This morning I woke to a lovely FB message from an author I don’t
know about Driving Her Crazy. She scored it in a goody bag at a conference
and freely admitted that as a staunch Presents reader, she never would have
picked it up to read it otherwise. But she loved it! In fact she neglected her
own writing that day because she just had to finish my book. It was so nice of her to take the time to write and tell
me about it too – we authors have fragile egos and affirmation like this is
such a pick-me-up. Like all the doubts and insecurities and hard slog of
sitting down and writing 50+K words is all actually worth it!
She mentioned also how much she liked the dedication. Which
gave me the idea for this blog. I too love dedications. It’s the first thing I turn
to when I open a book to start reading it and if there’s not one I feel a
little cheated. I feel like I get to know a little something about the author
through dedications or acknowledgements.
I know they’re incredibly important to me as a writer. I
spend a lot of time thinking about my dedications and they all mean something.
Often they’re very deep and personal. For example, I dedicated How To Mend A
Broken Heart - a book about the emotional fallout in a relationship after the
death of a child - to a friend of mine who had lost a child. I dedicated The Devil
and The Deep to my baby niece that none of us got to hold or know when she
passed stillborn from this world during the writing of the book. Top-Notch
Surgeon, Pregnant Nurse, which deals with adoption, was dedicated to my BFF who
understands intimately the heartbreak and sacrifice of entrusting your brand
new precious baby to a complete stranger.
And then there’s the one from Driving Her Crazy mentioned
above.
Anyone who’s been following my public Facebook weight loss
saga will understand how personal it was for me.
And finally I thought I’d share this one from my Oct 1st
release from Momentum – Holding Out For A Hero
“For my very own hero, Mark, who has never slayed a dragon,
leapt a tall building in a single bound or caught a bullet in his teeth, but
would if I asked him.”
What about you? Do you like dedications too? Ever read a really
good one you’d like to share?
