I just wanted to take a moment and thank each and every one of you who either imed, emailed, came to novelspotters, bought my book, won my book, posted something in my blog, made your IM name pretty–as in “Buy Rae’s Book” or talked about me on your blog and just all around made the first day of my first book–launch such a wonderful and memorable experience. ( I can see my editor cringing at that sentence. ) But seriously, each and every one of you ROCK! So thank you!
In the dedication, I actually needed about five pages or more to thank a ton of you. But, people aren’t paying to read a dedication and this isn’t the inside of a CD jacket. I plan on having a lot more books out in the future, but I also wanted to take a moment and thank some extremely important people who have held my hand, the bucket, given me a shoulder and just been there for me when I needed them–which is a lot.
To my ‘sassy’ Stace. You have read just about everything I’ve ever written. To the long, drawn-out notes, to the silly ones, to the false starts and finally to THE ENDS. You never lost faith in me, even when I did. Our past has fueled and sparked my creativity in more ways than one.
To JoJo: You will always be the little sister that I never had. You’re growing into such a beautiful and mature woman. You’ve also given me fodder for books, been there when I needed you and you have the best music collection and know exactly the right songs to fit the scene or mood I need. Without you, the titles to my first three books wouldn’t have even sprung to mind.
To Heather L & Jayne: Thank you for taking a young, unruly wanna-be and turning her into a gonna-bee and eventually into a beez-kneez. You two were the very first people to greet me when I stumbled upon the ‘boards’ and thought I knew it all. Without your guidance, faith and ability to shine the rusted parts, I may still be aimlessly wandering around thinking I knew it all.
To Kate Walker, Patricia McLinn, Lori Wilde, Holly Jacobs, Tori Carrington, Cathie Linz, Valerie Parv, Maggie Shayne, Karen Templeton, Erica Orloff, Cathy Yardley, Mia Zachary and countless others for sharing your wisdom, your faith and most importantly your friendship.
To the beez. Keep buzzing in the hive and making honey.
To FY. You’re my soul-sisters and I heart you all.
To The Belfry Collective. You’re the very best and supportive friends/sisters/critique partners on the web and I am blessed to be part of such a great group of talented, creative and hilarious women.
Shannon Stacey, thank you from my heart for giving me the push I needed. Without you, I would still be wandering around.
Danica, I am so glad that you found what you needed too. There is no doubt in my mind that if you write it, you will sell it. You were born for greater things and you just need to trust yourself a little bit more and listen to HIM.
Steph, you’ve been a blessing and a leaning post. You helped me so much with this book, I can’t even begin to thank you enough. Your day is coming, my friend. =)
( Some of you are in the actual book dedication, but if I forgot anyone, you can beat me later )
