Who, Me?

Recently a friend sent me this link: 5 Indian Authors that Your Child Must Read. "You're on it," she said.Who, me?Turns out I am indeed on that list--which was nice. Although it felt funny to see myself described as "a relatively new author." Mind you, I suppose in comparison to Rudyard Kipling or Anant Pai, "relatively new" is just about right.No problem, I'll accept the validation!The other day, I received an email from a child reader who wrote that her mom just gave her a copy of The Broken Tusk and she was enjoying the stories. Every writer has a book of the heart. This was my second book, edited by the wonderful Diantha Thorpe at a marvelous small press, Linnet Books, with a history of intelligent, interesting acquisitions--military history, literary reprints, and folk and traditional stories. Diantha taught me to write boldly, not to pull back when the going got tough. The message reminded me that this year, The Broken Tusk will be 10 20 years old. That's right, 20! I can't count, can I?Just some of the fun stuff that happens when you've been at this business a while.