Happy New Year from a Gridley Girl…

I’ve just arrived back in blustery Minnesota from another Christmas and New Year at home in California and I’m feeling sentimental.  So I thought I’d write to tell you all thank you.

I’m overwhelmed with the support of my family and friends at the launch of the e-book.  To me, this is like the Little Engine That Could.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.  That was one of my favorite books as a child and I think it had an impact on me while writing GRIDLEY GIRLS this past seven and a half years.   There were many times I wanted to give up and go get another recruiting job, but every time I felt that way, I saw my mom’s face and I knew I had to persevere.

I overheard my sister Lori, say to someone, once in the last seven years, “If anyone can get herself published, it will be Meredith, based on sheer will.”  That was such high praise from my perfect sister.  It inspired me to keep on during those dark days when I thought I was insane and didn’t really know what the hell I was doing.  Who was I to just up and quit a lucrative career and think I knew how to write a novel?

Who was I, indeed?  I was the Little Engine That Could.  I was a Gridley Girl.  We live in the best country in the world for girls like me.  All things are possible with hard work and faith.

In this new year, I hope for peace for the families of the victims of tragedies towards children, specifically the families of Newtown, CT.  I don’t know anything about gun violence, but I know a little bit about being in school one day with your best friend and the next she’s gone.  Just gone.

I hope they know that we’re all the Little Engine That Could.  We can all go on.  Always.  Persistence and faith.  That’s my motto.

To all of you Little Engines That Could, I send wishes of a wonderful new year for you and yours.

Y.A.L. (and Y.A.G.)