Dead Spots (35 page)

A big thanks to the Madison Writers Institute folks at the UW-School of Continuing Education, who provide wonderfully valuable classes and conferences in my very own town. In particular, I want to thank Madison-area author and retired teacher Marshall Cook, who probably doesn’t even remember my face, but who took the time to encourage me the first time I tried to write fiction, and then wrote a lovely letter of recommendation to help get me into grad school. Your generosity for a student you’d just met made a big impression on me, and gave me a much-needed boost of confidence when I had none. Every student you’ve worked with has been truly lucky to have you, me especially.

Finally, thank you again to my mom and dad. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve won every “who has the best parents” contest, real or imagined, in my lifetime. I love you guys.

Photograph © Tyler Lane, 2011

Melissa F. Olson was born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and studied film and literature at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. After graduation, and a brief stint bouncing around the Hollywood studio system, she moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where she eventually acquired a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, a husband, a mortgage, two kids, and two comically oversized dogs—not at all in that order.
Dead Spots
is her first novel.