Exit Stage Left (26 page)
Authors: Gail Nall
Casey’s story has existed in one form or another since 2007, and there are a lot of people who have helped along the way. You are all amazing, and I’m so thankful for you—and if I forget your name here, please forgive me and know that you are still so much appreciated!
First, to the two people who made it happen: Annie Berger, who possesses an extraordinary amount of editorial talent and who believed I could write YA, and Julia Weber, who had unending faith in this book even when I was ready to shelve it. Thank you both for being awesome. Another huge thank-you to everyone at Harper who had a hand in publication!
To everyone who read this book or even part of it in some form: Jen Malone, Abby Cooper, Gretchen Kelley, Miriam Franklin, Sara O’Bryan Thompson, Cecilia Cannon, Jenn Brisendine, Candie Moonshower, and members of the LL&N group—Laura Stone,
Amy Williamson, Anne Howard, Chuck Suddeth, and David Jarvis. Thank you all for your suggestions, guidance, support, honesty, and humor.
A huge thank-you to Alison Cherry for schooling me in lighting design. I asked way more questions than I ended up using—thanks for putting up with me! Additional thank-yous go to Summer Heacock and Manju Howard, for answering random questions about Indiana for me. Anything I got wrong is all on me.
Thanks to SHA theater for indulging my love of acting in high school. Another thank-you goes to all the great local bands of my teen years that I’ve smooshed together to create Manic Banshee—thanks for giving seventeen-year-old me something to do on a Friday night.
To all the people who keep me sane: the MG Beta Readers, Team Weber, Midsouth SCBWI, the Fearless Fifteeners, YA Binders, everyone at St. John Center, my wonderful friends—thank you for laughs, encouragement, and general awesomeness.
And finally to the best family a girl could ask for—Mom, Dad, Cheryl, Joel, Linda, and the Nalls—thank you and I love you. Eva, you are my everything.
Photo by Whitney Powell.
GAIL NALL
lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with her family and more cats than necessary. When she’s not writing books, she manages grants for a homeless shelter and chases her toddler. Gail is also the author of the middle grade novels
Breaking the Ice
and
You’re Invited
. You can find her online at
www.gailnall.com
.
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EXIT STAGE LEFT
. Text copyright © 2015 by Gail Nall. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
EPub Edition © August 2015 ISBN 9780062410061
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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