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Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

You are here: Home / Neil is awesome / Item # six million and ninety-two on the Why Neil is Awesome list

Item # six million and ninety-two on the Why Neil is Awesome list

August 13, 2009 Filed Under: Neil is awesome


When I talked to Neil on the phone last weekend he hinted that I should keep an eye out for something in the mail.

I assumed it was a cartoon. Neil draws the most amazing cartoons (that’s item # six million and seventy-four on the list). It wasn’t.

On Monday, a small white box arrived. It contained four hats and a letter. The first three hats say “The (Character Name Here) Hat,” and the last one says, “The 4th Hat for Jeremy.”

In the letter, Neil says that while I’ve been focusing on Van, now I’ll be juggling support for the book with moving forward with my next projects.

“What should go on today’s list of tasks? What are your responsibilities for the next few days or weeks? What role should you be playing? This is why, in a gesture of congratulations for finishing STAY, I present to you three hats for three characters . . . It is my hope that, when it’s time to wear a different hat, you’ll, well, wear a different hat.”

I left out a bunch of good parts of the letter that are specific to my characters and I’ve blocked out the names of the other two characters in the picture above, because, well, things are subject to change at any time, and I’m not ready for character 2 and character 3 to make their appearance yet, but I am excited about them and can’t wait to tell you more when the time is right.

Neil then writes to the hubs, telling him “I’ve admired your support of Al, and feel that such efforts deserve a hat as well. This is why I present the fourth hat to you.”

And then there is the P.S. “Please note that I’m aware that these are some ugly-ass hats. I’m hoping it’s the thought that counts and shit.”

Don’t you wish you had a Neil? If everyone had a Neil, the world would be a better place, which, by the way, is item # six million and ninety-three on the list.

Oh, and do me a favor – go stick a finger in a nose for Neil. He’d really appreciate it.

2 Comments

Comments

  1. Corinne Bowen says

    August 14, 2009 at 3:33 am

    Wow, I don’t think there could be a more original “congratulations” gift! Nice work, Neil!

    Reply
  2. Courtney says

    August 14, 2009 at 11:00 pm

    What an awesome friend! And now I’m sitting here cracking up over “It’s the thought that counts and shit”. Well done, Neil.

    Reply

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Internationally bestselling author of STAY, WHY CAN'T I BE YOU and SWIMMING FOR SUNLIGHT. THE PEOPLE WE KEEP coming from @gallerybooks on 8/3/2021

Allison Larkin
It’s National Library Week. As a child, the libr It’s National Library Week. As a child, the library was my precious refuge. I took full advantage of the ability to read anything I wanted to while I was in the hallowed halls of a town library. And when I was overwhelmed by classroom life, spending lunch in the school library reading the encyclopedias was my favorite form of self-care. After my first novel came out, a childhood friend sent me a picture (first photo) from my hometown library. I don’t have the right words to explain the pride I feel to know that my own books are on the same shelves that held the books that taught me about storytelling when I was a child. And last year, right before the shutdown, when I popped in to the San Francisco Public Library, I got a little misty-eyed when I found a copy of STAY, with Argo’s beautiful face looking up at me (second photo). It is a powerful thing for our communities to have public libraries and the support of librarians who work so hard to cultivate safe spaces and free access to information and literature. Happy National Library Week to all of you. #nationallibraryweek
My dear old friend made it up on the bed, so that’s where we’re working today. #dailystelladog #germanshepherdsofinstagram #olddogsarethebestdogs
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