A Special Place for Women, Laura Hankin [brene brown rising strong .txt] 📗

You don’t have to prove that you’re worthy. You only have to want to try. The fire we build will be a large one, with plenty of room around it. We’ll gather in our circle and join hands, and we’ll dance with our imperfect bodies.

Maybe nothing will happen. We’ll just be a bunch of women dancing in the woods, and it will be really fucking fun. Or maybe, just maybe, we will lift into the air, and we will fly.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Even though much of writing is quite solitary, it takes a village to make a novel, and I’ve got one incredible village. I’m so grateful to the following people for their help in bringing this book to life.

My editor, Jen Monroe. The text you sent me when you first finished reading a draft of this book was so wonderful, it almost made me cry. Working with you is a dream. I’m very lucky that I get to enjoy both your expert editorial guidance and your friendship.

My agent, Stefanie Lieberman, along with Molly Steinblatt and Adam Hobbins. Thank you for pushing me to be the best writer I can be, and for not letting me spend too much time on book ideas involving complex magic systems/multiple realities that don’t make any sense outside of my own head! I value your guidance so much. And thank you to everyone at Janklow & Nesbit for working on behalf of this story.

My writing group, Kate Emswiler, Becca Roth, and Celey Schumer, who never blinked when I sent them e-mails like “I HAVE A DEADLINE COMING UP IN A WEEK, CAN YOU READ THESE 75 PAGES AND GIVE ME YOUR TYPICAL THOUGHTFUL, BRILLIANT FEEDBACK?” We jokingly called ourselves “the Coven,” but the magic of drinking tea and discussing writing together was real.

My excellent friends who have cheered me on during the highs and lows of publishing. I’m writing this acknowledgments section during COVID-19, and my God, I miss hugging you all so much. Special shout-outs to Sash Bischoff, whose feedback improved this novel immensely, and Rebecca Mohr, who texted me title ideas at all hours of the night when she was up feeding her new baby (one of which, There’s a Special Place in Hell, inspired the eventual title).

The whole team at Berkley, from the social media experts to the copy editors. Special thanks to the core four—Jin Yu, Jessica Mangicaro, Danielle Keir, and Tara O’Connor—who have headed up my marketing and publicity for two books now with good cheer, lots of patience, and excellent Instagram comments, and to Emily Osborne, Craig Burke, Diana Franco, Jeanne-Marie Hudson, Christine Ball, Claire Zion, and Ivan Held. I look forward to the day when we can once again drink wine and gossip together.

The people at Paragraph, my quiet, friendly writing oasis in New York City, and Laura, my host in Hastings-on-Hudson, whose tiny cottage was where I wrote some of my favorite scenes in the book. Like Jillian, I envy those writers who can just churn out their brilliance anywhere, because I’m certainly not one of them!

Cas, the guide of a Salem Night Tour that I took while figuring out this book, whose enthusiastic but questioning attitude about witches helped inform Jillian’s arc.

The whole reading community. I’m in awe of the booksellers and librarians who spread the word about Happy & You Know It with such passion and kindness, the readers who let my characters into their lives (and took beautiful pictures of my book to boot), and the other authors I’ve gotten to know, who support one another with such enthusiasm, write the best blurbs, and inspire me with their talent. I got to meet some of you bookish people before the world turned upside down, and I hope I get to meet more of you when we’re right side up again.

My father, Mark, and my brother, Matt. I put your actual names in here this time!

And Dave, who took me to Salem, talked through tough scenes with me (for what sometimes probably felt like eight hours!), and recommended that Vy have an emotional support snake. I left you out of the acknowledgments last time, but I can’t wait to include you in all the ones to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Hankin is the author of Happy & You Know It. She has written for publications like McSweeney's and HuffPost, while her musical comedy has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more. She splits her time between NYC, where she has performed off-Broadway, and Washington D.C., where she once fell off a treadmill twice in one day.

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