Read How It Feels to Fly Online
Authors: Kathryn Holmes
How It Feels to Fly (28 page)
IT MAY BE A CLICHÃ TO SAY IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO publish a book, but for this particular book, it's absolutely true. I could not be more grateful to my own little village of publishing pros, fellow writers, friends, and family members for helping me get this book out of my brain and onto the shelves.
Thanks to my agent, Alyssa Eisner Henkin, for brainstorming with me and encouraging me to find the best possible version of my “dancer with body-image issues” idea. This book would not be what it is without your initial guidance and your support throughout its journey.
Thanks to my editor, Alexandra Cooper, whose insightful notes helped me push myself and my characters and dig deeper into the book's soul. Your comments gave me what I needed to turn an uncooperative, meandering manuscript into a finished product I'm proud to have written. Thanks
also to Alyssa Miele and the rest of the team at HarperTeen: art director Erin Fitzsimmons and designer Katie Fitch, production editor Renée Cafiero, production managers Allison Brown and Lillian Sun, marketing manager Kim VandeWater and marketing assistant Lauren Kostenberger, and publicist Olivia Russo. It's a privilege to have all of you working on and with my book.
I would be lost without my writer community. Huge thanks to Michael Ann Dobbs, Heather Demetrios, Ghenet Myrthil, Lauren Morrill, and Jodi Kendall, who read and critiqued drafts of this book at various points during the process. You provided both the positive reinforcement and the kick in the pants I needed to get through revision after revision. On the support and cheerleading front, thanks go out to the Fearless Fifteeners, the YA Buccaneers, and all the other writers in my life. It's so great to feel like we're on this crazy ride together.
One of the earliest seeds of inspiration for this book came from a freelance article I wrote for
Dance Spirit
magazine a few years ago. For that article, I interviewed sport psychologist and mental-skills coach Justin Su'aâand he was kind enough to act as a resource when I was first mapping out this book as well. Psychologist Dr. Nadine Kaslow, who has worked with dancers at Atlanta Ballet, and nutrition therapist Anastasia Nevin, who has worked in eating-disorder-treatment settings, also answered questions as I researched this project. When the manuscript was complete, Stephanie Kuehn read the whole thing and offered
notes on the clinical-treatment elements. Thank you all for sharing your expertise with me. The finished product is so much better for it.
Also in the research realm, thanks to Gail Nall, who helped me fill in figure-skating details, and Diana Gallagher, who did the same for gymnastics. I really appreciate your willingness to answer every question I emailed your way. In the category of life-as-research, thanks to my “dance family”âthe people I've studied under, trained alongside, and performed with over the years. May we never stop moving.
Thanks, again and again, to my wonderful family: Mom and Dad; Ben, Kate, Turner, Benton, and Miles; Mary-Owen (who read so many early drafts of this book!); Sheila and Jack; and Niki, Ed, Max, and Henry. I cherish your love and support.
To my husband, Justin: I'm so lucky to have you by my side. Thank you for everything.
Photo by Justin Marshall
KATHRYN HOLMES
grew up in Maryville, Tennessee, where she was an avid reader and an aspiring writer from an early age. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and piles upon piles of books. A graduate of the New School's MFA in creative writing program, Kathryn works as a freelance dance journalist, among other writing gigs. She's also a contemporary dancerâwhen she's not in front of her computer, you can often find her in a dance studio.
How It Feels to Fly
is her second novel. Visit Kathryn online at
www.kathrynholmes.com
.
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Cover hand lettering by Marla Moore
Cover photo © 2016 Michela Ravasio/Stocksy
Cover design by Katie Fitch
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
HOW IT FEELS TO FLY
. Copyright © 2016 by Kathryn Holmes. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015950991
ISBN 978-0-06-238734-9 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © May 2016 ISBN 9780062387363
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FIRST EDITION
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