There are a great many people to whom I owe a hefty debt of gratitude for the fact that in just a few months I’ll be able to walk into my local indie and see a piece of my heart on the shelf. Each and every one of those people (Hopefully! Good glory, you would not believe the nightmares!) will be thanked in my acknowledgments. But there are a few standouts that have bolstered me when I wanted to give up, celebrated with me as I succeeded, and allowed me to be honest when the dream come true was harder than I anticipated (for someone who likes to be in control, being on submission is… not fun).
1. My husband. I can say for a certainty that he’s read the book almost as many times as I have, and each time, his suggestions make my work better. He makes my action scenes more heart-pounding, my kissing scenes steamier, and pretty much every time someone compliments me on a joke in the book, it’s something he suggested.
2. My family. Much like my husband, my family has been endlessly supportive of my work. My parents, much like my husband, have read The Diminished in MANY iterations over the years. They understand when I go into a writing hole and don’t call for days or weeks at a time, they let me go through my childhood with my nose in a book, and they were even okay with my decision to pick up and move halfway around the world with a person I’d known for less than a year. (More on that later.)
3. My writerly pals. I won’t go into detail because acknowledgmentspoilers, but there have been so many people along the way who’ve helped me rip this book apart and put it back together, better and shinier than it was before. I’m grateful to the people who’ve helped me learn the business of publishing and have helped me survive submission and revision and everything in between. You know who you are.
4. My teachers. I am a creature who craves criticism, and theirs are the voices that have echoed through my skull throughout this process.
5. Mr. Jung. In 2012, my then-boyfriend, now-husband said that he wanted to move to South Korea to teach, and I wasn’t about to say no to an adventure. Mr. Jung gave us jobs and an apartment, but more than that, he gave us time, space, and stability. It was in the two years we spent teaching in Incheon that I wrote my first (now trunked) novel, and started working on The Diminished. It was there that I found my writing voice, and for that, I will be forever grateful.
