I wrote Mageboy at the end of my third semester of graduate school in December 2020. It was finals season. I was teaching two sections of English 180 and grading almost 50 student papers. I was writing my thesis and working on seminar papers for the classes I was taking. Somehow (I don't remember how) I also wrote the first draft of Mageboy in those two and a half weeks. 

Perhaps surprisingly, this story started off as my attempt at a children's book. However, thinks took a dark turn as I wrote the first chapter. The isolation of lockdown forced me to revisit my own childhood trauma, and thus Mageboy was born. 

This book (now a podcast) became a way for me to process at the grief, fear, and anger I had carried for 25 years. It also enabled me to do something I had forgotten how to do after years of honing my craft and using my sharp self-critical eye to improve my writing: actually enjoy writing. Mageboy reminded me that writing is thrilling. 

In writing Mageboy, I let myself indulge in everything I loved in a story as a kid. My sense of humor seeped into the work, something I found startlingly vulnerable as I was editing. 

I hammered out that first draft fast, but I also took time to revise, get feedback, and improve the story so it could become something I am proud of. It was as I read several drafts aloud to my friend Eli that the idea of podcast format for sharing this book came to me. As a writer who enjoys sharing their work, I knew after speaking to an agent that this project would be too dark and sensational and too genre-nebulous to pitch as a novel. 

This is for childhood me, the trauma she suffered, the anger she didn't let herself feel, and the kinds of stories she loved. 

Mageboy is my most beloved creation and my favorite thing I've ever written. I hope you love it, too.