The Summer We Started a Robot War (and Why I’m Building a Pitch Deck)

A few years ago, I launched a children’s book on Kickstarter. It was fun, chaotic, rewarding—and exhausting in all the ways only a one-person publishing operation can be. I learned a ton. I proved I could see a story through. And I walked away knowing that the next project deserved a different path.

That next project is The Summer We Started a Robot War.

It’s a middle-grade adventure about kids, secrets, forgotten machines, and the kind of summer that changes everything. It’s also much bigger than a single book. This story has a world. It has room to grow. And because of that, I’m not crowdfunding it—I’m building it properly.

Right now, I’m deep in the process of creating an agent-ready pitch deck: story overview, characters, themes, visual tone, and long-term potential. Think less “launch page,” more “this belongs on a shelf, in a series, and maybe beyond the page.”

And of course, this blog is where I’ll be sharing that journey. The decisions. The revisions. The things I’m learning as I shift from making a book to building a world worth representing. You’ll see sketches, excerpts, discarded ideas, and the thinking behind the choices—because the process matters just as much as the final product.

I’ve Kickstarted before. This time, I’m betting on the story.

More soon.