ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I don’t even know where or how to begin to express my gratitude for all the support I’ve received this past year. Without it, Ordinary World could not have come this far. So many people deserve to be mentioned by name in these acknowledgements, but I only have so much space. I’m going to do the best I can.

First, many thanks to everyone at Lulu for their tech support, customer service, and hospitality at the Raleigh headquarters. Thanks also to everyone at Quail Ridge Books and Music in Raleigh, NC for their support of local authors, myself especially.

I am indebted to my “travel guides”: Elisa DiLeo, Tracy Branco Medeiros, and Gavin Hymes. Without them, Andi would have been completely lost.

Aaron Sorkin continues to be a major inspiration and influence on my writing, and his insight and advice this past year have been indispensable, not to mention a thrill. Likewise, the new friends I’ve made on the “Aaron Sorkin and the Facebook Movie” discussion forum have kept me smiling, and I bask in their awesomeness on a regular basis. To Elspeth Antonelli, Heather Grace Stewart, Olivia Morris, Jill Weinberger, and Alexis Kokoros Zahorsky: Thanks for everything! To Larry H. Leitner: Thank you especially for telling me that I “got it”. That meant so much to me. To Danielle: Thanks for taking the time to message me after reading Faking It. To all my other forum friends (and you know who you are): I offer you cake and my gratitude for keeping it fun.

Thank you to my cousin, Ron Mottola, who enthusiastically spread the word about Faking It without a penny of compensation, and those who followed his lead (in alphabetical order): Marc Cerrone, Katherine Hagopian, Kathy Jackson, Ellen McCabe, Vicki Nadal, Barbara Quinby, and Mia VonBeeden. Many of them were also some of the first readers of Ordinary World, including my dear friend and writing partner in crime, Sarah Girrell Paquette.

Thank you to all who supported me on the blog tour, especially Stacey Cochran and the Raleigh Write2Publish group; Jerry Blitefield, the English Department, and the students at UMass-Dartmouth’s Temper; and Crystal Medeiros and her family, who gave me a place to stay during my visit to Massachusetts.

To Susan Miller-Cochran, the entire First Year Writing Program faculty, and the English Department at North CarolinaStateUniversity: I am honored to be among such outstanding colleagues and friends on a daily basis. To my students: You probably don’t know how much you teach me. Thank you all. To Tina Shasteen: Thanks to you and your family for your sacrifice and service.

A special thanks to my Facebook friends and Faking It Fans, Twitter followers, Kindle kin, “I’ll Have What She’s Having” blog readers, and every reader who has bought and/or passed on my book to someone else, as well as taken the time to write and post a review or a personal note of appreciation to me—your support means so much to me!

To my parents, Michael and Eda; my siblings: Michael, Bobby, Ritchie, Steve, Mary, and especially Paul, my twin brother, and their spouses/significant others; my grandmother, Mary Mottola; my nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins: I love you dearly. To Kelly Lennon Sutphin, my best friend since birth: I can’t wait for the birthday bash.

Special thanks to all those authors who make me better at what I do (Richard Russo, Jennifer Weiner, David Sedaris, and Nora Ephron, to name a few), and to every independent author who dares to dive in head first—go for it!

Finally, my deepest gratitude to the band Duran Duran, especially its original five members: John Taylor, Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, Roger Taylor, and Andy Taylor. For the last twenty-six years and counting, Duran Duran’s music has been my primary source of comfort during times of sorrow, joy, and celebration, and companionship for everything in between. Their song “Ordinary World” was the inspiration for this novel, and I don’t know how I would’ve survived the most turbulent times of my life without them. I love them like they were my own brothers.

If I have left any person out of these acknowledgements, please accept my sincere apology and know that your name is etched on my heart.

Namaste.

Elisa Lorello

September 2009