Although the act of writing a book is a solitary one, it’s impossible to do without help. A LOT of help.
First, I want to thank Marco Bazan and the entire speech and debate team at Bowie High School in Austin, Texas. Y’all took me in and made me part of the team.
As always, my superagent, John Cusick, remains a light in the darkness. Seriously.
Laura Schreiber deserves the lion’s share of the credit for the many, many, many improvements she suggested. I also need to give a shout-out to Mary Mudd.
I need to thank the teams at both Disney-Hyperion and Little, Brown, who fought for this book and saw it through its final stages. I would also like to thank the following:
Mark O’Brien, Sangu Mandanna, and Holliana Bryan, who gave me lots of helpful notes.
All the speech and debate kids who have performed my plays over the years or have been forced to watch someone perform one of my pieces.
My sons, Michael and Eric, who keep me grounded, make me laugh so hard milk snorts out my nose, and are always up for a good round of Dungeons & Dragons.
And Anne Godfrey, who is there for me without question, whose thoughts and insights I treasure above all others, and who has taught me so much. I love you.