box store. I was fired and terrified of what kind of future I could provide for my children, but my partner encouraged me to stay home and focus on writing. I wasn’t raised to believe that the arts were sustainable careers, so I was doubtful, but a year later I self-published my first middle grade novel Peter Tulliver and the City of Monsters. The story follows a young boy who runs away with the monster under his bed to escape the realities of his parent’s divorce. Soon after I wrote my first picture book Petunia Brown. I fell in love with the genre and realized how much I missed art. I had minor success and the book peeked at number one for children’s books about time. I began visiting schools and teaching children how to draw themselves, and I knew this was what I wanted to do. Self-publishing took much more effort than expected, and since I didn’t know what I was doing I decided that the traditional route would be a better fit for me. In 2020 I committed to getting a traditional publishing deal, and after nearly 100 rejections I gained two publishing deals; one with lil’libros for my picture book Wepa (spring 2023), and another through The Little Press for my early reader series Annalise: The Special Dish book #1 (fall 2023).
The past year I have been designing and building collections for a future stationary company. Having multiple book deals and a family has left little time for other pursuits, but I’m not in a rush and I know everything will fall into place when it is supposed to.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Initially when I began illustrating Wepa I was overwhelmed by the amount of edits I had to do. It seemed like with every draft there was something else wrong, or things that were initially approved, suddenly had issues. I thought that I wasn’t as good or deserving as the publishing company thought. I was convinced that because it wasn’t perfect the first time, I was a failure. Obviously, this is absurd.
I went through seven drafts before Wepa became what it is now, and I would do it again if I could. The end product looks nothing like it started, in the best of ways, and the knowledge I gained working with professionals has elevated my artwork. So much so that I decided to completely redraw the illustrations for Annalise.
I had to unlearn perfectionism and let go of this idea that I wasn’t “good enough”. I had worked hard to obtain these book deals, and if they weren’t good enough, publishers wouldn’t take the financial risk. I also had to learn how to speak up when I found myself overwhelmed and lean on my team. There is no reason to go at it alone if you don’t have to,
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Rejection is hard and I don’t think publishing is a healthy career to pursue if you don’t take rejection well. Finding a book deal is just the beginning. I was fortunate to be able to find smaller publishers that take unrepresented authors, but larger publishers may not do so. That means before you get your book deal, you have to find an agent to represent you. I had an agent at one point, and that is filled with rejection as well. Even getting a book deal doesn’t automatically mean your book will do well. There is the very real possibility that you can get published and your book just disappears into the noise. I don’t write books because of the prospect of fame or money, because trust there isn’t as much as you think. I write because this is what I was meant to do, and when children tell me they want to write their own stories, or that they love my characters, well, you just don’t know where that tiny spark of inspiration may lead them.
Contact Info:
- Website: Authorjdelavega.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/authorjdelavega
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjdelavega
- Twitter: @authorjdelavega