Friends, Yes, But Best? #MFRWAuthor

I get by with a little help from my friends…

I certainly do. Life would be much poorer without that, and that has always been true. In The Four Loves C.S. Lewis describes friendship as the only love that has content. I believe that to be true. Friendship is always based on sharing of some sort.

I was blessed with close friends as a adolescent. Convent school will do that for you—if you’re lucky. We managed levels of conversation and sharing I’ve never quite found anywhere else. We share a love of ideas and reading. We shared values. we shared hopes and dreams. Those things last and to this day we can pick it up easily.

Beloved and I made mutual friends not long after marriage. Through our church we formed a bond with four other couples over shared faith, prayer, and children—especially children. We socialized, camped, and traveled together. Inevitably we moved off in five different directions, but we stayed in touch. Of the ten people there are six of us left, and we still stay in touch sharing all the major events in our life.

Work colleagues have come and gone. Often when the shared activity disappears, the friendship does as well. I still count many people from my days in Ohio libraries as friends. In recent years I’ve made countless friends among fellow writers. We share so much! We cheer each other on, jointly promote our work, teach and learn from one another, commiserate when needed, share information, and generally support one another and romance writing.

In my case the inner tribe are almost entirely writers of historical romance. In my day to day life the ladies of the Bluestocking Belles, Jude Knight, Sherry Ewing, Susana Ellis, Nicole Zoltack and Jessica Cale. I can go to them with questions, ideas and suggestions and get back a response six times a day. Among my Ohio tribe I also rely on Susan Gee Heino, Saralee Etter, Nancy Herriman, Oberon Wonch, Donna MacMeans, and Libby McCord, and Kat Sheridan. They are always there for me.

As you can see I’ve been blessed with layers and layers of friends. Some may be closer than others at any given moment. Some are closest in one facet of my life or another. But best? No one person fits that role and that’s how it ought to be.