It takes a lot of people to write a book and I’m grateful to everyone who gave me encouragement, support, information and help!
As always, a big thank you to my alpha reader Alia Whipple, whose crucial job it is to say, “That’s great, keep going.”
Thanks to Autumn Nicole Bradley who not only beta read but also pointed me in the direction of Julia Serano whose ideas about femininity were a great fit for the story I had in mind.
Thanks to Stephanie Burt for both loving the story and tearing it apart in the middle where it needed it. She gets the award for being the apex reader on this project.
Thanks to Sharyn November for early encouragement and saying basically: “Write that one; that’s the book I want to read.”
Many thanks to my amazing team of beta readers: Kim Nguyen, Li Zhu, Jeni and Ally Mullins, Wendy Nemitz, Sara Bracewell, Melissa Trost, Dawn Wagenaar, Lisa Hager, Nathalie Isis Crowley, and Emma Todd.
Thanks to Kirstin Cronn-Mills for being a great ally with me and a friend, and for letting me borrow Gabe and Paige for a cameo in this book.
Thanks to Katherine V. Forrest for being a smart, funny and insightful editor—and to everyone at Bella Books for continuing to publish and celebrate trans YA novels.
Thanks to my family—human, animal and magical—for all their support and for bearing with me through many rewrites and edits, especially the ones that made me grouchy.
And a big thank you to everyone who read Being Emily and gave me feedback, told me they loved it or shared the impact it had on their lives.