Holy cow—I wrote a book! But I didn’t do it alone. Since writing can feel like such an incredibly solitary pursuit sometimes, it’s amazing how much help and support (and sanity checks!) are required to make a book possible. Luckily, I’ve surrounded myself with some of the most helpful and supportive people on the entire planet.
Thanks to Kathleen Peacock, Lindsey Culli, Rachael Allen, Kara Taylor, Stephanie Kuehn, Sarah Harian, Vahini Nadoo, Elyse Regan, and all of my fellow YAWNers for assuring me at various points along the way that I wasn’t writing complete gibberish.
To the amazing writers at LB, WN, and the Hopefuls—thank you for listening and keeping me (relatively) sane (and trust me—I know what a difficult task that is!). Ditto to the Apocalypsies, Luckies, and Classes—much love to you all.
Special thanks to my amazing and talented writer friend Kathleen Peacock, who is equal parts Cheerleader of Awesomeness and Purveyor of YouTube Distraction. Joss lovers, UNITE!
To Absolute Write, for showing me how to become a serious writer, and especially to my Purgies for offering endless support—Sweet Cartwheeling J, y’all!
Huge thanks to the SoCal writing gang—you know who you are, and you make me proud to be part of the local writing scene. (Also—More. Lunches. Just saying.)
A special shout out to the YA community—writers and bloggers and everyone else. I know we have our ups and downs, but overall, I think we’re part of something pretty amazing.
To the wonderful team at HarperCollins and Katherine Tegen Books, who made this all possible: my fabulous editor, Claudia Gabel—there’d be no Mila without you—Melissa Miller, Katherine Tegen, and Katie Bignell in Editorial, Amy Ryan and Erin Fitzsimmons in Art, and Sarah Hoy and Benjamin Delacour, who aren’t technically Harper but who helped make the cover (OMG, you guys—THE COVER!!!!!), Renée Cafiero in Copyediting, Lauren Flower and Megan Sugrue in Marketing, and Casey McIntyre in Publicity. Also, thanks to all the wonderful Harper folks I met at ALA and Comic Con, for making me feel so welcome, and everyone else at Harper who helped with Mila in some way, big or small. I can’t even begin to tell you how much your enthusiasm for this book means to me.
To my friend/cheerleader/ledge-talker-offer/agent extraordinaire, Taylor Martindale, for handling all my random and angst with utter grace. Also, to SDLA and Full Circle Literary Agency for their support.
Thanks to Kat Post, for the no-stress author photo and for watching my little darlings when I needed to snatch a few extra writing hours.
To my nonwriting friends, for both your support and your infinite patience in putting up with all of my book babble over this past year. Plus, emergency revisions babysitting, WOOT!
Special thanks to Tom Wyatt, for making the trek to Clearwater. I owe you a Blizzard.
An enormous thank-you to my mom for getting me addicted to reading and YA in the first place. To all of my family in Colorado for their unlimited support and kid-watching assistance (although I am still waiting on that Ivory Tower), with a special thanks to the Jerhound, for flying and/or driving to CA at a moment’s notice. Thanks to our Chicago family for your enthusiasm, and to Dawn for letting your house double as my writing cave.
(On a similar note—thanks so much to the San Marcos Starbucks, Boudin and Panera, for allowing me to write without turning into a hermit.)
To Shani and the rest of the hounds—see how I snuck that Ridgeback in there?
To Finley and Connor, for (sometimes) understanding that while Mommy would love to play MineCraft and ponies 24/7, she needs writing time, too. Also, for filling the house with hugs and laughter (and the occasional scream, but we’ll forget about those for now).
To Scott—thank you for being a kid wrangler extraordinaire, for giving me the gentle boot out the door when I have deadlines to meet, for never complaining and always believing. Your support makes all the difference in the world and, just so you know—tidy houses are overrated.
And finally, thanks to you, lovely reader, for picking up my book—because stories aren’t much fun if you can’t share them.
