On Christmas break, my best friend, Kelly Burch, and I were living in a dismal little furnished apartment. Three days till payday, we had nothing in the kitchen except a bottle of ketchup and a jar of dill pickles. We dug in the sofa cushions, emptied pockets, scrounged in the car floorboard. We came up with $2.54 in change. I took it to the grocery store and bought bologna, a loaf of bread and a can of Cost-Cutter Chicken Noodle Soup. I never looked at small change the same way again.

Several years later, a gentleman came into my life who actually owns the big brass ashtray described in the book. We'd raid the pile of change when we needed coins for parking meters or vending machines. We weren't too proud to roll the coins — just too lazy. I'd often look at that pile of change and remember three days of bologna. I couldn't help thinking how those coins would look to someone who had no money of their own.

Penny is based on no one in particular, but I knew many women like her growing up. (For the record, my mother and grandmother not only worked but handled all the money as well. My mom is so not Penny!)

I first wrote a slightly shorter version of Small Change for a writing contest for the Audio Book Club. It touched on many things that I feel strongly about: making the most of the smallest opportunities; our connection to others; the effects of poverty; the meaning of charity; and the tragic self-silencing of so many women.

I will always be grateful to the Audio Book Club for being the first to say "yes" to my writing. After the audio book was published, I was able to get an agent and find a publisher for the print version.

Small Change also taught me a lesson about appreciating the "small" opportunties in my own life. In all the time I'd been writing, I had been concentrating on writing "big" novels, and almost didn't bother to enter either of these contests. I never expected a short story to open the doors for me. I'm so very glad I was wrong!

So many of you have taken the time to tell me just how much the book meant to you, and I thank you most humbly. Time is a precious commodity and I am grateful that you chose to invest that time in my story.