Book Life Friends

I’ve been firmly planted in the writing life for 20 years now, and in that time I’ve made some great friends—both readers and writers. One of the joys of being back in the Dallas area is being closer to many of those people again. In the past couple of weeks I’ve been able to reconnect with a few of these special people face-to-face.

Several years ago I posted on my facebook page that I was attending the Texas Book Festival. I got a message from a woman I had known online for a little while—a fellow reader—who said she was there, too. So we made a plan to meet up and attend a session together. Thus began a lovely friendship with Staci Scott and her daughter, Gretchen. Turns out we have a lot in common. We continued to connect online and sometimes in person at the book club Staci ran through her church. And we’d always attend at least one session together at the Texas Book Festival! Then Staci’s family moved to the Dallas area, though they still returned to Austin for the book festival. But then suddenly we lived close to one another again!

A few days ago we got to meet up in person at a restaurant between our houses. The sweet high school girl I first met is now 20 and starting nursing school in a few days. We enjoyed visiting again about books we’ve read or want to read as well as catching up a bit on life—their move to Dallas, our move back to Dallas.

Six months before my first book released with Bethany House (2011), I heard they had signed another author from the Dallas area. I didn’t know her, but found out she attended the same church as my brother and sister-in-law. And, lo and behold, they’d all been in the same Sunday School class for a while! Thus began my friendship with our own Becky Wade. We’d meet up every now and again to catch up on life and talk writing. Then we moved to Austin. I can’t remember exactly when I first met sweet Shelli Littleton—maybe an ACFW conference?—but I know we met for lunch at least once through the years besides connecting online. The three of us met for lunch recently, and what a joy it was to talk writing and books and life in person again!

Of course my longest standing writer friends are here in my town. I began attending Rockwall Christian Writer’s group in early 2002, a year after I completed my first novel (via Nanowrimo!). By May of the next year, Mary DeMuth, Leslie Wilson and I were meeting once a week for critique. We named ourselves Life Sentence. Almost twenty years later, these are two of my dearest friends. We’ve walked through so many things together, including but not limited to the ups and downs of the writing life! Right now we are engaged in a fun pursuit together: eating at a different restaurant (non-chain) in the Rockwall area together each week. In alphabetical order. Backwards. Leslie is the queen of fun and Mary and I are happy to play along.

Of course there are more reading and writing friends in the area I still haven’t had a chance to reconnect with. And so many more across the country who I try to see in person when I happen to visit their neck of the woods! But it’s been really grounding and life-affirming to reconnect with my local book life friends.

What about you? Are you still catching up on reconnecting with friends since 2020? Do you have friends who don’t live near you but you meet up with them regularly? Tell us!