I had hoped not to be writing a post like this. YA author L.K. (Lisa) Madigan, has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. If you didn’t see her blog post last month about this, I hope you can take some time to read it now.

Lisa was a colleague and special comrade. I first met her in 2005 or 2006, I think, at an event for Chris Crutcher at Books, Inc. in Laurel Village, San Francisco. We’d been friends on LiveJournal, part of a community of published and aspiring YA writers. Afterwards, we went out for some food and drink with Jennifer Laughran, who was then a buyer and events person for Books, Inc. That night, if you had told the three of us how our lives would look only a few years later, I think we would be skeptical. Now I know how it went down:

I was blessed with a writer career I never dared imagine for myself. Jennifer became a successful literary agent. Lisa was one of her first clients, and Flash Burnout was Jennifer’s first sale (I think). I had the pleasure of blurbing Flash Burnout, a book I dearly loved. It won the Morris Award for a YA debut.

But that night, Lisa and I walked back to our cars in the dark, talking about our dreams and goals, alcoholic families, the particular joys and complications of having male friends, and the writing life.

Years later, Lisa drove me around Portland and took me out for an amazing South American breakfast. We talked on the phone once about Second Book Psychosis. She showed me the beach near Half Moon Bay where she imagined her mermaid lived. We did an event together at Books, Inc., organized by Jennifer. This time, we were the authors. Our friendship had come full circle, and I’d expected to have her as a peer throughout our careers.

I know that Lisa was reconciled to the idea of her death, if not to having to leave her husband and son, whom she loved so very, very much.

I will miss her presence in the community, which was always graceful and supportive and honest, and funny. And I will miss the work she would have done, the words she would have put out into the world as she continued to refine her craft and vision.

With love and prayers for all who loved her.