by Anne Heltzel
My friends went above and beyond for me throughout the revision process. In particular I am grateful to Laura Bernier, and to my writing group for your profound insights in the early stages of the manuscript: Marie Rutkoski (who provided thoughtful comments on several drafts), Jill Santopolo, Eliot Schrefer, and Marianna Baer. You can’t know how much I appreciate your warm welcome into the group and your honest feedback. I am incredibly lucky to have such talented writers by my side.
Thank you to my dear friend Rachel Hutchins, a brilliant author who has read each of my books with zeal and has offered wise insight. You read and caught errors in the latest and most crucial stages of revision, a task few would embrace.
My brother, Alex—also a writer and a passionate reader—read my first draft with his usual intelligent, critical eye. There’s a reason I’ve asked you to read early drafts of every novel I’ve written! Thank you as well to my mom and dad for being consistently devoted readers.
I am enormously grateful to Chris Carboni, who challenged me to see my story in a different way and confront the holes and questions I’d hoped to ignore. Thank you for always setting the highest expectations for me, and for fully believing I can meet them.
Last, thank you to Caroline Donofrio for reading Charlie and loving it, as well as for coming through in the clutch with an author photo I really like.
About the Author
Anne Heltzel was born in Ohio, attended the University of Notre Dame, and earned her MFA from The New School. She is currently an editor at a New York City publishing house, and is the author of Circle Nine and The Ruining (published pseudonymously).
Anne lives in Brooklyn. Visit her at anneheltzel.com or follow her on Twitter: @anneheltzel.