If a first novel is a dream come true, a second novel is a dream taking hold. Thank you to Katherine Pelz for choosing me for this unimaginably wonderful adventure. Life should come with an editor like you. To everyone at Berkley: You are phenomenal, and you make me look good. Thanks for all your hard work.
Bob Diforio, agent extraordinaire, thank you for your constant support and belief in me. It means the absolute world.
A million thanks to my Tall Poppy Writer friends who are not only absurdly talented but also unfailingly generous with their time, advice and support. You ladies prove that this is not a competition; it is a sisterhood.
Roxanne Jones, Julie Schoerke, Chuck Gold, Holley Pearce and Cindy Jackson, thank you for letting me do what I love. None of this happens without you, and you are so very appreciated every single day.
My mom, Beth Woodson, perhaps works as hard on my books as I do. Thank you for the hours upon hours you put in helping me in every imaginable way, and for reading—and loving—every single draft. My dad, Paul Woodson, thanks for always believing in me, even when I was down 0-5 in the second set. I love you both so very much!
My grandparents, Ola and Joe Rutledge, really are an example of what a lifetime of love should look like. Thank you for showing us all the way and for being the start of this wonderful family that I’m so proud to be a part of.
Penn Peninger, thank you for sharing your stories, for knowing that my asking which fabric you liked better as a toddler would lead to something, and for making the world’s best peanut butter crackers.
Elizabeth Cook, thank you for giving a seventeen-year-old a newspaper column and making her realize that nothing felt better than stringing words together on a page.
Thank you to my two Wills for making every day amazing, for reminding me what matters and for celebrating the little things as if they are the big ones. You two are, quite simply, everything.
Dottie Harvey, Nancy Sanders, Cathy Singer and Anne O’Berry, thank you for (im)patiently waiting to read my next manuscripts and always making them better.
To the bloggers, bookstore owners, fellow authors, reporters and media pros who have embraced my books and me so fully, I wish I could name you all here, but I trust that you know who you are. Humbled does not even begin to describe how I feel at the way you have supported me. Thank you from the very, very deepest part of my heart for sharing this work I love so much with the world. You are at the top of the list of people I’m grateful for every day.
All of you readers are who I think of when I sit down at the computer. Those of you who have e-mailed me, written reviews, commented on my blogs, come to my events . . . There aren’t enough thank-yous. Your kindness always came at just the right moment and is appreciated more than you can possibly imagine. You are helping me live my dream every single day. I hope something in these pages inspires you to live yours too.