READERS AND FRIENDS OFTEN ASK ME how long it takes to write a book. Turns out it depends on the book.
THIS one took more than a decade. And if you looked back at that first draft (which I’d thank you to burn) you’d recognize little beyond the names of characters and the setting. Because this was my first book, and while it might not have been absolutely awful, it certainly wasn’t very good.
But I was determined to save it—felt I was meant to save it.
There was a point when I seriously considered scrapping the whole story and starting over, but I’m stubborn (just ask my family) and not a little determined. So, bit by bit, Ella found her way and so did I.
Both of us want to thank everyone who kept the story alive, starting with those early readers—Meg Barbour, Christy Bennett, Anne Riddell, Judy Ross, and Anne Smith—to my last beta reader, Brandy Heineman. Thank you all.
I especially appreciate my agent, Wendy Lawton, who agreed that resuscitation was possible, and my editor, Dave Long, who believed me when I said I could save the story. I hope ya’ll aren’t sorry you let me pull out the paddles and give it one more shock.
Mostly, though, I want to thank my husband and my parents, who loved this story from the day I first wrote THE END, little knowing how far off that actually was. Jim is my best friend, and when he tells me he’s proud of me—well, I tear up just thinking about it. Mom and Dad are my biggest cheerleaders and the ones who helped build the foundation all my stories are built upon.
Of course, when it’s all said and done, like Ella, all I can do is claim to have been obedient (eventually, grudgingly, haltingly) to what I’d been called to do. If I did it well, the credit is entirely vertical.