This book is a result of life lessons and learning and hard truths and lots and lots of love. It would not have been possible for me to write Dragon’s story without having experienced the teeniest bit of it myself as a teacher working with low-income students. One year in particular, I will never forget sitting around a meeting table in a conference room with tears streaming down my cheeks because I was so frustrated with a certain student and my inability to help him. But my principal, assistant principal, school counselor, and teaching partner-in-crime were in it with me—all the way. And together we learned how to help this child manage his emotions, at least while he was in our care. So, thank you Gary, Kim, Lindsay, Heather, and the many students who taught me valuable lessons over the years about what it means to be human and the power that our stories hold. You’ll remain an important part of my life story and my ever-expanding worldview. Always.
Thank you to my first readers: Mom, Aunt Heather, Aunt Lucy, Ashley, Megan, Heather H., Jillian, and Kristy. You all filled me with such encouragement while also pushing me to make this the best book it could be. Also—young writers—heed this advice: find yourself a group of writers who build you up and help hone your craft. To Jillian, Marie, and Dorothy: thank you for your patience. I love reading your words as much as I love getting feedback from you about mine, and I love that we are literally spread all over the world but stay connected through our stories and our positivity. And to Erica, my life-long friend and blogger extraordinaire: thank you for teaching me how to use my words well.
Thank you to Joyce and Eddie at Abydos, and to Joanna and Kristy and Heather and Brandi for showing me that I was a writer, and for teaching me how to awaken my students’ inner writers, too.
A huge thank you to my agent, Amy Brewer, and the whole team at Metamorphosis. Amy, you took a chance on a brand-new, nervous and bumbling stay-at-home-mom author, and you helped transform my writing in a way I will never be able to properly thank you for. Thank you for always being excited to read what I’ve written and always promoting your writers.
To my Fawkes Press team and new family, I am so grateful for you. Twyla Beth, I cannot fully express my thanks for your constant encouragement, your constant words of advice, your friendship, and your editing expertise. I feel so blessed to know you and work with you. Jodi, you are an amazing woman, leading this publishing house and all of us well. My Storied Year couldn’t be in better hands.
And lastly, thank you to my family. My mom, dad, and sister Anna have cheered me on from the very beginning, never doubting I could actually write a book and get it published. To Hesston, my love, thank you for being patient when the writing frenzy takes over, when I wake in the middle of the night with a new thought that I have to record right then or lose forever, when I take over the kitchen table with page after page of edits. And finally, to my babies, McKinley and Bradley—the loves of my life, the joys of my heart. You are why I pursue this passion, so you can have a mom who is full of life and creativity.