Of course, I would never have reached this point in my life without the support of my friends and family. Thank you to every person who listened to me blather on about publishing and who asked how things were going. Every teacher—and you know who you are—who read my early work and helped shape me as a writer. Mrs. Ro, you always knew I’d get here. And Coach, I really wish you were around to see it. My agent siblings, especially Tasha and Chloe, who listened and celebrated and otherwise helped me navigate these uncharted waters. My nonwriter friends who cheered me on. Thank you to my brothers, who were as excited about this process as I was. And my parents, who weren’t surprised at all （well, you were） when I told them I was being published.
Thank you to my best friend, Ashley. We’ve been wreaking havoc since high school, and she never once doubted where I’d end up. Most of all, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to Lindsey. She’s been there through every tear and triumph. Every giddy dance when good news came. Every grumble of frustration when things weren’t going well. I can’t imagine anyone else by my side, and I am beyond lucky that our paths crossed ten years ago.
If you’re an aspiring author reading this, know that I was once you. I flipped to the end of every book, searching for some magical crumb of a secret about how to get my work published. Despite the fact that you’re reading this, I never found that crumb. Magic, unfortunately, rarely exists outside the boundaries of a page in quite the way we’d like it to. But persistence, patience, and an unwavering work ethic do exist. If I have any secret to my bit of success, those are undoubtedly mixed in. Keep writing. Keep rewriting. Keep reading. Keep trying. I can’t promise you an end date. But I know that every piece—and every draft of every piece—makes me a better writer.
Lastly, thank you to every librarian, blogger, fellow writer, and absolutely anyone who has helped this book to find readers. Readers, this book is only ink and pages without you. I hope you found something of yourself in Alyce’s story, or that it was at least enjoyable. If not—good thing there are more books!