Meet the wonderful women of Redesigning Rose’s dedication. Here I am with my mom (back right), her mother, Granny Down the Street (front right) and my dad’s mother, Granny at the Lake (front left.)
Granny and Granny was confusing when my brothers and I were kids so we began adding where they lived after their names to understand who we were talking about. Thus they were named Granny Down the Street and Granny at the Lake for years, until we lost Granny at the Lake to a short battle with cancer in 2001.
These beautiful ladies have been such an inspiration in my life and with Redesigning Rose having such strong female protagonists, there was no doubt in my mind as to who the book should be dedicated to.
My mom is just pretending here as she’d read and commented on a few of the last drafts of Redesigning Rose. Granny Down the Street, although posing for this picture, is actually reading my book. Mom says it’s probably the first novel she’s read in decades; she’s been a magazine girl for as long as I can remember. I was a little nervous for her to read it with a few steamy bits, but, encouraged by her enjoyment of Sex and the City, I thought it might be okay. I forgot she watched the reruns – heavily edited. So far, though, all she keeps harping about is the swearing. You gotta love a liberal 86 year old Granny.
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Yep, it all went down a couple of weeks ago and the time leading up to the wedding left me more harried than a mother of two sets of twin toddlers. The good news is that everything (mostly) went off without a hitch. The not so good news: Redesigning Rose is going to be a tad delayed as I was forced to take a hiatus for a month. But I’ve returned from my honeymoon relaxed and eager for life to return to normal – or as normal as can be expected in a writer’s world.
Lydia Laceby 