So today in Sacrament the speaker talked about how when you open up a book, very often you'll find a dedication from the author to someone special. It had the whole spiritual hook, as in when we write our "Book of Life" that the book should be dedicated to the Lord, but it got me thinking about dedications. The way the speaker talked about it, the dedication, when you were writing that book, was one of the most important things - that as you write your "Book of Life," if it's dedicated to the Lord, the book will be different.
But as an author, I realized that my books are never written around my dedication. They're typically an afterthought, instead of the prerequisite to the rest of the book.
I do always read dedications, even though most of the time I have no idea who that person is or why the dedication was given. One of my favorite authors dedicates all of her books to her husband. Another never has any dedications.
My first book I dedicated to my parents, my husband and my kids. The next one the dedication got left out accidentally. With the third, it was for my brother and his wife for something they'd done for my family, as well as my daughter.
When I write a book, often the dedication is the last thing on my mind and I don't write it until I'm sent a copy to edit.
It made me wonder though about other writers - when do you decide who to dedicate a book to? Who do you typically dedicate books to? For those that aren't published, is it something you've thought about? Who would you dedicate your debut release to?
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