Eight Minutes (27 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
owe man
y thanks to the people in my life who have supported this work. Thank you to my agent, Emmanuelle Morgen, for seeing the potential and making it happen; Christine Pride for her smart insights and feedback; and Danielle Marshall, Jenna Free, and the team at Amazon Publishing for helping make one of my dreams come true.

Writing is a solitary pursuit, but it is made easier within a community. Thank you to my writing group in Dallas—Shilpi Gowda, Dr. Cindy Corpier, Erin Burdette, and Cindy Jones—for getting to know Shelly and Eric and Toby before everyone else and for advising me on what they would and would not do. Thank you, my fellow word warriors in The Big Three—Lia Eastep, Julie Stewart, Bridgett Jensen, Jackie Gorman, and Katy Yocom—who know exactly what it takes to wake up every morning with the audacity to believe that we have something to say. Thank you to the talented writers I met in the Spalding MFA program, including my thoughtful mentors: Robin Lippincott, Kirby Gann, Mary Yukari Waters, Ellie Bryant, Rachel Harper, Julie Brickman, and the indomitable Sena Jeter-Naslund. And my fellow students who read an early draft and gave feedback that made a difference: Elaine Little, Graham Shelby, Mary Lou Northern, Tay Berryman, George Schricker, and Karen Mann.

Thank you to my friends who support the creative process in their own ways: specifically, Jackie Sherman for walking every week with me and my imaginary friends as I was writing the first draft; Dr. Jim Schroeder for helping me imagine exactly how the worst-case scenario might go; Dr. Vinita Schroeder for her vacation superpowers; Nancy and Rick Rome for encouraging words and a glass of good wine at the right times. Thank you to my first and best mom-friends: Shannon Hollingsworth for letting me read out loud to her; Quitze Nelson for letting me be nosy about things I haven’t had to live through; Lorie Leigh Lawrence for her talent in making everything look better.

Thank you to my family—Tom, Hugo, Morgan, Michael, and Matt—who all contributed to this work in their own ways, which perhaps they didn’t realize as it was happening. Thanks for sharing in the unspoken assumption in our family that creative work is worth doing. And finally, thank you to my Jenkins family roots: my mom, who took me to the public library every time I asked; my dad, who taught me to work hard; and my sisters, Peg and Pam, and my brother, Gary, for putting up with my storytelling back when it was just lying and maybe not so entertaining.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo © 2012 Lorie Leigh Lawrence

Lori Reisenbichler has told stories her whole life, most recently onstage at the Moth and Oral Fixations. She holds an MFA from Spalding University and has served as an editor for the
Best New Writing
journal.
Eight Minutes
is her debut novel. She lives in Dallas, Texas, with a charming devil of an architect. They have three grown children. When she’s not writing, she throws dinner parties and cheers way too loudly at sporting events.