A Special Thanks

I recognized my Twitter friends in the acknowledgements for Sunset Park. I joined Twitter about a month after writing that first scene and you have all been there for me through the good and bad times of the last two and a half years. You shared in my happiness the night I announced that Sunset Park was going to be published and my excitement at my first Daughtry concert. Some of you have also been there for me during my many bleak moments. I grow weepy when I think how I consider so many of you my friends even though I’ve only met a handful.

Although I’m not as bad as Laurie in Sunset Park, it’s very difficult for me to deal with the outside world. Yes, I teach and I grocery shop and see the occasional movie or school drama presentation but it’s agonizing for me to do much beyond that. When I have to go somewhere new or where there are a lot of people I don’t know (or even if I do know the people), I panic big time and sometimes fall into a crying fit of relief when I return safely to my apartment. Yes, I know, that’s not living but I do have hope that one day I won’t fret for hours, days, or weeks about something as simple as going for drinks with my colleagues.

I have made it through two Daughtry concerts where thousands of other fans have gathered and I can thank my Twitter friend Tracy and others for getting me through those. It may have not shown on the outside but on the inside I was a complete wreck (and I’m already a complete wreck about December 8^th). But like my apartment, Daughtry is a safe zone for me. I wanted to completely meltdown but the Daughtry music, and Daughtry Twitter friends, and, oh yeah, the Daughtry guys were there and that helped so incredibly much.

I have been a fan of Chris’s since his AI days and he truly is a role model to anyone who has a dream that seems out of reach. He made his dream come true and I drew inspiration from that with my own dream of becoming a writer. Daughtry music is my soundtrack as I write and it’s during the bleak and gray days that I listen to the music for some comfort. Twitter is my social life and although I’m silent during the gray stretches, I’m still reading. I want to respond but the grayness gets the best of me and I stay silent. When Chris and Deanna and the others in the Daughtry-verse tweet, it brings a much needed distraction for me. It also reminds me where Chris is in his career and again, it is a reminder of dreams coming true.

They got me through a very bad experience last year and I will always be grateful even though they have no idea (although I’ve tried to explain on a couple occasions). I felt it important to recognize this in my acknowledgements. I am honest when I say that if it hadn’t been for the music and the tweets, I don’t think yesterday, and the publishing of my first novel, would have happened.

I do feel bad that I inadvertently forgot to acknowledge the other fellas in Daughtry because the music is all of them. This just means that I have no choice but to continue writing books so I can remember to acknowledge them also. Plus, I want Tracy to take my headshot for my future books. I promise, Tracy, that next time we will make that happen! :) 

So I give you all a very weepy and special thank you for the last two and a half years and I hope you all have a chance to read Sunset Park. :)

Dana :)