Dedicated to....

I got an email today from my publisher letting me know my ARC was ready to send to the printer and was all set to be uploaded to NetGalley (NetGalley is a place where readers can access Advanced Reading Copies of your book to then review it for their platforms or for Goodreads) but that all I was missing was my acknowledgements and my dedication.

"Could you have that to me by the end of today?" Now, to be fair, she'd mentioned the dedication and the acknowledgements sections a few times over the past month, but seeing as how December is really the "let's circle back in the New Year" kind of month, I wasn't all that concerned about getting those things to her all that quickly.

On top of which, I've never written an acknowledgement section, so I really had no idea where to even start. I've looked at dedications and the acknowledgements of some of my favorite authors over the past few weeks, but the problem I kept running into is all of my favorite authors have been authors for quite some time. Many years, in fact. And here I am, Becky Brand New, trying to figure out how to write a funny, meaningful dedication and acknowledgements even though I don't have that much of an audience and I have no other books to my name (yet).

It's harder than it sounds.

I managed to piece together some of my thoughts, thanking my agent and my publisher as well as my children for putting up with the fact that for the entirety of 2020 and 2021, I was basically glued to my computer. And my spouse, of course. But I can't shake the feeling I forgot someone. That I'm not being grateful enough.

So this is just my pre-emptive thank you. Just in case I forgot one of the many people that helped get this novel from a crude outline to a fledgling rough draft to its final iteration that might as some point grace a few bookshelves, know that I am forever humbled and grateful for you.