A Tribute To My Friends & Alana McIntosh

It’s not entirely my fault! In the forty-seven years, we’ve been Besties, anyone who knows you would understand why I’ve become a kleptomaniac. Your acerbic gems are just too unique and precious not to steal!  I was clever enough though, to divvy up the necklace, so as not to use up your fresh perspective all at once, lest it would render the rest of the book disappointing!

It’s raining and raining in our lovely city of Melbourne, Florida, today; the kind of day that lends itself to introspection.

Now that we are close to publication, I think about this long War Serenade journey, and how many minds I have picked mercilessly along the way – not garishly, like a vulture, but with reverence and gratitude.

I have frequently relied on precious friends for their “rah-rahs” or their strength to pick me up from my puddle of pity, and I’ve blatantly stolen jewels from deliciously wicked, clever minds: often just a pearl, sometimes two that matched, and then? Because of you, Alana McIntosh, I’ve snatched and grabbed a whole bloody diamond necklace!

My loving thanks to each and every one of you. My Friends. You know who you are! It’s because of you, in one way or another, that War Serenade will make it out into the world.