On Writing and Storytelling: The Gratitude Tour Continues – Crossing the Atlantic (Virtually) to Thank the ‘Godmother of Reunion: Coda’

Gratitude Tour, Stop #4: Meg Learner — The Godmother of Reunion: Coda

Next, I want to thank someone whose influence on the Garratyverse runs deeper than she probably realizes: Meg Learner, whom I’ve affectionately dubbed the Godmother of Reunion: Coda.

Meg and I first crossed paths years ago on the now-defunct writing site Persona Paper. She lives in Great Britain, so we’ve never met in person, but her presence in my creative life has been steady, generous, and quietly transformative. When she reviewed Reunion: A Story on Amazon back in 2018, she didn’t just praise the structure or the lyricism — though she did that, too. What struck me was how deeply she understood the emotional architecture of the story. She saw the flashbacks, the ache, the restraint, the “sins of omission” theme, and she articulated it with a clarity that stayed with me.

And then she wrote the line that planted a seed I didn’t yet know how to water:

“I would LOVE to see a sequel to this, written from Marty’s point of view. PLEASE?”

At the time, I wasn’t ready. The emotional distance wasn’t there. The architecture hadn’t formed. But her request lodged itself somewhere deep, and it stayed there — quietly, patiently — until the day I finally understood what Coda needed to be.

When Reunion: Coda arrived in 2025, Meg was one of the first to read it. Her review meant the world to me, not just because she enjoyed it, but because she recognized the evolution — the deeper exploration of Marty, the expanded emotional palette, the way music threads through both stories, the way Jim finally learns to speak his heart aloud.

And then, in Comings and Goings, she showed something even rarer: she wasn’t just reading the stories. She was invested in Jim Garraty as a person.

That is the highest compliment a writer can receive.

Meg, thank you for your unwavering support, your insight, your encouragement, and your faith in this world I’ve built. Reunion: Coda exists because you saw the story that wasn’t written yet — and asked for it anyway.