Stuck in the Middle (36 page)

I thrive on the feedback of my critique partners because I know they make me a better writer. For this book, I owe a huge “thank you” to the following people: Tracy Ruckman, Julie Scott, Marsha Hornock, Loralee Kudzo, Janelle Mowrey, Jess Ferguson, and Sandra Robbins. Thanks also to the CWFI critique group for faithfully reading various chapters and summaries without ever getting to read the whole book: Richard Leonard, Corrine Eldred, Mary Yerkes, and Lani Zielsdorf. You guys rock.

Elizabeth (Lisa) Ludwig is not only a wonderful critique partner, she’s an incredible freelance editor and a great writer. Thank you, Lisa, for polishing my words and for suggesting so many wonderful smells. And for the hula hoop.

The research for this book took me into some areas for which I had no expertise at all. Thanks to the following subject matter experts who freely shared their knowledge with me: Angie Brown, Susan Matherly, Timothy Noel, Crystal Miller, Ronda Wells, MD, and the members of ACFW for sharing their delightfully quirky OCD stories.

My agent, Wendy Lawton, is one of the nicest, sweetest, most encouraging women I know. And she’s a savvy businesswoman too. I thank God for her every day.

And where would this book be without the gifted people at Revell? I’ll tell you where: still in my computer, where nobody except me and my family could read it. Thank you to Vicki Crumpton (editor extraordinaire), Barb Barnes, Cat Hoort, Cheryl Van Andel, and everyone else at Revell who worked so hard to make this book happen. I may not know all their names, but I am so grateful for their work.

Of course a huge “thank you” goes to my husband, Ted, for loving me and supporting me and believing in me. And for doing the laundry when it piles up and I have my face plastered to the computer screen. And another “thank you” goes to Jonathan Leake, just for being my son. He too is an overflowing fountain of source material, and one day he’s going to end up as a character in one of my books. (Consider that a warning, sweetie!)

It’s a funny thing. Just when I think I have no more ideas, no stories to tell, the Lord gives me a new one. And his are so much better than anything I could dream up on my own. So he gets the biggest thanks, and all the glory.

Virginia Smith
is a writer of humorous novels, speaker, singer, snow skier, motorcycle enthusiast, and avid scuba diver. Someday, she insists, she’s going to find a way to do all those things at once without killing herself or her longsuffering husband. She launched her career as a novelist with the release of her debut,
Just As I Am
(Kregel), in March of 2006, and has been cranking out God-honoring fiction ever since. An energetic speaker, she loves to exemplify God’s truth by comparing real-life situations to well-known works of fiction, such as her popular talk, “Biblical Truth in Star Trek.” She attributes the popularity of that talk primarily to the Star Trek uniform. Visit her website at
www.VirginiaSmith.org
.

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