My agent, Jennifer Lyons, believed in me from the first line. She, along with Doug Seibold and everyone at Agate Publishing, gave me invaluable feedback and incredible opportunities. I never could have written this book and become the writer whom I am without the University of Michigan, and the great writers that I worked with and met while I was there: Peter Ho Davies, Nicholas Delbanco, Laura Kasischke, Eileen Pollack, and the members of the cohorts above, in, and below mine. I would especially like to thank Elizabeth Ames, Natalie Bakopoulos, Joel Mowdy, and Raymond McDaniel. Thanks are also in order for those who nurtured my beginnings: Nancy Wrightsman, Kristin Townsend, the Crounse family, and Dr. Robert J. C. Young.
Many of my friends gave me fortitude along the way, especially Mark Dedeaux, Maurice Graham, Jillian Dedeaux, Clinton Starghill, Brenna Powell, Mariha Herrin, and Julie Hwang. Finally, I would like to thank my mother, Norine Dedeaux, for always providing, and my father, Jerry Ward, for always listening. I would also like to thank my sisters, Nerissa and Charine, for being and believing, my grandmother Dorothy for inspiring, my cousin Aldon for holding my hand, and all of the members of my extended family for giving me a place where I belong.