If so, can anyone help me with when?
Thank you!!!!
This is not the first beta round, so my guess is that any changes will be more of the proofreading variety. I think I'll be able to post it this weekend, but I can't know for sure when my beta will get to it, so that's tentative.
My feelings are a mix of euphoria and sorrow. On the one hand, I'm so glad I finally finished it, because number one, the endless emails, messages, and posts begging me to finish it were stressing me out horribly -- not that I blame anyone, given how many fics get abandoned and how long it's been since I posted the last chapter -- and number two, I love this whole series insanely and really wanted to produce a finale to it that I felt reflected what I was trying to do when I started it all those years ago.
BUT.... it also marks an ending. Of the series, of my first experience writing fan fiction -- "Plans," the first in the series, was the first fan fic I ever wrote -- and the whole crazy ride that's been my involvement in QAF fandom.
And it also triggers me a bit for all the trauma and tragedy around my mom's long struggle with cancer and horrible death, since it was dealing with all that that took me away from writing and this story in particular in the first place.
Still, it's beyond wonderful to sit here and run my eyes down the pages and not see anything like "FIX THIS" or "BRIDGE THIS" or "WEAK DIALOG" -- all the little notes I leave myself when I don't like something, or my beta had a suggestion, or I just felt something could be better or more fully fleshed out.
And speaking of "fleshed out," I also feel really good about the erotic components of this chapter. Getting the sex right is so important in a Brian/Justin story, because it was such an important part of canon, and it constitutes a big piece of how they communicate and how their story gets told to us. So I always want to honor that and never make it "insert sex scene here" or gratuitous. And sometimes, that's not easy.
Anyway, it's late. I'm babbling. But I just felt like I wanted to let people know, even if it does mean my inbox will end up being totally empty from now on, LOL.
Oh, and I am still writing even though this series is done. I have another fic ready to be beta'd, and I'm going to be contributing to a couple of upcoming challenges that I'll post about here later. For reasons that I don't fully understand, I still feel inspired to write in the QAF world, and I still love Brian and Justin.
And you know, I don't feel even one little bit bad about that.
Love,
Xie