Acknowledgements for Grey Stone

In many books, there is an acknowledgements page. Grey Stone doesn’t have one. And so I wanted to take a minute to thank a bunch of the people who made the book possible and more enjoyable. First, I’d like to thank my co-writer Jake for his great idea and inviting me into the journey of shapeshifting monarchs and talking dogs. Co-authoring a book could be a crazy hot mess, but Jake was always upbeat and full of ideas–the perfect sounding board when I got stuck and always positive and flexible. I’d also like to thank our tween/teenage kids for reading and loving the book. When Mark first read through a very rough draft of the book, he would occasionally stop and do a little air sword play. That made my geeky heart soar and gave me the encouragement to keep hammering this book into something that would satisfy both air-sword-playing 11-year-olds as well as their older counterparts. Along that line, I want to thank my beta readers: Becca, Emilee, Catherine, Vanessa, Anna-Lisa, and Rebecca. They gave valuable input and support to the book. Thank you. In addition to these ladies, I’ve had tons of support from friends far and wide, new and old. It’s been touching, emotional at times for me to see the love and enthusiasm (and helpfulness) exhibited by people I haven’t seen face to face for years. I have truly amazing friends.

I’d like to thank the folks at Ink Smith for choosing Grey Stone as the winner of their first ever Ink Smith Publishing book award. An especial thank you goes out to my editor Corinne and my publisher Ashley.

And finally, I’d like to thank my family. I mean, I knew my relatives had to support me and maybe buy a book or whatever, but everyone has risen above and beyond. My dad knew the book was up for pre-sale before I did (and I was checking pretty compulsively). My siblings have promoted the book like little marketing monsters and have even given me some much needed tech and social media support. Bec, Katie, Jake, and Barry–you are the best brothers and sisters in the world. But the support hasn’t come only from grown-ups. My older children have cheered me on, read different versions of the book, and told me that it definitely deserves to become a bestseller (thank you, my sweet ones, even if you are a little biased). They’ve also given me tons of good recommendations for fantastic teen books to read (because they read faster than I do) and they remind me constantly of the magic and fantasy that is in our very own world. All my children–young and old–have waited through the moments when I’ve stared dead-eyed at my screen, trying to fix a problem with the book or figure out how the heck Twitter really works anyway (still working on that one). They’ve encouraged me and even included this book in their prayers at night. There’s almost nothing better than a little voice praying that Mommy’s book will be published and make lots of money (might have to wait on the Lord a little on that last one, but I’m a patient person…). And while we’re on the subject, I’d like to say that God has been good to me, blessing me even through difficult times. Everything I’ve learned from Him and done for Him has made my life better.

And then, of course, the final thank you goes to my husband. He’s always believed in me, given me foot massages when I’m tense, listened to way too many random ideas way too late at night, and hugged his way through a little more crying than I’d like to cop to. Thank you, Kip. Life would never be as good without you.