Brightly Burning(98)

I could not have asked for a better marketing and publicity team, who has brainstormed bigger and bolder than I ever could have, and championed my book in ways that have honestly made me a bit teary! Lisa DiSarro, Tara Shanahan, Tara Sonin, Rachel Fershleiser, Amanda Acevedo: you are all rockstars of the highest order.

Elana, my incredible warrior of an agent, I am thankful every single day that you loved this book and wanted to take me on. You were and are everything I didn’t know I needed, and I couldn’t do any of this without you.

Thank you and all the hugs to my longtime CP and friend, Heather Kaczynski, for being with me through every step of this journey and for letting me be with you on yours. You are a brilliant writer and human being, and I feel privileged to call you my friend.

To Elly Blake, the sweetest, most positive, and supportive friend. Your enthusiasm kept me going through every draft and your beautiful writing pushed me to be a better writer. Any captivating turn of phrase in this book I owe to you; reading your lush descriptions sparked my own imagination so many times.

All my love and gratitude to Natalie Simpson, for speedy and repeated reads when I was convinced everything was terrible. I’m so glad I met you, and can’t wait to return the favor. Mary Elizabeth Summer, you always make things better with your wit and insightful comments, whether they be about the book at hand, the industry, or life. Thanks to Emmy Neal for your incisive comments, including and especially how I should kill someone in the third act, and for being a good sport when I told you NO! and then ended up doing it eventually anyway. Yes, he didn’t stay dead, but the point is, mea culpa!

To every early reader who gave me something to think about, or just reassured me I didn’t suck: Samantha McClanahan, Liz Parker, Kester Grant, Chelsea Sedoti, Sophie Gonzalez, Marize Alphonso, Destiny Cole, Kristine Kim, and Katie Doyle. To my fierce ladies of science, Emily Suvada and Mandy Self, for checking the science part of the sci-fi, helping me to embarrass myself a bit less. Any remaining errors of hand-waveyness are on me!

All my supremely awesome author friends, just for being you: Adrienne Kisner, Emily Duncan, Kevin van Whye, Claire Wenzel, Gretchen Schreiber, Jessie Cluess, Kaitlyn Sage Patterson, Maura Milan, Rebecca Schaeffer, Heather Ezell, Lily Meade, Kat Cho, Adrienne Young, Kristin Dwyer, Emma Theriault, and Rosiee Thor. My fellow Electric 18s: stay electric. My California Electrics: I adore you all. Team Elana: I love you all, you pretty writing nerds. My Reddit fam, especially Lilah Vandenburgh for always putting perfectly into a few words what I am trying to say with a paragraph, and to the whole UpvoteYA podcast team.

To Beth Revis, for inspiring me to write space YA in the first place and for not being weirded out by my multiple homages to Across the Universe in this book. Your kindness and professional guidance over the years were instrumental. Susan Dennard for treating me like a peer long before I had a book deal and for always offering the best advice. You are a class act, and one of the most talented writers I have the privilege of knowing.

Thank you to the entire AMM fam: my mentees and friends Whitney Wyckoff, Alyssa Colman, India Hill and Lindsey Meredith: You are all destined for great things and I can’t wait to be there for them. Special thanks to Whitney for her help with the journalism parts, since I am terribly rusty in that arena, and to Alyssa for the brainstorming sessions. To all the mentors whom I also consider friends: Stay salty.

To WriteGirl, for welcoming me with open arms and unlocking a passion for teen mentorship, which has launched me down so many surprising paths. Never underestimate the power of a girl and her pen.

My DragonCon YA Lit Track squad who have been with me on the entire journey: Casey, Mel, Tara, Jenn, Natalie and Bev. Bev especially: I have learned so much from you and think you are the bee’s knees.

To my LA family, Patty, Daniel, Holly and Sylvia. Thank you for being my home away from home every holiday and letting me write while you watch football. I owe many words on the page to the NFL package.

Everyone at IMD: Adrienne, Nicole, Elizabeth, Mike, Scott, Katie, Doug, Patrick and Katherine. You are the best work team anyone could ask for. Thanks to Nicole for helping me with my Mandarin (inevitable errors are my own), and special thanks to Adrienne Alwag for always supporting my writer life and my work life.

Anyone I may have erred in forgetting: you are wonderful; I am terrible.

Charlotte Bront?, for creating a heroine who speaks to so many people, myself included. I’m convinced you wrote the first YA novel, and it has brought me so much joy since I was a teenager. I am sure I did not do justice to your beautiful book and characters, but thank you, nonetheless.

And last but never least, my mom, who has always believed in me and encouraged me to be a writer. You still tell people that I wrote a Babysitter’s Club “book” when I was eight and it was as good as the published stuff, and I don’t believe you, but I love that you think so. I am here because of you, and I love you.