My first thanks go to God for giving me an introspective and philosophical mind. Often there is no place I’d rather be than inside my head, and whether through fiction or nonfiction, I’m grateful that there are people to help me get my thoughts from my head into a coherent and cohesive book.
Thanks always to my family and friends for all their ongoing support of me and my writing. Thanks especially to my husband, Ted, and son, Teddy, for bearing with me through my process of learning how to fast-draft.
Thanks to Shana Silver for introducing me to the idea of fast-drafting, and to Catherine Knutsson, Tara Quigley, and Michelle Humphrey for their help with various early drafts of this manuscript.
Also thanks to Jason Gardner, Georgia Hughes, Monique Muhlenkamp, and the rest of the editorial, marketing, and publicity team at New World Library for helping me get this book polished and out into the world. Thanks to Jeff Campbell for his insightful editorial advice for this manuscript.
My heartfelt thanks to Chris Baty, Lindsey Grant, Chris Angotti, Grant Faulkner, and the rest of the team who have been instrumental in bringing the NaNoWriMo November writing challenge to life each year.
And last, but certainly not least, thank you to my #wip madness/March Madness friends who encourage me and cheer me on all year long.
It is no small thing to make a writer feel like they are not alone in the world. Thank you all so much!