Every year since 2023, I’ve looked back at my body of work and thought “this is the most art I’ve ever made.” In my time as an Otherwise fellow, this continues to be true, and my 2025 was spent finishing one graphic novel only to turn around and begin another.

In my application for this fellowship, I wrote about my dream project: an extremely self-indulgent sci-fi graphic novel that even my very talented agent didn’t have much confidence in selling. In traditional publishing, the submission process for graphic novels is a little different than regular prose books–submission packets require a full plot synopsis, character art, market information, and at least ten sample pages of the comic itself. Anyone who makes comics knows that ten pages is work that takes time, and anyone anywhere knows that time is money. Without being paid money to work on these sample pages, they’d be paid in my evenings and my weekends and any moment of spare time I had between the work that paid my bills.

With the support from the Otherwise fellowship, I was able to finish this submission packet and submit it to publishers much, much quicker. In the time since, BRIGHTER STARS has sold to a major publisher and is set to hit shelves in 2028. I’ve spent the past year holed up in my office making the project of my heart–a queer, trans story about pilots and energy crisis and class–into a real, tangible thing, and I can’t wait to share it.

I have about six more months of art to do for this project, and I’m looking forward to the projects that come after. In a time when our governments are hellbent on destroying marginalized communities, I hope to continue making queer art alongside my friends, my peers, and the wonderful people who support us.