Dedications

Good morning!

Things to do and people to meet today! Not the least of whom is my new grandson! Which brings the subject of today's post front and center.

I've always skipped over the dedications page found in some novels because they smack of arrogance. How does the writer know that the particular work will be anything special before he or she even sells a single book? Is he or she taking the publisher's word for it? How would they know? The answer is that they can't know. They can guess and so you sometimes find a forgotten novel on a bookshelf somewhere with a grandiose dedication within its pages and wonder whatever happened to 'what's his name'.

Therefore, I have never dedicated anything I've written to anyone. I've always had to prove to people, family included, that my work is good, that I can accomplish a special task, that I am worth having around. Without striving to 'show' them my worth, I am ignored. Though I have accomplished quite a lot in my life, I am usually ignored anyway, but that's beside the point. I've done things to be proud of, I've notified the people in my life that I have done them and they can congratulate me or not. I've grown old enough and been ignored enough that I simply don't care whether they pat me on the back or not anymore.

And, that brings me back to the dedications pages in books. My daughter's extended family has pretty much all positioned themselves to take center-stage in my grandson's life and as usual, there will be little room for me. Retiring soul that I am, I will not push myself forward. I will be there for him to talk to, listen to, and spend time with. If he finds me interesting, then good. If not, then he will be another family member to ignore me.

I plan on breaking my rule about dedications and his name will be on the dedication page in my next novel. It is an adventure and has all the things in it that I want to read of in a book. Hopefully, he will find it a flight of fancy and be able to escape the bonds of this world for just a little while. Maybe that is why people dedicate novels to others. Maybe they hope to be understood by family members and wish to leave something for them in posterity.

You will have to find your own reason for the dedications you find in books. I think I've found mine.

Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, Taken Apart, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle