It’s Five Minute Friday time! I hope you’ve had a lovely week. Summer is officially here, and we’re soaking up as much sunshine as we can get (while still working, of course). 😉

I know summer can be a more challenging time to write, so well done for showing up!

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This week’s FMF writing prompt is: AWARE

 

aware

 

Setting my timer for five minutes, and . . . GO. 

This past week held a special treat for me, as my friend Patrice Gopo was in town to speak at a conference and I got to see her not once, but twice! Patrice and I met 15 years ago in Cape Town through a mutual friend. At the time, I had just given birth to my youngest son (as in, less than three weeks earlier), and didn’t expect I would ever see Patrice again.

Thankfully, I was wrong! Two years later she was in my kitchen in Cape Town decorating cupcakes with blue frosting for my son’s second birthday.

Neither of us even dreamed of writing at that point in our lives, and now here we are, each with traditionally published books and several articles and other writings out in the world.

Little did we know then that a decade and a half after that first Cape Town meeting, we would be celebrating the release of her first picture book, All the Places We Call Home, in my home in Michigan. Of course, we had to have cupcakes!

patrice gopo

 

One thing I love about Patrice and her friendship is that she is often making me aware of different ways to think about things — everything from the writing life to parenting to my relationship with God to

Sometimes when I share a thought about something, she’ll nod in agreement, then circle back at times and offer something like, “Or . . . it could be that this is what was happening.”

Her creativity and curiosity open my eyes to other ways of seeing situations, interactions, and conversations, making me aware of new possibilities to consider — and for that, I’m grateful.

STOP.

 

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Be sure to check out Patrice’s new book,

All the Places We Call Home

all the places we call home

 

From the Amazon listing: 

In her first picture book, author Patrice Gopo illuminates how family stories help shape children, help form their identity, and help connect them with the broader world. Her lyrical language, paired with Jenin Mohammed’s richly textured artwork, creates a beautiful, stirring portrait of a child’s deep ties to cultures and communities beyond where she lays her head to sleep.

 

Save 20% for a limited time when you purchase from Baker Book House!

ORDER HERE

 

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