I always like reading the dedications that authors write in their books. Whether it says "For Deborah" or "In memory of my mother" or any number of other possibilities, I find myself wondering about these people and what they did to make an impression on the author's work. Needless to say, I love the opportunity to write my own dedications when I have a new book coming out. Thinking about who to give the shout-out to and how to phrase it is a lot of fun. Sometimes, however, it can be confusing and more than a little embarrassing.
When my first book was released a few years ago, dedicating it to my son was an easy choice. It was a funny young adult fantasy novel that I'd written after being influenced by the kinds of books he liked. Dedicating my second book wasn't as simple. It was another young adult book, but this one was nonfiction about Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. My publisher asked if I wanted to include a dedication, and my first reaction was "Of course!" I soon found myself re-thinking that impetuous response. To whom could I dedicate a book about a dictator? My husband? Maybe people would get the wrong impression about him. My father? Again, not really the message I wanted to send. How about the nuns at the Catholic high school I attended back in the 1980's? Maybe that's a little harsh. That left me with Darth Vader, and I was worried about copyright violations. In the end, I took a pass and didn't include a dedication in the Qaddafi book.
Next week, my romance tale for adults is being released. My editor asked me to provide a dedication for it, and again I found myself in a quandary. At first, I thought I should dedicate it to my cousin who is a romance writer. She's to blame for my brief foray away from writing for kids and into the romance genre where I use a pen name. However, it might be seen as more than a little creepy to dedicate a romance to my cousin. Nothing personal, Ann, but YICK, and what would our mothers say? Anyway, I went with a safe option and dedicated the book to my husband. He was pleased, and the laws of neither man nor God were broken. Of course, people have accused my husband and me of looking like we could be related. But that's a topic for another day. :)
Peace and dedicated loved ones,
Kim