All This Time(78)

Like most of my stories, All This Time came to me from a place deep inside myself, a place I inhabit when I’m living in my heart instead of my head. It’s a place of magic and dreams and wild illusions, where my stories come alive and my characters talk to me in voices clear and bright.

This place, this inner world, is my reality. It’s where I belong and it’s where I thrive. In this place, I’ve known my Marley; I’ve loved my Marley. I’ve loved Kyle. I’ve met Will and Stella, Poe and Barb. I’ve loved them, too. So much. I’ve known true love and true heartache. These are the things that make life worth living, the things that make stories worth telling.

The choice to fashion All This Time into a kind of fairy tale was an easy one. Like Marley tells Kyle, we live our lives telling stories, creating them as we go. Sometimes these stories are small, everyday moments: folding laundry with our parents, feeding popcorn to ducks beside a tranquil pond.

Sometimes the stories are so big they consume our imaginations and our hearts: The Man in the Moon who smiles down upon the girl who wishes for love. A boy who meets his true love in a coma and wakes with a mission to find that girl and live happily ever after.

I believe in all these things. The Man in the Moon? He’s up there. I know he is. The thought that two people can connect in a world made of stories and dreams and somehow find their soul mate? It can happen. I’m sure of it. These ideas, these notions, are as true to me as the green grass, the blue sky, and the air we breathe.

Call me crazy. Call me delusional. Call me a dreamer. I’m okay with that. I’m just thankful that you’ve chosen to meet me here, in my world, and have allowed me to share my stories with you, because I will always believe in fairy tales. I will always believe in true love. Just try and stop me.





Acknowledgments


As writers, we start with an idea—a seed. We plant that seed into the fertile soil of our imaginations. We warm it with the sunshine of commitment and water it with love and patience. Then we let it sprout and grow, cheering as it blossoms into its own unique being.

What’s not always acknowledged are the army of gardeners and gatekeepers who stand ready to wrangle weeds and shoo away pests until the flower is in full bloom and ready to be shared.

To Liz Parker, my kick-ass agent and primary hand-holder. Thank you for battling the elements on my behalf. The wind and the rain could’ve easily twisted themselves into one hell of a tornado and uprooted all of our hard work. Thank you for bearing the brunt of the frenzy.

To Alexa Pastor, our trusted editor. Thank you for pruning, trimming, and shaping the foliage. Without your guiding hand, this garden wouldn’t have evolved into the beautiful landscape it has become. Thank you!

Rachael! Rachael, Rachael, Rachael. Thank you for once again digging into the dirt with me. Lugging water and shoveling shit is hard work. I’m so glad I didn’t have to do it alone. Thank you for beautifully adapting another of my screenplays into book form. Love you, lady. I really do.

To Scott Whitehead, my expert attorney, who kept the brambles of business at bay so I could focus solely on the art. Thank you for always having my back.

To my “movie” team: David Boxerbaum, Adam Kolbrenner, Sara Nestor, and all of the Verve, Lit, and MWF folks. You guys got this ball rolling years ago when you signed this green, unknown writer. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your faith and belief. I love you all.

And last but never, never least… to Tobias Iaconis. You are the Great Oak that shelters every garden we build. Under your protective branches, I know that I am always safe to plant and play and dream to my heart’s content, because you’ve got me covered. Ampersand forever—&&&.

—Mikki



Thank you, first and foremost, to my editor, Alexa Pastor, who got this team from start to finish, through rain and ice and hellfire. I am continually in awe of you! May you celebrate with a platter of pizza rolls.

To Mikki, for trusting me with All This Time, which has been so very close to your heart for so long. This is your story. Thanks for letting me live in it for a while.

I am beyond grateful to Justin Chanda, Julia McCarthy, and the rest of the incredible team at Simon & Schuster. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to work with such an amazing group of people.

Huge thanks to Rachel Ekstrom Courage and my agent, Emily van Beek, at Folio Literary, for all the time and care you put into me and my writing.

Also to Siobhan Vivian, for the advice, for the guidance, and for Writing Youth Literature 1 (& 2!) at the University of Pittsburgh.

To my ride-or-die, Lianna Rana, and to Ed, Judy, Mike, Luke, and Aimee, for family dinners, games of Dominion, and vacations smack in the middle of a deadline.

I am especially grateful to my mom, who has always supported me in everything I do. I love you.

And finally, to Alyson Derrick, for making happily ever after everything a girl could dream of.

—Rachael