A few weeks before completing this manuscript, I had an enlightening cyber interchange with my Irish friend, Patricia Bourke, also named below for her helpful literary feedback. That day our text messaging had nothing to do with this book, but some point or other about which I was being persistent. She sent back a text calling me “encouragable” instead of “incorrigible.” At first I laughed, but then I became intrigued. She had invented a new word and I liked it. Fairly quickly, I decided it should mean “someone who encourages” and the first person who came to mind was my editor, Deborah Malmud, the most “encouragable” person I know. Actually, the definition easily applies to everyone I have worked with at W. W. Norton over the last decade, including Kevin Olsen, Elisabeth Kerr, Kristen Holt-Browning, Vani Kannan, Andrea Costella, Bev Benzeleski, Kathryn Pinto, and also Susan Munro and Michael McGandy, who have both moved on to other pursuits. I could not ask for a better editor or publisher or more support for my writing projects. I count them among my blessings daily.
Really, everyone who has helped me shape this book has been incredibly “encouragable.” I owe many, many thanks to those who took the time to read and critique the first and second drafts: Jeanne Ladner, David Grill, Robin Petro, Sima Stanley, Victoria Haviland, Patricia Bourke, Gillford d’Souza, and Karin Rhines. This book is very much the better for their candid feedback.