A Door between Us
Page 31
I’m grateful to my in-laws, who welcomed me into their family with a warmth that was all the more touching given the reasonable reservations they might have had about their son marrying so far outside their traditions. It was an all-too-short joy to get to live with them for periods of time in both Tehran and New York.
Although I felt compelled to tell this story, I had little confidence in my ability to do so and would have likely aborted the project altogether were it not for the encouragement and prodding of my dear friend Sarah Lane. Sarah read every single chapter as I completed it, managed to ignore all the embarrassing flaws of a first draft, and made me feel like my voice and story had value.
During much of the writing, my family was embraced by the beautiful Village Community. In addition to teaching and loving my children, Village friends read early drafts, helped me practice my “pitch,” and watched my kids so I could write. I’m especially grateful to Anna-Maria White and Michelle Longosz for their editing advice; Lynn Offenhartz, Amy Dalziel, Elizabeth Adinolfi, and Matt Hammer for reading the full manuscript and saying nice enough things that I felt confident to start querying; Jennifer Birnbaum, Jeri Vasquez, Shelly Dorai-Raj, Lila Lam, Gina Koepf, Steve Smith, Rob Rothrock, and Stephanie Snow for letting me practice my “pitch” on them before heading to the San Francisco Writer’s Conference; and Diana Joseph and Aine O’Donovan for helping me figure out social media.
Thank you to friends in Iran who read the book and gave me feedback to make sure I got things right including Zahra, Samira, Bijan, and Maryam. Thank you to Morvarid, Bahareh, Nassim, and Parisa not only for reading (and rejecting!) the Farsi translation but also for being my adopted Iranian sisters and family in California. Thank you to Javaneh and Mohsen for helping me figure out my “audience” and saving me from a few embarrassing flaws.
Thank you to Jenny Ballif (a.k.a. Science Mom!) for being my writing buddy and champion, for improving the book through your insightful edits and thoughtful questions, and for making me query beyond the three agents I was initially planning on. Thank you to Zaha Hassan and Lara Kain for helping me figure out how to organize the first chapter. Thank you to Heather Lazare for being the first professional to encourage me and for providing so much thoughtful and useful feedback. Thank you to Ausma Zehanat Khan and Persis Karim for paving the way for voices like mine.
Thank you to Shiloh Ballard, Jessica Waite, Allison Greenlee and the rest of my colleagues at the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition who have supported a project whose relevance to our goal of getting folks on bikes may not have been obvious.
I’ve heard it said that finding the right agent is like falling in love and can attest that in my case, at least, the aphorism rings true. I knew Danielle Burby of the Nelson Literary Agency would be a perfect match from the moment I stumbled across her website and read of her interest in social justice themes that were a central element of my novel. My esteem for her has only increased as I’ve seen the professionalism, confidence, and wisdom with which she’s shepherded and gone to bat for this project. Thank you Danielle! Thank you also to Kristin, Brian, Samantha, and other members of the NLA team.
Addi Black, Jennifer Pooley, Megan Wahrenbrock, Zena Coffman, Jeff Yamaguchi, Greg Boguslawski, Ember Hood, Josie Woodbridge, and the team at Blackstone Publishing have been a dream to work with. Thank you for believing in and making so many important contributions to improving this story and getting it out. And thank you for supporting me when I needed it most.
Finally, Hamed, Sobhan, Matine, I love sharing my life and home with you. Thank you for putting up with me during the ups and downs of a writer’s life. I hope I can support your projects with as much enthusiasm and grace as you have always supported mine.