Good Friends

At the airport in Boston again, but his time in Terminal A. I’ve now had the opportunity to see all three locations of the kidlit mural at Logan.

Something that is so neat is that I’m on this mural with Grace Lin and Anna Alter. When we were starting our book careers in the late 90s/early 00s, we all lived in Boston and would meet up. Not only are we still friends but we’re still neighbors too—we all settled in Western Mass!

In the fall of 1999, I landed in Somerville, MA, after graduating RISD. I joined a small Yahoo Group listserv of RISD Illustration alum. There were maybe 6 members there. One of them was Grace Lin.

When publisher rejections got me down or I was just looking for a place to scribble and brainstorm, I would head down the street to the Someday Café. Grace also lived within walking distance of the Someday. She’d meet me there at times.

Grace had just had her first book published, THE UGLY VEGETABLES. She signed my copy. She also gave me some advice that led to my first book contract. (Send your promo postcards to the editors as well as the art directors.)

Over the ensuing years, Grace and I would often have book events together. And somehow, we both ended up in Western Mass. Once again, down the street from one another.

We still get together to talk books, and we have a wonderful group of author friends to lean on.

In 2016, Grace made the longlist for The National Book Award. I brought doughnuts to our author lunch to celebrate.

Earlier this week, Grace brought cupcakes to our author lunch to celebrate my making the National Book Award longlist.

It’s good to have good friends. Especially good friends with doughnuts and cupcakes.