THE AUTHOR'S
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is dedicated to my kids: appropriately named Zs of their generation, hence the double Z in the title. The novel is also dedicated to my resilient mom as well as thoughtful teachers, motherless children (of all ages), families impacted by cancer, and brain-injury survivors.
 
Thank you to everyone who believes in me as a writer, including Artful Editors Ashley Henshaw and Naomi Eagleson, website designer Isha Ferraz, book designer David Reeser at Blue Jay Ink (Ojai Digital), the local Writers and Publishers Network (WPN), consultants/contributors, beta readers, my husband (for all the time and space he enables), mom, mother-in-law, uplifting dance group, dear friends and family members, inspiring instructors, encouraging college professors, and although we don’t know each other personally, Elizabeth Gilbert via her podcast “Magic Lessons.” 

Thanks to those who have supported me as a substitute and summer-camp teacher: empowering bosses, kind coworkers, mentors, and students. Without that work experience, I couldn’t have filled the pages of this story. 

Furthermore, gratitude goes to those who believe in me as a person capable of succeeding, including my dad, brother, grandparents, godparents, in-laws, step/extended family, and social-media friends/fans/followers. 

I am inspired by the literary achievements of others.
​These incredible books
​shaped my thinking while writing... 

Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
The Wisdom of Sundays by Oprah Winfrey
On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Textbook by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
Unselfie - Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World by Michele Borba
American Girls - Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales
Girl - Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Educated by Tara Westover
This Will Only Hurt A Little by Busy Phillips
Inside Out by Demi Moore
A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oats
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Split by Randi Harvey
Islands Apart by Ken McAlpine
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Life by the Cup by Zhena Muzyka
Leaving Home by Garrison Keillor 
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
​

Connect On Goodreads