blessed to be helped by many people over my lifetime of writing, too many for my fallible memory. Since this is my first published book, I’ll try to acknowledge as many of them as I can here, even if they didn’t directly contribute to this book or series.
I have to begin at the obvious place: with my family. I have the best parents a girl could have asked for in Ken and Millie. Even if they didn’t always know what to make of my super secretive writing hobby, they graciously gave me the space and means to flourish. As avid readers themselves, at least they knew I didn’t fall too far from the tree. ;) And this series would not have been possible without their financial and emotional support. Their faith in me is invaluable.
In my early years, I might never have gotten beyond my first few thousand words without my initial readers: my siblings Tia, Mark, and Jenessa, and my best friend/adopted sister Katelan Tanner. Thanks, guys, for somehow genuinely enjoying my first email-serial novels. I might have kept up with wild daydreams, but you were my motivation to keep typing them out until I became a somewhat decent storyteller. You’ll always be my go-to beta readers.
A few teachers had enough impact to make a mention here. First, once again, my mother, Millie, who was the one who taught me to read, write, and learn. I’ll owe her forever for that. Second, Mrs. M., my favorite high school English teacher, who was convinced I’d be a successful writer one day and almost made me believe it too. The “successful” part remains to be seen, but at least I’m finally making the “writer” part a reality for her now. Third, my teacher for my career exploration class my senior year of high school, who helped me figure out that psychology wasn’t my calling and let me switch my topic to English teaching; though I never became an English teacher, I’m so glad that class convinced me to stick with a writing-adjacent career!
Moving on to my college years, thanks go to Leading Edge for all that I learned there, from slush reading to managing as editor-in-chief; for that latter period, I’m giving all the credit to my “rightwing” Hayley Cousin and “leftwing” Adam McLain. Seriously, I’m pretty sure all three of us knew those two were the real powers behind the throne and were both far more talented and dedicated than me. Thanks for putting up with me anyway, guys. Whatever success we had that year, it was because of you, and I have waited seven long years to tell the world that.
Huge thanks to my BYU writing group: Michela Hunter, Rachael Lynn Buchanan, Brianna Martin, L.B, and (for a short time) Adam McLain. Our sessions together were some of the best fun I had in college and the best encouragement I got at that time to keep writing. Brandon Sanderson gets a mention here for his awesome lecture series at BYU, which I took twice and without which I wouldn’t have found my writing group. Also, what other teacher gives all his students a pizza party at the end of the semester?
On the more “professional” side, I’d like to acknowledge my former supervisor Devan Jensen (BYU’s Religious Studies Center) for giving me such good editing work while I was a student and having such patience with my youthful mistakes and budding professionalism. Devan gets another shout-out for his mentorship of me in the Latter-day Saint Publishing Professionals Association (LDSPPA, now LDSPMA) and connecting me with such great people. Likewise, Steve Piersanti (Berrett-Koehler), whom I also connected with through LDSPPA, for being such a hopeful light in the publishing industry in general and so encouraging to me.
Which rolls into my post-college editing years, with Christopher Robbins and Brooke Jorden from Familius. Christopher was a great boss and still is a great mentor, taking the time to give me advice on publishing this series, asking to read the first book, and connecting me with others in the industry. And I learned heaps from Brooke, Familius’s skilled and gracious managing editor, about substantive editing, the editing and publishing process, and running it all myself when I was her maternity-leave substitute.
There’s a bunch of editors, managers, and mentors I worked with in the intervening years. I hope you all know who you are. This paragraph is for you. Thank you for teaching me so much about work, life, and everything in between. You all were the best coworkers and mentors I could have asked for.
Then we finally get to the actual writing and publishing of this book. (And here I thought I’d somehow keep something short for once. ;) Thanks for bearing with me.)
I’m grateful to Stephanie H. for the use of her wonderful home as the perfect writing retreat. The height of my writing craze for the 400,000-word behemoth that was the first three books of this series was while I was house/pet-sitting for her at the beginning of 2023, when I was able to devote literally every waking hour to writing. And, well…you can see the result. Thanks again, Stephanie! Give the boys some pets for me.
Thanks also go to my family for putting up with my disappearances and my long hours of mental absence, even when I was technically home. Or supposed to be focusing on something else, like instructions on the proper sanding or cutting of baseboards. (Sorry, Mom.) Tia, as always, was a wonderful cheerleader and reminder of my need to eat and sleep and (*cough*) read a good book. ;) She also patiently listened to all my enigmatic exclamations of excitement or frustration before she got to read what I was rambling on about.
Thanks again to Tia and Jenessa for helping me with “research” (little did they know it at the time) by going on a trip to Iceland with me right at the end of it all. You just thought it was a sisters’ retreat, muahahaha! Just kidding, it was totally what it seemed. It just also happened to be good research and the perfect time to finish up my initial review of the behemoth. What better time to make the final touches on the first draft than in the quiet, early hours of the morning, sprawled across the front seats of a campervan in Iceland, while you two were sleeping? And what better place from which to send it out to the family to finally read? (Thank goodness for Wi-Fi hotspots.) And what better way to spend our evenings after our days of Icelandic adventuring than cozy in our heated van reading and laughing about that draft? Ha, you could probably think of better things for that last one, but I’ll always remember those memories with a kind of magical light. Thanks for making that such a special time for me.
I have to once again give thanks to Mom for putting up with the behemoth’s length and ending. Tia might have been the first to finish (I think before we’d even left Iceland), but Mom wins the award for the most emotional investment—for good or ill when it came to her sleep and sanity. Apologies once again, Mom.
Huge thanks once again to former writing group members Michela Hunter and Rachael Lynn Buchanan for temporarily reprising their roles to give me much-needed feedback as writers on this latest project of mine. Rachael’s first-fifty-pages review was prompt and superbly professional, and Michela’s heroic feedback essay (after finishing the behemoth version and undergoing surgery, no less!) was exactly what I needed at the time. That was the moment that I thought I really might just have something. Sometimes when I feel like giving up, I remember a line or two of her profuse encouragement, and I find the will to keep going for just a bit longer.
Katelan Tanner gets a special mention for letting me read the third book to her while I was visiting in the summer of 2023. Besides just being just plain fun, her real-time feedback was helpful and encouraging. I’ll always remember those nights with fondness. Mom, Dad, Tia, and K.M. also listened to me read some of the books as our “audiobook” on that same trip.
Other beta readers who gave feedback on this book include Zabeth Welker, A.C., Mason Stewart, She Who Must Not Be Named, Sondi, Onalisa Tanner, and S.B. Thanks for your time and valuable feedback, one and all!
Special shout-out to sensitivity reader Nadia Koncurat for helping me expound on Sarah’s Latina heritage and for being such a kind and generous person. Sarah couldn’t have a more apt cheerleader and model.
When it comes to the production and publishing of this series, I’d like to thank Jane Friedman for kindly pointing me toward the rapid release model and for having a blog (janefriedman.com) full of down-to-earth wisdom and encouragement for writers. Reedsy also has a fountain of free, helpful resources that answered so many of my questions. I’m truly lucky to be self-publishing at a time when so much knowledge and support is out there, and the writing community is one of the kindest and most generous I’ve encountered. Thanks also go to Rebecca Frank for a fantastic cover that perfectly captured my vision and for accommodating my rapid-release schedule.
Last, but not least, I’d like to thank E. and K.N. for their free office chair. They joked that if I made it big, they expected a mention in the acknowledgements, so here they are, just in case. ;) Here’s hoping their inclusion will bring me the luck to make the other part come true.