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To collaborate to create a book like
this. I mean, this book is

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so perfect for modern times because there's
a lot of things in this book that

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we can learn from. And I
mean to come together and make this book

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happen. How I mean, I
mean, is it like what Hollywood says

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it takes it takes magic to make
a movie work. Well, it definitely

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took some magic. I will say
that we had to really dig deep here

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because you know, we're both too
very different writers. We're friends, right,

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but we had to really find a
way to make our craft work together.

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And I'm a plotter, which means
like I outline every story I'm writing

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before I actually start writing. And
Catherine, you're not so much right,

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you have like a little a different
approach. And I'll let her talk about

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that a little bit. But in
the end, we found a way to

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make the process work for both of
us. And I think, I think

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as what's most important, how do
you laid out? Catherine? Yeah,

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I am a little bit more on
the seat of my pants kind of thing

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and see where the story takes me. And also I think my background in

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journalism has kind of led to that
as well. Where I before I did

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Rebecca not Becky. I had made
a documentary and I was really just sort

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of following what happened, and so
I think I took that into the novel,

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writing of like, let's see where
these characters go. But that does

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not work when you were writing something
with someone. And I love how you

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framed it as magic, because you
know, there is a lot of that

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where you think by the end of
it, when you finish. And now

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that we're in this moment where we're
talking about the book and it's so well

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received and we're having these great conversations
with people about the things that come up

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to them in the book, you
can start to kind of forget about how

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hard it was. That's actually bring
it together. But we made it work.

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The book itself. Right when you
walk into the bookstore, it catches

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your attention because you're you know,
you see Rebecca not Becky, and right

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away your your imagination is going,
well, what's this one about? Most

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books you just walk by this one, you actually pick it up and you

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go really and then and then you
find yourself going, I we're living this

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and and and I think that's so
so this time around. The book cover

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really does serve as that free ticket
to ride amazing. We love to hear

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that we were very much involved in
the collaboration on that book cover, and

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you know, we think it speaks
directly to the story to Rebecca as a

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white woman, a character DeAndrea,
both of them as mothers and looking out

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over at this playground in these rolling
hills, which is you know, rolling

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Hills is the fictional setting for the
book and it you know, even right

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down to the white picket fence,
right, And so we wanted the cover

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to really draw readers in and to
be curious about it. So glad to

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know that it's doing just that.
Did your editor come with rules saying okay,

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well, I know that you guys
are gonna be touching a very high

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subject, but we've got to keep
it on the up and up. But

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at the same time we have we
have to make sure that we, you

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know, don't start anything. No. I think that was us. They

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trusted us wholeheartedly, as you know, practitioners and folks have who have been

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doing this work for a very long
time. I think Catherine and I really

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came in with like, here is
what we know this book needs to do.

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And then it's like, how do
we get there, and you know,

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because we want the book to foster
conversations. I leaned on Catherine pretty

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heavily in that regard because you know, this that is her area of expertise.

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It's facilitating difficult dialogue. So Katherine, I'd love for you to share

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a bit more about that. Yeah, you know, there were a lot

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of people who kind of jumped on
the bandwagon, so to speak, in

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terms of saying like, oh okay. After George Floyd, there was this

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urgency to engage in this work.
And while we welcomed a lot more people

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into the movement, which was which
was really important, we also found that

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a lot of people were jumping in
and not doing it with a ton of

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information and knowledge and analysis, and
so we really wanted to help provide a

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way for people to have these conversations
in a different ways. We weren't only

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living online, right, They're going
online. You can get a lot of

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information that's really important. There's plenty
of books and podcasts and films that can

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educate us. And then really it's
in the meaning making when we come together

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and talk about these issues. And
so that was really important to us.

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And because we had been in this
work for so long, as Christine said,

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the publisher really trusted us, and
I think in a lot of ways,

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you know, the team, the
editing team and our agents, and

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they learned as well while reading the
book, So that was really important to

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us. Well, you bring up
a really interesting subject here that I hope

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becomes a big conversation starter, even
even with the daytimes talk shows, And

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that is the task of making a
blank friend. And I've sat back many

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times just thinking about that if I
could, what would it be, how

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would it be and how can we
get to grow forward in this day where

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there's so much ghosting going on.
Yeah, I think what was really important

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for us to show with this,
you know, this dynamic of wanting to

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have an interracial friendship, understanding how
important it is to have interracial friendships,

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right, We really wanted to show
what that looks like because I think so

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often, you know, folks come
across people like me and Catherine. I

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can think of so many other friends
that we have who have you know,

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these inner wonderful interracial friendships and people
who are genuinely friends and people who they

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trust, and they're just like,
how did y'all get there? You know

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what I mean, and so we
wanted to show here is what that looks

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like, right like, and sometimes
it is bumpy, sometimes it is uncomfortable.

