They honestly weren't that surprised. They already knew that I'd been obsessed with my pets my whole life, so writing a book about pet death seemed pretty logical to them. Though perhaps they weren't that concerned about it because it's not like I quit my job to full-time research dead pets. While I was researching, I was also doing my MFA program, then teaching full-time middle school and high school, working as a nanny, a freelance editor/consultant, an instructor at a creative writing center, etc. I think they might have been more worried if I quit doing everything except for going to pet cemeteries!