BooksBarbecue
Back This Time Will Be Different Save as PDF
Chapters (77)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part I
  6. 3
  7. The History of My Beef with Brynn Foer-Preston
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part I
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part I
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part II
  20. 13
  21. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part II
  22. 14
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. 18
  27. 19
  28. The Complicated History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Imaginary Relationship with Her Nonexistent Dad
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part III
  33. 23
  34. 24
  35. 25
  36. A Brief, Backward History of the McAllister Family, as Paraphrased from the San Jose Mercury News
  37. 26
  38. 27
  39. 28
  40. A Quick and Eerily Relevant History of Asians in America
  41. 29
  42. 30
  43. 31
  44. 32
  45. 33
  46. 34
  47. 35
  48. 36
  49. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part IV
  50. 37
  51. 38
  52. 39
  53. 40
  54. 41
  55. 42
  56. 43
  57. 44
  58. A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part II (Or Maybe It’s a Prequel)
  59. 45
  60. 46
  61. 47
  62. 48
  63. 49
  64. 50
  65. 51
  66. 52
  67. 53
  68. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part III
  69. 54
  70. A Note from the Author
  71. Index of Flowers and their Meanings
  72. Acknowledgments
  73. About the Author
  74. Praise for This Time Will Be Different
  75. Books by Misa Sugiura
  76. Back Ad
  77. About the Publisher

The literal translation of the Japanese word for editor (編集者 henshūsha) is “one who knits and gathers,” and that is exactly what Stephanie Stein did with the pile of loosely related scenes and characters that I (metaphorically) threw at her inbox before running away and hiding. Stephanie sorted through the chaos and showed me how I could pull the best parts together and connect them into an actual story around the heart that I knew was in there but couldn’t find.

I owe so much to everyone at HarperTeen. The eagle eyes of Alexandra Rakaczki and Erica Ferguson saved this book from being littered with errors, echoes, and inconsistencies. If you love the cover as much as I do, it’s due to designers Alison Klapthor and Alice Wang, and artist Mercedes deBellard (check out her Instagram!). This Time Will Be Different would not be in your hands without the efforts of the fantastic production, marketing, publicity, and school and library teams: Erin Wallace, Kristen Eckhardt, Aubrey Churchward, Bess Braswell, Patty Rosati, Rebecca McGuire, Stephanie Macy, Katie Dutton, Lindsey Karl, and so many others.

Robin Reul, Renée Ahdieh, Nancy Slavin, and Caroline Leech generously read an early-early-early partial draft of this book when I was ready to give up and move on to something else. I could hardly believe it when they encouraged me to finish, but I figured if four such talented writers thought I should keep going, then maybe I could.

My local writing group members Sandra Feder, Louise Henriksen, Angie Chan, Alicia Grunow, Rebecca Isaacson, and Viji Chary read key scenes, laughed in all the right places, and helped me talk through some of the tougher choices that CJ makes.

Michael Sera, president of the board of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, graciously answered my questions, showed me around the museum, and pointed me to www.densho.org, a fantastic website dedicated to recording and preserving Japanese American history. If you want to know anything about Japanese American history, this is the first place you should look.

Stella Shen from Fleur de Lis in Mountain View, CA, graciously took time out of her busy schedule to answer a lot of questions and provide me with her perspective on being a florist.

Race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and teen pregnancy are tricky, sticky topics, and I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Ava Mortier, Neera Sivarajah, JC Welker, Dr. Mariama Gray, Lisa Nishimoto Kunze, Leah Henderson, and other early readers who offered their insights on the characters in this book and the complex issues they face. Any inaccurate or insensitive representations and assumptions that remain are on me.

My husband, Tad Hofmeister, stepped in during a weeks-long deadline crunch when I disappeared into a black hole, and cheerfully did double duty on the parenting and housework fronts despite the demands of his own career. I could never, ever do this author thing without him, that’s for sure.