Blank (thus far) Acknowledgements Page for Moose Tracks on the Road to Heaven

I’m in the process of crafting the Acknowledgements Page and Author’s note for Moose Tracks on the Road to Heaven. The Dedication for this one was easy for me, since the novel is loosely (very, very loosely) autobiographical in nature. In fact, the only two “characters” who are truly similar to the “real” people they represent are the “Pa” and “Ma” characters – and that is to whom I’ve dedicated the novel (because without them there wouldn’t have been even the germ of the idea to begin with).

But the Acknowledgements and Author’s Note are stumping me.

This is my eighth published novel, so it’s not like I haven’t done this before. Here’s the one I wrote for the final book in my Templar Knights trilogy: The Templar’s Seduction.

But I always, always drag my heels at this part of the writing process.

Why? you might wonder. It should be easy to thank the people who have helped you along the way with the manuscript, and not too much effort to provide some background and “fill-in” information for readers in the Author’s Note, right?

Yes, of course.

And no, definitely not.

I’m always worried about leaving someone – or, in the case of the Author’s Note, something – out that should be there. There are so many who overtly or just in my mind and memories lent something to the creation of a book like this; and I always enjoy reading about those in other writers’ books. There is a great deal of background and information that might, with its addition, give readers something useful or enjoyable after they’ve just finished reading the novel; material that might add a bit of extra texture or layered emotion to what they’ve just read (since I tend to put my Author’s Notes at the end of each novel).

And so I put it off, and put it off, until my back is against the wall.

Sigh.

Does anyone else who writes novels – or books of anything – face a similar conundrum? How do you manage it?

For readers out there, do you notice Dedications, Acknowledgements, or Author’s Notes? If you do, is it something you enjoy, or something you just skip over?