Maria Dolores Aguila’s visit to our Love Library last night was an incredible, raw, and enlightening experience. While Aguila primarily writes middle-grade literature and elementary picture books, her experience as an author deeply reflects what Andrew Delbanco describes in his introduction to Melville’s writing process in Moby-Dick. Delbanco describes how Melville had his various friends review his first drafts, picking and choosing whether or not to abide by their suggestions. Delbanco describes how, amongst scholars, “…there is a general agreement that it went through several radically different versions” (Delbanco xvi). Aguila described a similar experience, particularly as she navigated the rigorous publishing and reviewing process for her work. Where Melville had an experience with a friend who reviewed an initial draft and didn’t enjoy the beginning of the novel, Aguila described a similar experience, where a friend recommended suggestions that she disagreed with. Overall, attending Maria Dolores Aguila’s author visit helped put a lot of the writing process into perspective, especially in terms of receiving feedback.