Diverse books aren't diverse to me. It's me. It's my family. It's my friends. It's my reality. Not having diverse characters would be inauthentic to my life, so I frequently feature characters based off of not only myself, but friends and family. I want to write authentic books I needed as a child and contribute to creating bookshelves full of characters that reflect my experience. Having family lost to violence, it is a priority in my work to normalize differences that make our world stronger and unique.