Girl in pieces

Acknowledgments

It took nine years and fourteen drafts for this book to reach you. It may be true that in the beginning, it's just one writer, a pad of paper, a pencil or a pen (or a computer, or a tablet, or dictation into an iWhatever), but in the end, it took a whole lot of people to shape a story into the story you have just finished reading.
This book wouldn't exist if Julie Stevenson hadn't taken a chance on me (and Charlie). Thank you from all the corners of my heart for making my writerly dreams come true. And for understanding when my daughter stole my cell phone and hid it in her baby carriage.
Speaking of writerly dreams: how lucky am I to have the editorial wizardry of Krista Marino? You opened up Girl in Pieces in ways I didn't think possible. Thank you for believing in Charlie, and for always pushing me that much further.
To the team at Random House Children's Books-Beverly Horowitz, Monica Jean, Barbara Marcus, Stephanie O'Cain, Kim Lauber, Dominique Cimina, Felicia Frazier, Casey Ward, and Alison Impey (Alison-thank you for finding Jennifer Heuer, who dreamed up the gorgeous, heartbreaking, and kick-ass cover!)-thank you for welcoming me to the fold and for your tireless support and enthusiasm.
Thanks to the Minnesota State Arts Board for helping artists and writers in the state of Minnesota achieve their dreams. Girl in Pieces was written with the help of several MSAB grants, over several years, in several different places: in a small office over the Trend Bar in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and in the libraries at Hamline University and the University of Minnesota.
Thanks also to the Creative Writing Program at the University of Minnesota for nurturing me as a writer during my time in the MFA Program, and as a desk-jockey as coordinator of the program. I received constant warm encouragement from Julie Schumacher, Charles Baxter, Patricia Hampl, and M. J. Fitzgerald.
Drs. Justin Cetas and Alivia Cetas provided sound medical advice and funny late-night texts as I revised the book. Elizabeth Noll, Tom Haley, and Holly Vanderhaar cheered me on and listened to me ramble and cry. My workshop mates at the Taos Summer Writers' Conference were kick-ass and funny, offering sage advice and spot-on critiques; thanks especially to workshop mastermind Summer Woods, who continued to encourage me long after our time in the desert was done.
Thanks also to Marshall Yarbrough, Diana Rempe, Caitlin Reid, Nick Seeberger, Diane Natrop, Isabelle Natrop, Kira Natrop, Mikayla Natrop, Swati Avasthi, Amanda Coplin, Lygia Day Penaflor, Laura Tisdel, Joy Biles, John Mufioz, and Chris Wagganer, and to all my fellow writers at the Sweet Sixteens, especially Jeff Giles and Janet McNally for talking me off a ledge.
And finally, thank you to Nikolai and Saskia, for drenching me every day in love; and to Chris, for twenty years of patience, laughter, and undone dishes.