Now I match my protagonist’s favorite coping mechanism.
This weekend, my best friend suggested we get walk-in tattoos.
I was, of course, immediately on board.
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
I’m not new to tattoos—I have seven now.
Ironically, she ended up getting the same cross tattoo with the name Jesus that I had gotten the year before. Which is funny because I have a long-standing rule: I don’t get matching best friend tattoos.
Apparently, that rule survived exactly one year.
When it came time to decide on mine, I was torn between a bat, a moth, and something else entirely.
Then she looked at me and said, “What about your crane?”
And honestly…that made way too much sense.
The paper crane is everywhere in my life now. It’s part of my branding. It’s on my Jeep. Instead of handing out rubber ducks like many Jeep owners do, I fold paper cranes and leave them for people to find.
Most importantly, it’s woven throughout The Tome of Talula.
Throughout the story, Malik folds paper cranes again and again. They become more than folded paper—they’re quiet acts of hope, apology, grief, and love.
So somewhere between writing the story, building the website, decorating my Jeep, and folding hundreds of cranes…
I ended up getting one tattooed on my arm.
Apparently, I now match my protagonist’s favorite coping mechanism.
(This is a healing tattoo. So give it a few weeks.)
