dedication

To you—and your success as a writer

acknowledgments

Great thanks to my editors, Lacy Compton and Cheryl Miller Thurston. Thanks to Raquel Trevino for designing the cover. Big gratitude to my husband Tim, who put up with all the weekends and holidays I spent writing. Thanks to my kids, Emrys and Rose, for being a perpetual source of inspiration and the gleam in my eye. Thanks also to workshop participants far and wide, for providing buckets of fun and motivation. And gratitude beyond measure for my friends Rebecca Rowley, Lisa Pere, and Jeannie Mobley, who read over drafts of this book and contributed insights. Katharine Gregory, Laurel Lagoni, Bob McDonnell, and Elissa Tivona also read excerpts and offered helpful comments. Thank you Diane Tuccillo, Sue-Ellen Jones, and Mary McCarthy, for using your skills as teen librarians to assist me with reference questions, and your skills as remarkable human beings to bring a sense of possibility to this project. And to all of the wonderful writers, editors, and agents who contributed interviews and excerpts for this book—thank you for your time, your expertise, and your help.