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Sometimes you are going to look back
and have cringe moments, right and

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understanding that you're coming in with a
lot of preconceived notions. Your own lived

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experience is your own history and baggage, right and you know, like the

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of any friendship, that trust has
to be there, and that trust is

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earned over time, right and me
it allows it means that I can show

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up honestly and authentically and I can
say some of the hard things during times

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of racial strife, you know,
I can trust through an ally Like,

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There's so many layers and complexities to
it, and I think we really wanted

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to show how that came about,
and not just from you know, Deandrea's

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perspective, right as a black woman, like, oh, I'm in this

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new town, there's all these white
folks. Are one of them? How

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am I going to be friends with
one? But also, you know,

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I think Catherine had a very real
responsibility with her character Becky and what she

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showed, you know, with her
wanting to develop inter racial friendships as well.

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I just want to add that when
Rebecca sets out to say I'm going

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to make a black friend, what
she does with that in leading her is

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missing out on all that DeAndre is
in addition to being a black one,

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She's a woman who is black.
And when we do that and we set

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out to do it that way,
then we lose the chance of authenticity in

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the relationship. I'll tell you one
of the things that I love doing in

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getting with the community is I I'll
sit there and challenge people if you really

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want to know how to be friends
with every generation as well as every nation,

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and that is, go get a
job at a grocery store. Sit

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there on that register, because everybody
in your community is going to come by

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you, and every one of them
have a story. Now build up your

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personality and become stronger in the community. I love what you're saying there because

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and it points to the fact that
we are very segregated society still, and

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so it is, you know,
it's very hard to say, oh,

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I want to go and have a
blank type of friend and go and seek

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that out and lead with that when
everything around us tends to be we really

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do silo ourselves. Yeah, And
the question is also I think why,

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right, Like, are you looking
for a good friend or are you looking

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for a friend of a certain color
for what reason? Right? Or you

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know what I mean? Like,
because I think that is you know,

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one of the things Catherine said early
on when we were, you know,

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developing this story, and she said, you know, this has to be

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a story that doesn't ignore race,
right, And so that sort of became

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the framing of the book. And
you know, at the end of the

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day, what these women discover,
you know, after you know, they

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go through a lot of this pumpiness
that we're talking about, is that they

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have so much in common. Right. But if we lead with I want

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I want a white friend, I
want a black friend, right, Like,

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that's it, right, Like we
want to show, like you want

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someone like all your friends, you
have things in common that you can learn

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from each other, right, Like
this is someone I can trust, this

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is you know. So we really
wanted to show like the the nuances of

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friendship, right and again, just
not ignore race. Yeah. Yeah.

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One of the reasons why I feel
like if this book is so important right

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now is because over the past couple
of years, our entire layout of cities

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has changed, and I think that
I would love to see the research behind

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how many of the brown friends are
going to be reading this book, because

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they also want to be included,
and we want to include them as well.

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But we feel like, oh,
the headlines are saying this evil,

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evil, evil, when in fact
they're just as human as the rest of

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us. Oh, Catherine, I
mean jump in, because we have we

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woven some brown friend. We took
all of this consideration. So, Kathin,

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I'd love for you to talk about
some of Becky's friends and how that's

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explored. Yeah, I mean,
Rebecca and DeAndrea live in a fictional predominant

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white suburb, but before DeAndre moves
there, I mean Rebecca has there are

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other moms in the school, and
she has a close friend who is Asian

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American adopted raised by white parents,
and she has you know, there's a

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there's moms who are who are Indian
and their moms who are Latina, and

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then a lot of other variations.
There are same sub couples and adoptive families

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and all of this going on,
and that is very much a part of

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the conversation of so where do we
all belong in this? And how do

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we stand up for one another?
And how do we show up for one

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another while again not ignoring race,
but acknowledging that it is a part of

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everyone's experience, and we want to
make sure that we're doing right by each

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other and not actually coming at each
other in terms of like a competition of

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who can do better, who can
be a better ally, whose struggles are

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harder than others, And really again
it's it's all about community. Are you

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taking the book to the next level
in the way of creating a website where

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we can keep the conversation going,
Well, we're actually going to be going

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on the road to have somebody Yeah, yeah, we know that. You

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know, some of some of the
best in some of the best work that

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we've done has been in being in
community with folks right and being in these

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safe spaces where they can ask some
of these conversations and you know, we

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can really help guide and facilitate the
discussion. And it's also one of the

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reasons why you know, at a
few stops we are having moderators and some

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of these folks are you know,
individuals who Katherine and I have worked with

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in the past, But for the
most part, we are going to be

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guiding these conversations because we know people
want to ask the questions and more than

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happy to give them the answers.
Wow, So what is the website where

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people can find out more about you
and find out more of where your tour

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is going to be going? Well? For me? You can find me

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at I am Christine Platt dot com
and I am on Instagram same handle at

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I am Christine Platt and Katherine Yes, and you can find me at Katherine

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Wigintongreen dot com and I am Katherine
Wiganton on Instagram. And we are keeping

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the conversation going in those ways and
online, and we do. We are

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most excited about engaging with readers in
these conversations and helping communities have these conversations

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with one another centered around what comes
up in the book and then taking it

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even further and saying, what is
this? How does this show up in

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our in our world? I love
it, I love where your hearts are

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I do, I really do?
You got to come back to this show

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anytime in the future. This platform
is always going to be open for you.

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Thank you so much, Thank you. Will you guys be brilliant today?

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Okay you too? Thanks right,
have a great day. Bye bye. Bye,