THANK YOU FOR READING Losing Faith, hopefully enjoying it, and now reading the acknowledgments. Please send me an e-mail at adam@adammitzner.com and tell me what you thought of it. Or find me on my Facebook fan page, www.facebook.com/pages/Adam-Mitzner/146568165416677, and post there. Also, reviews help spread the word, so please post a review to your favorite site.
I am truly fortunate to have had some great people assist me in bringing Losing Faith to you. My agent, Scott Miller at Trident Media, deserves special thanks that go beyond just this book, for taking a chance on me way back when. Scott’s assistant, Stephanie Hoover, has always been there for me whenever I’ve had a question or a concern. At Gallery Books, I’m lucky beyond words to work with Ed Schlesinger, who makes everything I write better. Once the book is finished, Stephanie DeLuca helps get the word out, which is just as important as (if not more so than) the work that goes into writing it. I’ve also been privileged to work with the very talented people at FSB, who tell the blogosphere about me, especially Fauzia Burke and Leyane Jerejian.
My partners and colleagues at Pavia & Harcourt, the law firm where I do my day job as the head of their litigation department, have been incredibly supportive of my nighttime writing activities. Those who know me will appreciate that more than being a lawyer or even a writer, I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. There are many reasons that dream will not come true, but at least this way I get to have an alter ego.
I once heard someone describe the writing process as being in an empty room and then, slowly, inviting people in. I’ve been very fortunate that I have some amazing and talented people willing to come into that room and help me: Clint Broden, Matthew Brooks, Gregg Goldman, Jane Goldman, Sofia Logue, Rebecca Nelson, Debbie Peikes, Benjamin Plevin, Ellice Schwab, Jessica Shacter, Kevin Shacter, Lisa Sheffield, Jodi Siskind, Marilyn Steinthal, and Joellen Valentine.
If some of those names sound familiar, it’s because after my friends do me the great kindness of reading my unfinished book and providing helpful advice, I reward them by using their names for characters that do not in any way actually resemble them. In Losing Faith, I have stolen the identity of Clint Broden (who would like the world to know that he’s more academically accomplished than his fictional counterpart but every bit as much a Pepsi man), Harrison Geller, Jane Cleary, Gregg Goldman, Dana Luria, Sara Meyers, Diane Pimentel, Kenneth Sadinoff, Alyssa Sanders, David Sanyour, Ellice Schwab, and Jodi Siskind.
Losing Faith is dedicated to my fifteen-year-old stepsons, Michael and Benjamin Plevin. Benjamin read Losing Faith twice in draft and offered insightful comments, and although Michael decided to skip the reading process, that did not in any way impede him from offering his own insightful commentary.
My daughters, Rebecca and Emily, are always at the forefront of my mind when I write—even though neither of them has read any of my work. In Rebecca’s case, I think it’s because the last thing a teenage girl wants is to know that much about her father’s deepest thoughts, and in the case of Emily, who is eleven, it’s because the themes are still too adult for her. But I suspect that someday they’ll both read Losing Faith and I hope that when they do, they not only like it but also remember how happy I was when I wrote it.
Last, and certainly most, my love and utmost thanks to my wife, Susan. She’s not only the first person I let into the writing room, but I sometimes make her stay there long after she’d rather have left. Although she now has me on a strict “I’m only going to read it three times” diet, her assistance to the finished product cannot be measured merely by her critiques. Her presence by my side is what allows me to venture into the writing room in the first place, because I know that what really matters is outside of that room, with her, our family, and our friends.