Disclosure: The links to Carmen and Grace are affiliate links; if you order the novel or anything else while visiting my Bookshop, I may earn a modest commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

 Happy National Poetry Month & Library Month!

And Happy Carmen and Grace Day to all who celebrate!

Eight years ago, the summer after earning my PhD, I was accepted into AROHO, a women writers' retreat in the New Mexico desert.

You can imagine my surprise and delight when I met not one, but two! TWO! fellow Puerto Rican writers: Melissa Coss Aquino and Vero González. Instant friendship. By the end of the week: familia.

I have a poem called "Comadre" and the first line is "there is no word for this in English." In English, we honor the godparent and godchild relationship, but not the co-parent relationship. 

En español we know better: there are no Madrinas without the Comadres. En español we don't erase the mothers. 

So that magical summer Melissa, Vero, and I anointed each other with that title of honor: Writing Comadres.

Just as we'd need comadres to support us as we mothered our human babies, we needed writing comadres to support us as we crafted, nurtured, and let out into the world our book babies.

What did my writing comadres do for me then and do for me to this day? 

They SEE me and KNOW me deeply, instinctively. Not just writer Li Yun, but all of Li Yun: writer, Boricua, Mami, mujer, daughter, partner, dancer, thinker, scholar, educator, friend, sin vergüenza, all. of. it. When I've felt far from who I want to be, they have reflected a quiet faith in my worthiness for just being me -- all of me. 

And we keep alive for each other the fires of our art. It's a fire that sometimes roars and sometimes barely flickers, but it produce a light that glows, steady, through time and distance.

Last week, Melissa summoned us -- las comadres Boricuas del desierto -- to give her our blessing over Zoom. Her book baby, after decades of incubation, would be out in the world on Tuesday -- today.

So let's raise a glass to my new book ahijada Carmen and Grace and to my beloved Comadre Melissa Coss Aquino! ¡Pa' arriba! ¡Pa' abajo! ¡Pa'l centro! ¡Y pa'dentro! ¡Salud!

I wish for you your own writing comadre(s) or compadre(s) to walk alongside you in the twists and turns of your writing life journey. And may you one day taste this deep joy I feel today watching Mellissa's work soar into the world!

P.S. Help me celebrate Melissa by ordering today and contributing to out-of-this-world first week sales for Carmen and Grace. 

• Who are your writing comadres and compadres?
• Who has held you down or lifted you up over the years? 
• Who has helped you remember your writer self even when she's hiding out or running away? 
• When did you last celebrate your person or your people?
• What is ONE way you can celebrate your person or your people today? (DO IT!)

Writing can be a solitary event, but the writing LIFE needed not be lonely. Find your people. Then CELEBRATE them. Loudly. Often.

You'll never regret lifting your people up and watching them shine a light you played some little part in keeping bright.

More Melissa for this Melissa Coss Aquino appreciation newsletter:

• Read the BEST advice I received from Melissa before I became a mother in this blog post.

• I'm so grateful Melissa trusted me enough to coach her through the process of creating her FIRST author website a few years ago. As she shares in her IG post, the one she created based on my course has grown and evolved over the years but is the same one she's using today. Here's some of what she has to say about her experience working with me and taking my course Writer, You Need a Website: 5 Days to Your First Author Website:

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