Shiver (26 page)

Thank you!

Thank you so much for reading Shiver! The story is very near and dear to me and I hope you enjoyed it.

Before I became a writer, I was a blogger. Through that experience, I started to learn all about this indie author world, particularly the importance of reviews. Through your feedback, you help other readers decide which books to choose. Please consider leaving a review on whatever avenue you purchased from.

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Author’s Note

S
ensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is something that has touched my family in many profound ways. In
Shiver
, I give just a snapshot of life with SPD.

When a child or adult has SPD, it means simply that the nervous system is wired differently. The results, however, are anything but simple. The brain takes in information, but the responses aren’t carried out correctly. This can affect the person in a myriad of ways.

Some are hypersensitive to touch, some have trouble feeling pain. Some can’t handle certain sounds or never crawl or climb a ladder. Jumping on a trampoline can look strange, and swinging can be a terrifying experience. Alternatively, a child could ask to be swung for hours or spin indefinitely without getting dizzy.

While many people have some sensory issues, when it disrupts life, it becomes dysfunctional. In my son’s case, in addition to balance, sleep, and visual-perception challenges, he had great trouble eating and eventually stopped eating all together.

My husband and I were fortunate to meet wonderful people and therapists throughout our journey, whom we still keep in touch with today. We caught the signs early and through extensive therapy and changes to our lifestyle, he is a thriving, witty, intelligent child, quickly catching up to his peers.

Unfortunately, SPD can go undiagnosed for years, the concerns of the parents sometimes brushed off by physicians or simply unnoticed as a problem. Parents are a child’s best advocate, and no question should be ignored.

If you would like more information about SPD, please visit
www.spdfoundation.net
and check out
www.masgutovamethod.com
. For information on feeding issues, check out
www.new-vis.com
and The STEPS Program at UT Dallas Callier Center. All are excellent resources.

Shiver Acknowledgements

Always first and foremost, the biggest thanks goes to my husband, Tom. You’ll always be my inspiration, and thank you for encouraging me and creating opportunities for me to write, and by opportunities, I mean wrangling the kids.

To all the Book Whoreder’s Delights: Melissa, Chrissy, Sally, Wendy, Steph, and Chris; without joining this amazing group of dirty women, I would have never actually decided to write and publish. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for every ounce of confidence and for every early-morning conversation filled with hilarity and ridiculousness. I love you girls Hulk-hard and awkwardly.

To Whitney: for being perfectly honest and picky, and for humoring me with six a.m. plot discussions.

To Lizzie: for helping give Ethan a voice. And so much more.

To Melissa: for pressing me to steam things up and forget about my mom reading this. And for the title! Otherwise this book would not have one.

To Chrissy: for reading and loving and for writing my bio. Otherwise I would have come up with something stupid.

To Shannon: for finding that one detail that was bugging me and making me change it.

To Lisa Barry: for lying in the dirt to get the perfect shots. A lot.

To the Miller girls: for raising my children so well.

To Anne and staff at Victory Editing: Thank you for pushing and slave-driving and for being all around amazing. What an incredible experience to work with you.

To Glendon at Streetlight Graphics: Thank you for the beautiful and timely formatting, working with my self-inflicted time crunch and numerous, numerous questions.

To Book Covers by Kim: Thank you for the amazing cover and for dealing with my constant changes!

To Southern Girls Book Blog and Promotions: for being oh so awesome.

I have been fortunate to find myself in the company of some amazing authors:

Renee Carlino: There are no words. I wrote an entire book and I still don’t have the words to thank you. You are so rad.

Katelynn Pinson: You are the sweetest, most talented girl. Thank you for your honesty and your support from day one.

K. Langston: Randomly meeting my soul sister online was one of the best experiences. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and holding my hand through my more inept moments.

Holly Carter: Your immediate support and encouragement has meant the world to me. Along with Kat and Hunter.

And last, but never least, thanks to you, the reader. If you’re reading this, you’ve read my first novel, and I am so honored. I hope you enjoyed it!

Bio

I live in beautiful Northern Virginia with my incredible husband, two awesome kids, three dogs, and two budgies. My husband and I both grew up riding and competing horses and have our own equestrian operation that we run together. In my spare time, I read through the hundreds of stories awaiting me on my e-reader.

My love of books started early, and my mom used to ration my reading time so I didn’t go through them too quickly. I love all things romantic, whether it’s dark or light or silly or dirty, but I really love a happy ending!

In my small moments of quiet time, you’ll find me sipping on wine and reading while any movie where people randomly burst into song or dance plays in the background.