Time of My Life (27 page)

Acknowledgments

If there is such a thing as publishing heaven, Shaye Areheart Books is it, and I can’t believe my good fortune to have landed here. Most writers are lucky to have one fabulous editor. I was lucky enough to have two, both of whom are worthier than I deserved. I will always be grateful to Sally Kim, who with kindness, genius, and dedication, nurtured this book long after her responsibilities had expired, and to Shaye Areheart, who gave me more attention, support, and wisdom than surely her schedule allowed. My team at Shaye Areheart Books—Kira Walton, Annsley Rosner, Rowena Yow, Karin Schulze, Sarah Knight, and Anne Berry, among others—was more than I could have ever hoped for: the perfect trifecta of intelligence, talent, and wit.

Most writers are also lucky to have an agent who advocates on their behalf, but I’m lucky to have one who goes way beyond just being my advocate: Elisabeth Weed, as if I haven’t told you this a thousand times before, you rock, and I’m thankful each and every day that you responded to my introductory email. Soon we shall conquer the world! (Yes, readers, she knows that I’m joking. Sort of. We’re always both sort of joking.)

To Michelle Winn and Andrea Mazur: Thank you for your friendship and for talking endlessly with me about our own “what ifs.” You made this a better book, and you make my life a better place to live.

To Amy Stanton, Melissa Brecher, and Paula Pontes: Thank you for our girls’ nights, which keep me sane, and for reminding me that where you come from is as important as where you’re going.

To Laura Dave: Thank you for the perfect epigraph.

To my friends at FLX: Thank you for providing companionship during my solitary days in my office, and thank you for sharing in my triumphs every step of the way.

To Randy and Tamara Winn, Barbara and Barry Scotch, Matthew Scotch, Molly Scotch, Linda Childers, Debra Netschert, Larramie, Rachel Weingarten, Jennifer Lancaster, Sarah Self, Meryl Poster, and Kate Schumaecker: Thank you for the various unsolicited ways that you offered help, support, critiques, cheerleading, shoulders, and friendship these past few years. I’m constantly indebted.

To my parents: Thank you for your pride in my success and for the knowledge that you’d be proud of me whether I was published or not. Thank you also for those last-minute babysitting fill-ins that I usually forget to thank you for.

To my husband, Adam: Thank you for your good humor and your wry smile when I told you about the subject matter of the book; thank you for not caring if people will confuse this fiction with our real life; thank you for occasionally putting your dishes in the dishwasher and every once in a while picking up your socks from the floor.

Finally, to Campbell and Amelia: Thank you for providing more unfiltered joy and untouchable love than I have ever known. I might have written a book about “what ifs,” but with you, I have my answers.

About the Author

Allison Winn Scotch is a frequent contributor to numerous national magazines and is the author of
The Department of Lost and Found.
She lives in New York City with her husband and their son, daughter, and dog.

                  
ALSO BY
ALLISON WINN SCOTCH

The Department of Lost and Found

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2008 by Allison Winn Scotch

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Shaye Areheart Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

Shaye Areheart Books with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scotch, Allison Winn.
Time of my life : a novel / by Allison Winn Scotch.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Self-realization in women—Fiction.                  2. Life change events—Fiction.
3. Psychological fiction.                  I. Title.
PS3619.C64T56 2008
813’.6—dc22                                    2008010628

eISBN: 978-0-307-45006-7

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