A Symphony of Cicadas (33 page)

Acknowledgements

This book was born from a bad dream I had while planning my own wedding.  With my wedding so close, I kept worrying that the worst would happen before I married my best friend.  The dream was so haunting, I knew I needed to get it down
in a book
.  And while the story is a work of fiction, I was able to draw from the experience of being a stepmom
and starting a new family.

This was the very first book I ever had the courage to follow through and publish, and there are many people I want t
o thank who supported me in this journey
.

First and foremost is my wonderful editor
, Carol Weber, who took the story and made my words si
ng.
Carol, you saw my vision for this book and made sure everyone else could, too.
And
I’d like to thank the wonderful people at NaNoWriMo.org, who told me I could write a whole
book every November.

I want to thank my kids – Summer, Lucas, and Andrew –
who
tried not to need me too much while I typed away at the novel, and who I hope will
forgive me when
being a writer
and a good mom
and stepmom
didn’t go hand in hand. I’d like to thank my
mother, Nancy McLerran
,
who took the first stab a
t editing my book and couldn’t quite l
ook me in the eye
for weeks
after reading Chapter 19
, and who also didn’t shy awa
y from telling me when certain facts didn’t match up
. 

And for all my friends
and family
who have encouraged me along the way,
I couldn’t have done it without your support
!
  My sisters Melissa
Moreno
and Heather
McLerran
, my dad Gary
McLerran
, my Grandma Elsie
Chretien
,
my fabulous in-laws Joan and Dave O’Conner, my honorary brother Brian Moreno,
my sisters in crime Anne
Schmidbauer
and Pam
Enquist
,
and my friends Wendy D
unnagan
,
Kristin Meyer
,
Alberto Melendez,
Katie T
albot
,
the homegroup homies,
the Girl Talk gals (your support means the world to me!),
my friends and family at New Life,
and
everyone who stood behind me at The Press Democrat
.

And I couldn’t have done this without my husband, Shawn Langwell. Darling, you encouraged me from day one, read my horrible, awful first draft and still believed in me. Now if that isn’t love, I don’t know what is! Thank you for your patience when I chose to go to bed with the computer much to your dismay.  With this book, I give you back your wife. I love you!

About the Author

Crissi Langwell is a writer in
Northern
California. 
When not writing fiction, Crissi w
rites for her local newspaper, t
he Press Democrat, and maintains several of the newspaper’s websites. 
She lives with her husband, three children, and a couple of very needy cats.
This is her first novel.

Please visit her website at
crissil
angwell.com
.