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I’d like to thank everyone at Touchstone/Fireside and Simon & Schuster for making this book happen.
Faith Evans: you emailed me out of the blue in 2006 and asked me to coauthor your memoir. I’d never had a book published before. And I wasn’t sure if I was the right person for the job. You were sure. And you jumped off my career in books. For that I am forever grateful.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge [Name Redacted]. You swindled me out of $18,000. I wrote a book for you. You never paid me. I have to acknowledge your pure jerkiness. (Is that a word?) From you, I learned how important it is to handle your business (word to Thembisa Mshaka), and never get so caught up in the creative that you don’t check your contracts. You also taught me how to forgive. Other people. Not you.
Writing a book is torture. You have to make the time to get the words down. And for me, that means depending on a pit crew who patches me up, fixes my life and makes sure I can get it done. I may have put down all the words in this book but it wasn’t written alone.
Without the help of my pit crew, I’d still be in Starbucks trying to outline this thing:
Jasmine Volmar, Myrlove Denestant, Skye Volmar, Rita King, Nicole Green, Erik Parker, Ashanti King, and the staff at Executive Baby made it possible for me to write and know that my baby girl would be well taken care of. Thank you.
Thanks to my father, Robert E. King. You assigned me the most fascinating book of my career: yours.
Much love to Shydel James, my research assistant, faux babysitter, ghostwriter, GCH, confidante, wardrobe consultant, stylist, pharmacist and patron saint. Thank you for being my very first reader and for all your constructive criticism. And thank you for funding my writer’s retreat (also known as three nights at the West Orange Marriott) when it was time to crank out this novel at the very end. I love you so very much.
My family in general is always a beacon of light and support for me. Much love to the King, Parker, Volmar, Shelbourne, Mbako, Peterson, Cagle, Lee, Johnson Barnes, Siders, Lane, Webb, Dunson and Lockett families. Love to my brother Al-Tariq, and all my nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and my in-laws, Terry Peterson and Charlotte Parker.
I’m blessed to have a tight knit cheering squad who love me like cooked food: the Honorable Victoria F. Pratt, Maya T. Harris, Portia Chinnery, Paul Chinnery, Anton Lendor, James Hall, Dylan Siegler, Ukachi Arinzeh, Felix Mickens (shout-out to his wife, LaTerra Howard for being one of my first readers), Anita Johnson, and Darron “Chill” Wallace.
I’m also honored to belong to two top-secret online communities: to my Threadren and my Lede-ing ladies, I love you all so much for being a place where I can truly be myself.
A heartfelt thank-you to a variety of folks to whom I’m forever indebted: Lindy Hess, Leslie Hendrickson, Jamilah Barnes Creekmur, Leslie and Jermaine Hall, Malcolm Shabazz, and Gianna Miceli. Y’all know why.
Love and respect to Akiba Solomon, Laini Madhubiti, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, Carlito Rodriguez and my ENTIRE family at The Source. To Sheena “more substance, less style” Lester, The Blackspot, Datwon Thomas, and the whole old-school XXL crew. Love to Steven Samuel, Felicia Palmer, Jordan-River and Galilee.
Hugs and kisses to my girl, Elise Wright, who has held me down from day one; Cheo Hodari Coker, for always dispensing advice—fast! Clover Hope and Linda Hobbs, for inspiring me to be a better writer. Tamara Warren, for a kind word just when I needed it. Heather Faison, aka HAFtime, for my kick-ass website and being the best unpaid intern ever.
To everyone at Chill E. D. Management (not to be confused with Ed from accounting): I can’t thank you enough for your assistance and advice.
Shout-outs to Emil Wilbekin, Mimi Valdés, Raqiyah, Shani and Norman Parrish, Jamie Katz, Rob Kenner, Celia San Miguel and the ENTIRE staff at Vibe, past and present. And many thanks to Joyce Davis, Adenike Olanrewaju, and Reema Mitra for their invaluable book advice.
Thank you to Bevy Smith, Tai Beauchamp, and Naima Brown for helping me find my inner diva.
Thank you to Cynde Watson and Luis Antonio Thompson for showcasing my inner diva.
Thank you to E. Monique Johnson, Kym Backer, Bernard and Sheila Bronner, and the entire UPSCALE team for keeping me with the steady check that allowed me to write this novel.
In the process of writing this book, I’ve connected with people I’ve admired from afar for years. They’ve opened themselves up to me, offering advice and tips (and some awesome blurbs!) I’m forever indebted to Denene Milner, dream hampton, Erica Kennedy, Yanick Rice Lamb, Kierna Mayo, Virginia DeBerry, and Donna Grant.
This has nothing to do with anything. But I remember in Waiting to Exhale, in the acknowledgments, Terry McMillian shouted out her hairstylist for always hooking her hair up. I was like, huh? You’re thanking your hairstylist? But now I get it. I write better when my hair’s cute. So much love to Lynn Miles, at The Shades Hair Studio, for always hooking my ’do up. From a TWA to a Diana Ross–Beyoncé–Wendy Williams hybrid—and everything in between—you keep my strands in check.
TH, TG, Tog, Tati and TB: I love you all more than you could ever know.
Shoot. This acknowledgments mess is an impossible task. I’m at the end now. And someone very important to me is sucking their teeth and saying, “Oh, no, she didn’t leave my name off!”
Charge my mind. Not my heart.
Aliya S. King
March 5, 2010