Acknowledgements - Neither Lost Nor Found
I realized its been about a month since I last posted an update. Its been hectic. Saoirse needed her tonsil and adenoids out before she turned 1. School with the big kids has hit its stride and the extra curriculars are slowly taking over all of our spare time. Even still, we escape to the beach every weekend to catch some waves and play in the sand.
On the book front, line edits are finally over. Kay emailed to approve final tweeks to the manuscript. We’re almost there. He asked for Acknowledgements and Dedication Pages. Its weird how real this is all becoming. I’m going to hold the Dedications for the launch but I figured it’d be ok if I shared the Acknowledgements page early. These people all deserve more praise than I can write. There are more too that I wasn’t able to include with the word count. Anyway enough rambling.
Acknowledgements
This book has been accused, more than once, of being too similar to real life. At times, it seems to have blurred the line between a true story and a fictional one. To those who made that accusation, thank you. I choose to take it as a compliment. If these pages feel familiar, perhaps it is because so much of what we experience is one that we share. The people we become, the mistakes we make, the stories we create, those we carry with us and the strange ways we find our way into adulthood.
To Kay K., Milica Jevremovic and the entire Sutra House team for being willing to take a chance on a debut author with a quiet story. I would like to thank my developmental editorial team of Emma Borges-Scott, Avner Landes, Michael McConnell and Dr. Adam Prince. Their feedback across the multiple drafts and years of writing proved invaluable. To Ms. Angela Popernack for allowing me to step down into a part-time teaching role to continue working on the manuscript.
To all of my teachers but specifically Dr. Paul Stonehouse, thank-you for your meticulous feedback on my writing during our time at Simpson University together. To Ms. Amy Gibson for the love of storytelling and to Professor Alan Rose for encouraging me to write the stories that were stuck in my head.
To my father with the shoulders of a giant on whom I now stand. To my mother for trying to keep me honest and focused on attention to details. To my sisters, who were my first and remain my best friends. To my children for their understanding, patience and tolerance of my incessant habit of talking scenes out to myself.
Finally, to my wife, Aisling. You have lived alongside this book in all of its unfinished forms, through the years of writing, rewriting, questioning, and waiting. Your excellence has made me a better man, husband, and father. Whatever is worthwhile in these pages, I am grateful to have written it alongside you.
With you, I am found.
