Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I’D LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT #!%$&

by Lupe Fernandez

I’ve read a lot of novel acknowledgements. The order of gratitude is roughly as follows:
Agent
Editor
Friends
Family
Assorted Teachers, Pets and Cosmic Forces
I look forward to the day when I can write my own acknowledgement page, and express my thanks to people who have helped the manuscript get published. Agent. Editor. Publisher. Pen & Ink Colleagues, Etc…

I’d like to thank the real people who affect my life. They determined my themes, plots, characters and style. Let me turn back the neurons of time, to those thrilling days of yester-year….

The short list: The Seventies, OPEC Oil Embargo, The International Communist Conspiracy, Rocky Road Ice Cream, Pork Rinds, Head Cheese, Romita - Mexico, Bernard Hermann, James Bond, Raquel Welch, Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, a ray of sunshine, the speed of light, the Apollo Space Program, and the planet Mars.

I’d like to thank the Cardiac Surgeon at Oakland Children’s Hospital who sewned up my heart in 1966. Far out man.

I’d like to thank Stephanine E., who during my first day of kindergarten, alerted Mrs. Mean, “Teacher! He’s crying.” I’m still cry during my first day of any class.

I’d like to thank my father for buying me a clarinet instead of a trumpet. I felt like a girl playing a reed instrument.

I’d like to thank Georgina C. for being a distant object of adoration in the fourth grade. At the summer SCBWI Conference, I struggled with the urge to hide behind a tree due to the presence of so many women.

I’d like to thank my brothers for letting me read their comic books as long as I washed my hands and didn’t tear the pages. I still wash my hands when I read my own comics.

I’d like to thank Marlene G. for stirring my manly desire in the eighth grade and remaining out of reach. I’m still stirred.

I’d like to thank all the guys on the varsity football team who showed me that playing the clarinet and being skinny is not the path to dating. I’ve put on weight since high school.

I’d like to thank Melissa who turned me down for the high school senior prom. “I have a boyfriend,” she said. That’s okay. I really didn’t want to go. Nope. I needed to stay home and study.

I'd like to thank all the lovely ladies in SCBWI.

Lastly You Dear Readers of this Fine Blog. You. Yes you.

6 comments:

  1. Right before reading this, I watched a Val Hobbs vlog over on Tina Nichols Coury's blog. It relates to your post because clearly you have A LOT of memories to mine. No wonder you're writing YA and middle grade! Any one of your "thank-you" paragraphs could be turned into a story. Go forth and write one!

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  2. Dear Ms. W.,

    I liked Valerie Hobbs book "Letting go of Bobby James or how I found my self of steam." Self of steam. Get it? Hah! Funny.

    I'd also like to thank:

    My sister for teaching me how to tie my shoes. Still comes in handy.

    Josh, a red-head kid, who in the first grade threatened to beat me up after school. I'm still waiting...

    Lastly, I'd like to thank Ms. Lori W. She continues to be a most faithful reader of this boisterous blog, this sacred scribble, this whimsical writing, this realm, this England!

    Oh wait, that last part's from a travel commerical.

    Sincerely,
    Senor Gracias

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  3. Drat! I will need to add all your "like to thanks" to mine because I need to thank the people who shaped my muse. That's a lot of thanking.....

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  4. Dear Ms. Berger,

    I'd like to show Ms. Welch my appreciation in person.

    Sincerely,
    Hip Hugger

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  5. First of all, I think it's very smart of you to think ahead like this and get your acknowledgments ready in advance.
    Next, I agree with Lori. You could use any of those episodes from your childhood to launch a great story - or maybe you should be writing a memoir. Heart surgery! Wow!

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  6. Dear Ms. Megan,

    I hate to brag, but I completed one memoir mansucript, El Dolor Loco - The Crazy Pain about a mysterious malady that afflicted me in 1995 and my wayward ways of coping, including faith healing, mad love, past life therapy and hospitalization. Yikes!

    Memoir manuscript number two - The Fields of My Field is about the death and life of my immigrant father. Alas, that tome awaits completion.

    Sincerely,
    Shy Guy

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