The Hidden Life

Letter to the reader

Dear Reader, I'm Jessica McDonald, the author of this book. I started writing the Hidden Life when I was eighteen years old. It took almost fifteen years to write the story. You are probably wondering why it took me that long to write it. Well like most people in the world it took a while to find my voice. Just like Meredith, I had to know who I was to finish the story. I remember when I wrote the first line of The Hidden Life. I was at my sister's for the weekend a month after I turned eighteen. I was looking at this little blue notebook with the saying: "what lies before us and what lies behind us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." I kept looking at the empty pages and reading and rereading that little saying over and over again. I heard a voice saying, "Are you going to keep looking at the pretty paper all night or write something?" I thought my sister was awake and asked me that. That voice was Meredith being a smartmouth.. Her world came together very easily as if it was my reality. I know also that there are stories out there with their own voice, their own way of saying things. I also know that even in this day and age people like Meredith and J.G Lights are bashed or treated like crap because of who they are. There are more than enough stories like that on the news. I wanted to show the good side of it. That is why I wrote this book to show there are two sides to everything you read. Not just the bad but the good too. And if you are skipping ahead to read this or certain parts please don't. Because you'll miss out on something that you can learn from even if you aren't... Well I'm not going to say. Just hope you enjoyed the book because as much as Meredith drove me up a wall (And she did make me go crazy nine times out of ten.) The Hidden Life was a great way to find who I am as a person and as a writer. And I hope that if you ever find yourself like Meredith or know someone like her or J.G please don't hurt them. That is all I ask of you reader. Until next time reader

Ps. I wish you the reader to find your own voice whatever it may be so you know the joys I felt as a writer. Just go out into the world and find yourself and never loose who you are.