The year everything changed. I think we all have years like that, when our lives splinter in to very clear befores and afters. One of those years for me was when I wrote Garden Spells, the first Waverley Sisters book. It began as a simple story about two sisters reconnecting after many years. Then the apple tree started throwing apples and the story took on a life of its own, and my life hasn’t been the same since.
For the befores and afters that made First Frost possible, many thanks to my mom, Louise; my Dad, Zack; Sydney Allen; Hanna Allen; Michelle Pittman; Heidi Caramack; Billy Swilling; the Loopy Duetters, for their support during the bone-dry writing years; Andrea Cirillo, Kelly Harms and everyone at the Jane Rotrosen Agency, for taking a chance on a strange little garden book; Shauna Summers, Nita Taublib, Irwin Applebaum and everyone at Bantam, for feeding and watering it and making it grow; the amazing Jen Enderlin, for giving new life to a cranky old apple tree, and the whole team at St. Martin’s Press, for your good humor and creativity. Most of all, to my readers, for your unfaltering support and enthusiasm for Garden Spells, without which I never would have stopped and asked, What happened after?
Lastly, I can’t think of a year everything changed more than in 2011, when I was diagnosed with cancer. My life before and my life after are so vastly different that sometimes I think they were lived by two separate people. Many of you have been with me on this journey from the beginning, many joined me in the middle, and many have come in after. To all of you, I want to say a special thanks for being a part of my life—before, after, and everywhere in between.
I just celebrated my third year in remission.