In the past few years, #OwnVoices has gone from a plea for more diverse authors to a shift in how we tell stories, especially in young adult novels. Twenty years ago—heck, three years ago—an author could write about any topic from any perspective, regardless of their personal experience, and the publishing world would be fine with it. But that’s changed.

As a white 40-something woman, I make an effort to have diverse characters, but I have to be mindful of that blurry line where it’s no longer my story to tell. The love interest in my latest book, The Edge Rules, is Mexican-American, so I wrote this letter to my readers explaining why I felt the need to share Xavier’s world.

I lived in Zihuatanejo, a fishing village on the Pacific Ocean in Guerrero, Mexico, for three years and it’s exciting to finally include snippets from that part of my life in a novel. Everything about the way I describe the town is true—at least it was when I left in 2010:

• Lilies really are EVERYWHERE. I had a pair of nightstands with them carved into the sides, and you could go into almost any restaurant and see them.
• The in-home restaurants I ate at weren’t nearly as fancy as the one Brianna and Xavier visited, but the food was just as good.
• I ate so many tortillas when I first moved there that the locals thought I was pregnant. Yes, I had a tortilla baby. (I quickly cut back after that.)
• The Spanish phrases Xavier and Fernando use are ones I said—or heard—every day. I had Xavier’s family come from the town where I lived since so much of dialect is regional, and I wanted it to be accurate.

Now for a story. When I first moved to Mexico in March 2007, my ex and I were living in his parents’ house, which had no running water and zero privacy, and no one except us spoke English. I had minored in Spanish in college, but I hadn’t practiced much in the ten years since I’d graduated, so I didn’t talk much those first couple months

Tortillas were served at every meal, and were eaten in the same way Xavier teaches Brianna: fold it in half and tear, then tear those halves in half so you have four pieces. Then you use a piece to scoop up your food. It’s tricky to get the hang of if you’ve only ever used utensils, and needless to say, it took me a lot of tortillas to get through a meal (see the earlier comment about my tortilla baby).

About three weeks after we arrived, I commented that I didn’t want to eat as many tortillas (because people thought I was pregnant), and my ex said, “oh, did you want a fork?” My jaw dropped and my eyes went wide. I believe my words were, “WE HAVE FORKS?” My tortilla baby quickly went away and I learned to limit myself to three (or five) tortillas per meal.

I’ve been gone almost nine years, and I still miss the food. Bringing it to life for my readers—gambas con ajillo and molé con pollo are my favorite—was a pleasure.

Learn more about The Edge Rules or read the first chapter. (Or just buy it!)