It takes a village to raise a novel, and Where the Staircase Ends is no exception. First and foremost, thanks to the fabulous team at Month9Books for everything you’ve done. To Georgia McBride, for seeing the potential in my story and giving it a home. To Lindsay Leggett and Bethany Robison, my fabulous editors, for helping to bring out the best in my words. To Jaime Arnold, Jennifer Million and the rest of the team, for all the help and support behind the scenes. Month9Books is a fantastic place to launch a writing career. Thank you.
This story would never have reached the world if it wasn’t for the help and support of my many writing friends. To Jen, Lauren and Triona, the amazing and talented women of Thinking To Inking—I never would have made it this far without you. Thank you for everything. To Kristy Shen, who encouraged me to submit to Month9Books in the first place—you realize this whole thing is kinda your fault, right? Saying thanks doesn’t feel big enough, but I hope it’s a starting point. I also owe an immense amount of thanks to Margie Senechal, Suzi Retzlaff, Tamara Walsh, MaryKate Connolly, Stephanie Diaz and Ico Ahyicodae. I’d be remiss not to mention the wonderful community over at AgentQuery Connect. Thanks for giving me a place to go when I had no idea what the heck I was doing. I hope everyone there sells a million books. You deserve it.
To Mom, Dad and Mike for all the support throughout the years. I suppose I should also thank you for reading to me when I was little…I like to think that played a part in this whole “I want to write a novel” dream I’ve had. And the education. That helped too. :) Thanks always for everything.
I’m lucky to have wonderful friends in my life who keep me sane and happy. To the Literary Lushes and my Clorox Crew—thank you a million times over for giving me distractions when I needed them most. San Francisco’s a beautiful city, but you guys make it a wonderful place to live. Thank you. And to my Longhorn ladies—if you were a soup, you’d be miso. Because you make miso happy. (See what I did there Becky and Valini? That’s called a pun. It’s funny. Right?)
Last but never least (and perhaps most of all) a million thank yous to my wonderful husband. M+B forever.
And if by chance this book wanders into your hands, thank you for reading. I hope your stairs are long, and there are many interposing flies along the way.