You know, when you get your first book published—or when you publish any book, I suppose—you are faced with the very important task of sharing thanks with all those who helped you get there. Many folks do this in a smart and lengthy acknowledgements page; sometimes these are witty, sometimes they are moving, always they are heartfelt.
On the acknowledgements page of my upcoming book, The Temple of Air, I thanked the magazines, anthologies, and journals that published these stories originally, and also the various institutions that supported me through the process of writing the collection. When it came to naming individuals, I did not do that. Two reasons: one, there are SO MANY people who were part of this very long creative endeavor; and two, I wanted to dedicate the book solely to my mother, Sylvia McNair, who died in 2002 and who (a writer herself) was my absolute biggest fan and supporter. It hurts me more than a little that she won’t get to see this book in print, and so I dedicate it to her memory.
That said, I do want to give credit where credit is due. So here on this blog page, I will try to express the enormous gratitude that I feel to so many who helped give this book life.
First, I must thank Betty Shiflett who was my thesis advisor at Columbia College Chicago, who was patient and demanding, who has a fine ear for story, and a love of language that spills over onto her students. John Schultz, the founder of the Fiction Writing Department at CCC and the developer of the Story Workshop® approach to the teaching of writing is such a good writer and reader, it is impossible to not learn from him. My many teachers at Columbia inspired me in various ways: Shawn Shiflett said “Just say it,” an incredibly valuable thing for me to hear at the time; Andy Allegretti laughed at my first stabs at writing humor and let me cry in his office; Randy Albers has been a mentor to me in so many ways, it would fill pages if I started to list them all. Ask me over a beer about any of these folks, and I will weep while I tell you what they mean to me.
I am grateful to have my colleagues Nicole Chakalis, Don De Grazia, Ann Hemenway, Gary Johnson, Eric May, Joe Meno, Linda Naslund, Devon Polderman, Alexis Pride, Deborah Roberts, Lisa Schlesinger, Sam Weller, and the recently arrived Nami Mun and Audrey Niffenegger in my corner. Their friendship and wisdom make all the things (teaching, play, life in general) that surround the writing good. At Columbia I share the offices with some forty or more adjunct faculty as well, and each of them means something to me. A few have actually been part of this work-in-progress one way or another: Lott Hill ran a workshop where the first story in the book was attempted; Megan Stielstra was a fellow student in another workshop and commented wisely on my work; Chris De Guire shares ideas and stories with me almost daily; Polly Mills was one of my earliest colleagues and fellow students, and her fine work pushed me to up the ante on my own; Tom Popp, editor of F Magazine, published work of mine early on and talks smartly about the role of fiction; Gina Frangello saw something in one of my stories and not only published it when she edited Other Voices, but also submitted it for an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award (which it won!) There are others among the faculty I know I should thank, and I reserve the right to mention them now and again as time moves forward.
My teachers, colleagues, and writing friends outside of Columbia need a nod as well: Lee Hope from the Solstice Low Residency MFA program gave me teaching and public reading opportunities away from my home comfort zone; Michael Steinberg pushed me into things I otherwise might not have attempted; Dorothy Allison, A. Manette Ansay, Dianne Benedict, Jaimee Wriston Colbert, Colin Channer, Michael Delp, Jack Driscoll, Cristina Garcia, David Huddle, Elinor Lipman, Joe Mackall, Dinty W. Moore, Steve May, John McNally, Dennis McFadden, Tim Middleton, Michael White, and Valerie Wilson Wesley, have been role models and pals. Anne-Marie Oomen showed me how to do it—look up and take in the world, then put your head down and get it on the page.
Would it even be possible to name all of the past and present students (many of them friends now) who inspired me with their own good work? Jana Dawson, Aaron Golding, Katie Corboy, Stephanie Kuehnert, Geoff Hyatt, Gail Wallace Bozzano, are just a few who come to mind. But I’ve been teaching for more than two decades now, so there are others, I am certain. Thanks to all of you.
And family. I am the only girl (and the baby) among a swarm of boys, but our ranks are shrinking. Roger, my brother who died just a few months ago, carried me over so many roads in my life that the person I have become is so much his doing. Don and Allen wanted a baby sister and they got one, and I am lucky to have them. My surviving half-brothers, Paul and Wesley, are writers, too, so we share ideas and work when we can. Wesley gave me the title for this collection (I wonder if he remembers that?) and read some of the earliest stories with his poet’s eye. Thanks for that. The children (and their children) of my brothers are like a little mutual fan club: Dan and his wife Anna, Ben and Sean; John and Shelly and Sheila and David; the writer and editor Shanna McNair; my sister-niece Kim McNair Lawless. And let me not forget to say thanks to my mother-in-law, the voracious reader and lovely woman Maggie Hartigan.
Are there more people I should thank? Certainly there are. Jotham Burrello and ERP who made this possible. My gratitude is immeasurable. Dan Prazer, editor and friend. The parents of my ex, Joan and John Lewis. I still call them or write when something big happens, because I know they will cheer in the most satisfying ways. (I should thank my ex as well, who supported me early on in this endeavor—thanks Michael.) Anna Idol and Michael Sugano. Dolores Nathanson.
But most of all, I am grateful to Philip Hartigan, the best husband and partner a woman could have. Seriously. Could I do any of this on my own? Perhaps. Would it be as fun and meaningful to me? Absolutely not. We have a bottle of champagne in the fridge we’ve been saving. We will pop the cork when the book is in our hands. We’ve been waiting a long time. We will celebrate a long time.
Thank you all.
Patricia Ann McNair 