Bella Brown’s Messier than Messy Room follows a creative but messy girl who wants to go to the butterfly garden she finds out she can not till she cleans her room. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The inspiration for Bella Brown’s Messier than Messy Room came through an unexpected series of events in November 2021. I woke to a divine calling to write a book about butterflies for children. I wiped sleep from my eyes. “Write a book about butterflies for children?”

“Yes, write a book about butterflies for children,” boomed in my head.

I shrugged it off, went to work, and that same day received my second divine calling when my director insisted I take two weeks of vacation, which led to a zany butterfly research road trip across America. I visited butterfly farms in seven states – Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas. Each stop added layers to my understanding and vision for the story.

In Texas, I was pulled over for speeding. After explaining my cross-country butterfly research mission and showing the officer my GPS history of butterfly farm visits, he offered to waive the ticket if I promised to include a police officer in my butterfly book. Of course, I said “Yes.”

When I returned home, an author I didn’t know contacted me on Facebook asking if I wanted to participate in their online writing class.

I said, “Sure, I can always learn something new, and might be able to incorporate what I learn into the next book I’m writing. So, what’s your online class about?”

“Erotica” was their response, which I declined.

A story about a girl named Bella who has to clean her room if she wants to visit a butterfly garden is one thing. But a story with a plot twist where Bella and her Grandma Yetta disappear in a hail of bullets as they get caught in the middle of a shoot-out between law enforcement and a drug-dealing cult of strippers may send the wrong message to kids and their parents.

Ironically, it was the third divine calling, a near-death hospital stay that became the catalyst for revisiting and revising the manuscript that previously sat gathering dust over two-and-a-half years, that would become the first two books in the Bella Brown series.

This dedication paid off when Bella Brown’s Messier Than Messy Room became a Golden Book Award Finalist, with its book trailer garnering 5.1K views in just eleven days. The book has also received five-star reviews from both Chanticleer Reviews and Literary Titan Reviews.

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

At its heart, the story addresses a universal challenge: feeling overwhelmed. Eight-year-old Bella faces the seemingly impossible task of cleaning her room before she can visit the butterfly garden. Through her journey, I wanted to share an important life lesson: large, overwhelming tasks become manageable when broken down into smaller, controlled steps.

The story demonstrates how Bella, with her grandmother’s guidance, transforms an intimidating challenge into achievable goals. This approach resonates not just with children facing messy rooms, but with anyone encountering seemingly insurmountable tasks in their lives. It’s about building confidence through strategic problem-solving and celebrating small victories along the way.

The art in this book is fantastic. What was the art collaboration process like with the illustrator Anastasiia?

The collaboration with Anastasiia was facilitated through Get Your Book Illustrations, where all communication went through a project manager. While I never directly communicated with Anastasiia, her methodical approach to bringing the story to life was impressive.

The process began with character development, where Anastasiia created and refined illustrations of all the story’s characters. She then moved on to draft storyboards, which underwent revisions before establishing the final layout.

The last stage involved creating individual illustrations and two-page spreads. Interestingly, it was only after adding color that minor revisions were needed, and the final illustrations turned out uber-awesome-fantastic.

What will the next book in that series be about, and when will it be published?

The next book in the series, Bella Brown—Grandma’s Missing Butterfly Locket, follows Bella and her Grandma Yetta on a journey through memories of their butterfly adventures around the world.

When Grandma calls asking for help finding her missing butterfly locket, they reminisce about their incredible experiences: witnessing ten thousand Red Wing Butterflies take flight in China, encountering a mystical white butterfly at a Japanese temple, meeting a curious Blue Morpho butterfly in Colombia, and dancing among migrating Monarchs in Arkansas.

The story weaves together their precious memories while building to an unexpected and heartwarming surprise.

All eight books in the Bella Brown series will launch between September 2025 and January 2026 on the following dates:

Wednesday, September 03, 2025 – Book One: Bella Brown’s Messier Than Messy Room
September 27, 2025 – Bella Brown—Grandma’s Missing Butterfly Locket
October 27, 2025 – Bella Brown Visits a Bee Farm
November 19, 2025 – Bella Brown Meets Pip the Domovoi
January 14, 2026 – Bella Brown–Dragonfly-Dragonfly-Dragonfly
January 21, 2026 – Bella Brown–Pip’s Perfect Purple Present
January 28, 2026 – Bella Brown’s Ten-Moon Mysteries
January 31, 2026 – Bella Brown’s Baking Bedlam

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