Today, I want you to meet Meredith!
I change my mind a lot. I change jobs a lot. I move a lot. I am loyal to the people I love, though—I keep them, and I’m grateful they keep me—but when it’s time to change direction, I do. Because I think life is about riding the waves that come, being willing to deviate from the plan, and finding the courage to travel off-path when it makes sense.
My book launch was scheduled for Valentine’s Day. It seemed right—this book is, in part, a love letter to teachers. But the ebook is ready now. So I’m launching it this Saturday, January 31st. The paperback will still come out on Valentine’s Day (I’m waiting on proof copies), but why make you wait to meet these characters?
I am thrilled for you to meet characters like Meredith Appleton, who taught me what it means to change course with grace and courage.
When I write, my favorite characters are the ones who show up and write themselves. They push me out of the way and materialize on the page—like when a tech guru takes control of your computer. Meredith Appleton is that character in The Things We Can’t Erase.
She’s the perfect blend of compassionate (the ideal first-grade teacher) and gutsy. Smart, experienced, not afraid to stand tall, shoulders back, and tell it like it is.
Meredith senses disaster long before her new principal, Greg Galloway, sees it. On the first day back for teachers, she warns him in a hushed whisper, careful not to worry the young, inexperienced teachers in the building. “Five of our sixteen teachers are probationary. The district can prune us down to bare branches without even starting up the chainsaw.”
Later, she stands up to the superintendent in front of the entire staff, “You have ruined this for me, Mr. Stallings. You have made mistakes you cannot erase. You have left scars that will be with me for the rest of my life. You have to live with that.”
Meredith isn’t afraid to call out people in power when they’re wrong. At the same time, she sacrifices her own security for the sake of her young teaching partner fresh out of college. She could play the seniority card. She could wield her authority over novice teachers. But she doesn’t.
In one scene, when corruption trickles down to the kids (as it always does), Greg comforts a sobbing first-grader who is clinging to Meredith’s leg. He squats to make himself eye-level with the little boy, then glances up at Meredith “who covered her mouth and looked like she might shatter into a million pieces…Meredith was one of the toughest people he’d ever met, and this was breaking her.”
That’s when you know the stakes are real. When the toughest person in the room is about to break.
Meredith taught me that pivoting isn’t about giving up—it’s about knowing when to stay and when to go. When to fight and when to protect someone else by stepping aside.
That’s why I moved my launch date. Because sometimes you just know it’s time, and waiting feels wrong.
Want to meet Meredith? The Things We Can’t Erase launches Saturday, January 31st. Preorder here for a special limited-time price meant just for you!
Leave a Reply