I am grateful to so many people for making this book possible. First, thank you to Jennifer Belle, the leader of the writers workshop that has been the highlight of my week for years, for all of your wisdom, encouragement, and editing. Donna Brodie, Rob Wolf, Nicola Harrison, Barbara Miller, Mike Pyrich, Mario Gabriele, and Aaron Zimmerman, thank you for the insightful feedback, advice, ridiculous laughter, and friendship.
Thanks to my agent and friend, Katharine Sands, for her invaluable guidance. Thank you to my publisher, SelectBooks, especially Kenzi Sugihara, Nancy Sugihara, and Kenichi Sugihara. Thanks also to Jodi Fodor, who has special magic with words and everything else. Sarah Saffian, thank you for your editing and inspiration. Thank you also to Steve Eisner and everyone at When Words Count Retreat.
It’s true when I say that I wouldn’t be here without my incredible family and friends. Mom, Lou, Andrea, Caroline, and Ben, thank you for all of the love and cheerleading. Dad would have loved this. Thank you to my special cousin-readers, Gail Kaplan, Robert Nussbaum, and the Roethel girls. Gwen Erkonen, thank you for deciding we should try the weekend workshop in Iowa. Kellie Butler, thanks for listening to us ramble about writing.
To my friends who appear in the book and those who don’t, I am so grateful to call you my people and love you with all my heart. In the interest of preserving anonymity I won’t name names.
And to my husband Craig, thank you for telling me early on that I’d be a cheap date, and then supporting my efforts to write down the reasons why. I wake up every morning wondering how I got so lucky.