People Who Did Me Right

Some good news on the writing front to speak of today. No, it's not about the story I spoke about last week, which is tentatively titled "Time To Go" and of which I'm depressingly making good progress on. It's about my upcoming novel.


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 I'm getting ready to enter the phase that most, if not all, professional and semi-professional writers absolutely dread, but find absolutely necessary: editing.

Specifically, the editing which must be done after the editor that you're working with gets done reading it and making detailed notes about, which in my case, the target date is the end of this week, and thus next week will begin the-pulling-out-my-hair-follicles-with-a-razor-sharp-tweezers phase of this incredible journey to publication.

However, this post isn't about that, this post is about people who did me right. Specifically, the people who have helped me the most in shaping my nascent writing career in the past five years. I shared parts of this particular document with a few of the people already, as I wanted to let them how much they have meant to me, so without further ado, I would like to share with everyone here, the first draft of my acknowledgement page for my upcoming novel.

In no particular order of importance, they are listed as follows, but please note, a few of the people mentioned you know publicly by their pseudonyms, and for the sake of that continuity, I will use those names in this post. However, their real names will be used in the book.

1} Nik Morton: who decided to take a chance on a newbie writer who had exactly two short stories published under his belt, and was gracious enough with his time and advice to make a difference.

2} Elaine Ash: a well known writer and editor, who saw something in my first short story that I'd submitted for a contest and suggested to a fellow writer/editor that it would make a good addition to his e-zine.

3} David Cranmer: another well known writer and editor, who gave me my first big break by publishing my short story "Cedar Mountain" in his well known e-zine Beat To A Pulp back in 2009. That is something that I will always be grateful for.

4} Charles Gramlich: a fine writer and teacher, whose helpful advice and writing tips featured in his blog and his books, helped me in more ways that anyone could possibly imagine.

5} My wife Joanne: even though she suffered through my bouts of aggravation that my writing has caused throughout the years, she has nevertheless been one of my biggest supporters of me trying to be somebody.

6} Riot Kitty: a respected friend and former journalist, who is open minded enough to allow me the rare opportunity to pick her brain about certain aspects of this book, and offered her brutal honesty and editing critique through multiple drafts as well.

7} Gumby The Cat: a friend in the truest sense of the word, was the one individual that got me to take the necessary detour on this journey of writing by offering a heartfelt comment and introducing me to the wonderful world of blogging.

8} Current and former co-workers, other family members and friends: The fact that you thought enough of me over the years to offer your generous opinion of my writing really means a lot to me. I'm glad I was able to leave such a lasting impression on your collective spirit.

8} My blog friends, blog readers and other cyber friends: without your colorful commentary and challenging critique of my writing, I don't think I would be at the point in my writing life that I am now. The fact that you've managed to stick with me for so long speaks volumes about my ability to keep your attention.

9} Finally, to all the naysayers who said I couldn't string more than two words together without screwing up: I managed to string more than two words together without screwing up.