acknowledgments

Becoming a published author is a lifelong dream for me, but it is one that I never could have accomplished on my own. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the following people for their help and kindness.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank my family for overlooking my many and varied eccentricities and never, even once, trying to have me committed. I’d also like to thank them for unwittingly providing me with unlimited material, even if my agent makes me cut most of it because it’s “too bizarre to be believed.”

I’d like to thank all the wonderful people online who read and commented on my early attempts at writing. Their encouragement was invaluable and I learned more from their constructive feedback than I ever could have from books or writing courses. I’d particularly like to thank the members of the first online writing circle I ever belonged to, a Yahoo group known as Channel D. They stuck by me during some very difficult times in my personal life, and I shall be forever grateful for the friendships I made there.

In my day job, I work in retail, selling products at a very large chain store in the very small town of Warsaw, Missouri. My coworkers there, and also many of our customers, have been following my writing career from its inception. I think some of them are as excited to see this book come out as I am, and I thank them for that.

Specifically, I’d like to thank Roland Davis, who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and never let me give up.

I’d like to thank my editors at Midnight Ink, Terri Bischoff and Connie Hill, for all the hard work they’ve put into this book. I’d also like to thank the remarkably talented Lisa Novak for giving my story such a beautiful cover. (Isn’t she awesome?)

Last, but far from least, I’d like to thank my agent, the fabulous and amazing Janet Reid. She is probably the only shark in the world who makes the water less scary for all the little writer fishes that swim in it with her.

And on a final note, Id like to thank you for reading my book. I hope that you’ll enjoy it.

Loretta Ross

November, 2014