Rising from Dust

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have a lot of people to thank to help get the Crystal Dragon Saga going. The first person being, of course, my mother. Thanks to her patience with me not only as a child but through the years until this point, I was able to learn patience as well. I learned not to give up, even though it was exhausting. When I was younger, she taught me my letters even before kindergarten, staring me early on the path that eventually led me here.

My kindergarten teacher, delighted at my desire to move ahead at my own pace, allowed me to leap ahead of the others in reading. The head start helped me to gain a passion for books early in my life.

Thanks to the Young Writers and Artist Fest in my area, my eyes were opened in eighth grade to the possibility of writing a book rather than just reading them. This resulted in my first attempt at a novel- the Gryphon, which I completed my freshman year of High School. Thanks to my mediocre writing, the Gryphon will not be published unless I rewrite the entire thing. However, during my freshman year, I got the brilliant idea to write Zilferia from a dream where people had Gifts. From this simple idea sprung Zilferia, which quickly blossomed into a plan for the creation of the entire Crystal Dragon series. (The books have since been revamped and rereleased under their current names. Book one is now Crystal Dragon.)

I only got to chapter three in my first go of writing ‘Zilferia’ before growing tired of it. Luckily, I had great friends that encouraged me to keep going. After I finished the book and had to go through endless revisions, these friends and more kept me going through the arduous process.

A special thank you goes out to my number one fans! Their excitement for the story reinvigorated me and inspired me to press on, creating more and more plot twists just to see their reactions. The second book had a chance at being finished only because of strength I gained from my anxious fans.

Thank you as well to authors like Brandon Mull, J.K. Rowling, and Christopher Paolini. Every author builds on others, and there are some giants in literature that definitely inspired me. Including J. Douglas, Eileen Mueller, and Avril Sabine, who are the most current authors inspiring me, encouraging me, and helping me in my actual writing and publishing.

To those supporting me on Patreon: Jon and Ann Cherry, Clarity Perry, and the Taylor family. Thank you for your support!

Lastly, my gratitude must be shown for my now partner in crime- my husband. Thank you, Bridger, for bearing with my book-driven insanity at times! Thank you for not letting me be a quitter, for helping me with world-building and even plotting, and thank you for helping to catch dumb mistakes in my writing. I love you!

And, you, the reader! Without you, the stories I write would never come to life.

THANK YOU!