Acknowledgements

Because words really do matter

Photo by Simon Maage on Unsplash

I’m in the home stretch to publish my third novel. Tomorrow morning is the big cover art reveal with my designer, which means I have a very short time to get the interior formatted.

Which means finishing up the acknowledgements.

I found it challenging with the first book and it hasn’t gotten any easier. I think about the people at awards shows who have their comments cut off by music and commercials because they just bang on and on. I don’t want to write too much, yet it’s important to acknowledge the people without whom the work would simply not exist.

Because words matter. Because people matter.

And these words will be in print for a long time (says the hopeful author). They matter to me, and I imagine they will matter to others. So on my Thursday night when I ordinarily write my Substack essay, I spent the time writing the Acknowledgements for A Thistle in the Cevennes, book three of the Blooming series. This isn’t my typical essay, but I hope you will enjoy it.

And if these words prompt you to acknowledge someone in your life, then that’s a job well done.

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WARNING: Spoiler alerts (sort of)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book challenged me in so many ways.

First, my life is nothing like Susana’s. I have gone through two divorces—married fifteen years the first time and nearly twelve years the second. While I don’t personally have the experience Susana and Enrique had, my parents would have celebrated their fifty-first anniversary two weeks after my mom died from cancer in 2011. Their marriage was far from perfect, yet I was fortunate to watch them work through their hard times and love each other deeply, especially the last ten years when my mother was so sick.

Second, I needed to do a lot more research for this story than the others. I knew next to nothing about the garment industry or its dirty secrets around forced and child labor. Thankfully, my friend Diane Osgood, PhD is a pioneer in sustainability and climate impact strategy. She is the author of Your Shopping Superpower (2025, Health Communications Inc, distributed by Simon and Schuster) and generously gave of her time and expertise to get me up to speed. I’m deeply grateful for her help. Any errors in the scenes between Susana and Liscia are mine alone.

Lastly, Susana is clearly everyone’s favorite character. My wonderful beta readers were not happy! No one wanted to see her get bullied by the Miles Porter Gelbarr partners—nor did they enjoy watching her lose her way. There were ferocious bits of feedback after her phone call with the drunken Peter. Everyone loves her strength and grit, so it was tough to see their favorite allowing the executives at MPG and Liscia treat her so badly, or to see Enrique take her for granted.

But this is a romance novel, so we all know there’s a happily ever after.

Thank you to my wonderful editor, Michelle Meade. Perhaps Susana’s most fervent fan, she made sure that everyone (especially Azalea and Enrique) treated the hero appropriately and got their comeuppance when they didn’t! Thank you also to the one and only Samantha Sanderson-Marshall for her incredible design. Readers adore these covers, and I think there were as many fans awaiting the artwork as they were the story!

I am very grateful to my long-time readers who have fallen in love with these women. A special thank you to Janis Farmer, who has faithfully read every single draft. Your encouragement means the world!

Thank you to Alison Cooper, who is pretty much Susana IRL. Your gutsy, sassy approach to life has been a great model for her character and a blessing to me.

Let me take a moment to single out the wonderful people of the Cevennes. It’s no exaggeration to say that my visits to the Feliz Café changed my life. There is something so pastoral, so idyllic about a small community gathering around food and music that suffuses one’s soul. The time I was able to donate to the café meal by baking bread pudding with my writing friends (thank you again, Diane!) remains a highlight of my visits.

As always, my thanks to Ted, my loving husband who never fails to encourage me to keep putting pen to paper—or fingers to keyboard—to bring these stories to life. It is pure joy to experience my own late in life love story. We may not get thirty years, but we make the most of every single day.

And to all the fans of the Blooming series: Thank you for following these wonderful women. I hope that you have Azaleas, Saras, Susanas, and Laurens in your life, those who prove that the most profound lessons bloom in the hearts of women who open themselves to friendship and to love.

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COMMERCIAL BREAK

If you’re in the central Florida area, I’d love to meet you and share more about midlife reinvention and my contemporary romance novels, Bread Pudding in Barcelona and Something Will Sing to Your Heart. It’s never too late to be who you’ve always dreamed of being.

• Launch Events for A Thistle in the Cevennes, April dates and locations TBD

• Storyteller Summit, 11 April, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

  Oviedo Mall, 1700 Oviedo Mall Blvd, Oviedo FL 32765

• The Book End at the Daytona Beach Arts Fest, 12 April, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

  Downtown Daytona Beach, FL

• Vision & Heels book club, 16 May, 10:00 am

  St. Augustine, FL

• Page & Pen, 3 October, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

  Oviedo Mall, 1700 Oviedo Mall Blvd, Oviedo FL 32765

• The Book End at the Halifax Arts Festival, 7-8 November, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

  166 South Beach Street, Daytona Beach, FL