The Thank You Speech

Feb 28, 2011

I didn’t watch the Oscars this year. I don’t watch them most years. But I did see clips, and of course the clips were of a couple of thank-you speeches. We authors have an advantage over actors, in that we get to thank people in our books whether we win any awards or not. I suppose that’s a good thing. I wouldn’t like to see a little video at the beginning of a film with Bruce Willis saying “Thanks Mom!” before he started to blow shit up.

Personally, I always read acknowledgement and dedication pages. I am not sure why. Usually the list of names won’t mean that much to me. But I like imagining the author pounding away at a keyboard, surrounded by people who chime in with thoughts, help, or the occasional cup of tea. I think I also like the secret peek into someone else’s life. We get just a glimpse of what’s important to the author.

I take my acknowledgements seriously. I draft and redraft those pages. Add names, take names out, write witty stuff, then delete it, deciding it’s too precious. It’s a bit odd, deciding who to thank. I’m always afraid someone will be hurt if they aren’t on the list, or creeped out if they are. The people who help me with my research, well, they’re a given. Blood Faerie would be a pretty sad catalogue of inaccuracies without the help of Inspector Dorian Marshall of the Tayside Police, for example. I particularly liked the way he didn’t outright mock me if I got something wrong. (Although he did give a bit of a snort when I called a “team of specialist searchers” “searchy-guys” in an email to him.)

But what about the other people? Those fabulous folks who are my everyday influences? That’s a much trickier thing. I honestly wish I could put every one of your names on that page. Sadly, my publisher (in a fit of common sense) only allows the Acknowledgement section to be so long.

Here’s the official page for Ordinary Angels:

Acknowledgements

Warm, heartfelt thanks to: Marsha Moore and Mollie Bryan for helping me through those early drafts, Jill Watt for letting me borrow her car and her mailman, and Daniel Mahgerefteh for showing me the secret life of a Tuesday dancer. To John Ponderoyn, Ute-Christine Klehe, and Rhonda Kurz: You were there at the beginning of this writer’s journey, before this story was even a twinkle in my eye. Thank you. Most of all I owe deep gratitude to Kate McIntire. Your never-failing faith and encouragement made so many things possible, including this book.

Marsha and Mollie were my very first Beta readers and the ones that let me cry on their shoulders when Ordinary Angels was still in that torturous query stage. Jill was the one who gave me the idea of the mailman. (In Ordinary Angels, one of my angels takes the place of a mailman to keep him from getting killed.) Although I don’t think Jill’s mailman has ever had death-threats of any kind, we had a few hilarious conversations about the way he would flirt with her at work. (I completely made up his character flaws and vexatious ex-girlfriend though. Just, yanno, in case he ever reads this. LOL) Daniel is a physicist and salsa dancer. The seeds of the first-date scene in the book came from him. John, Ute, and Rhonda were members of the very first critique group I’ve ever belonged to. Without them, I really don’t think I would have ever gotten published. Kate, as you may know, is my mum. The very first storyteller in my life.

Looking at this list, I know a lot more people did really selfless things while I was writing this book and had a profound influence on it. Like Carisa and the way she listened to me gripe and put up with me being a bad friend when I was deep in composition mode and didn’t answer her IMs. Peter put up with a three hour phone call once in which I railed about a plot point I couldn’t work out. A Certain Highlander let me read the book OUT LOUD to him. (I don’t feel bad about skipping him though, because he got the whole dedication to himself.) And then there are all the bloggers, reviewers, facebookers and tweeters that have become my support through this process. And what about my Fellow Writer’s group on Facebook? It’s a new addition to my routine, but it’s become an important part of my writing day. Then there’s my editor Antonia. We banged that book back and forth so many times I lost count. She’s mentioned in the book credits, but she also gets my personal thanks as well. Sure she got paid for her work, but she did it well and she did it with care.

See what I mean? No WAY would my publisher let me go on and on like this. And I’m absolutely positive that the moment I hit ‘publish’ on this blog post, I’m going to remember about five people who deserve to be added to the list as well.

So, I just want to say THANK YOU. Even if you think I couldn’t possibly be talking to you, I am. Just being here, reading this makes you a part of my process and a big reason that I do what I do. I don’t write for me, I write for you. But in turn you have given me part of yourself, a moment (or a few hours) of your time. I really do appreciate it.

Question: Do you read acknowledgements and dedications, or do you skip them and get straight to the story?