Writing Confession

In my brief considerations of a 40 Weeks follow up; when Ashur received the journal on his 18th birthday, one of his parents was not around.

Thank You

Dear Readers of 40 Weeks,

This morning I posted the final chapter. And as I have stated in many tweets, author's notes, review replies and probably other forms of communication I'm forgetting as I write this, this story often felt like I was going through the pregnancy with Elphaba.

Due to writer's block, the immense amount of research this story (and I myself) demanded, and that unfortunate disturbance known as Real Life (and in Real Life of a Teacher, that expanded to writing lessons, reports, marking, and job hunting) this story took me five months to write, three and a half to post and probably a month or so of research and planning between when I had the idea for this story and when I actually wrote the first word.

So, in total that was actually about nine months! Haha, I hadn't added that up until now. Don't you love irony?

Although I originally thought that this story would just be something light and fun to use an idea (which is the whole format of this fic and the 'each-chapter-is-a-week-of-the-pregnancy-thing) that I actually had when I was still writing House fanfiction and abandoned at Week 5 (that was when House started going downhill and I lost interest and inspiration for the fandom). Plus, it would cover the many requests I was getting for a sequel to Out of the Blue and Three Leaps Ahead!

It required a lot of research, because I obviously, have never had a child or been pregnant. And although I had some knowledge, having 3 younger siblings (2 of whom I remember my mum being pregnant with), 2 friends who had been pregnant, done a year of Child Studies in high school and reading/watching a thousand books/movies/TV shows that involved pregnancy (I like babies. I admit it, it's an addiction); I knew that wasn't exactly the same thing.

And I wanted to do this right. And as factual and realistic as possible. I'm picky about that.

But I have been completely overwhelmed by the response to this story. I feel like I say that about every story, but I'm always surprised! I love how many reviews and tweets I get from people saying they've learned something about pregnancy or something they didn't know. I love helping people learn things- that's why I'm a teacher!

So I wanted to write this and thank you all for your reviews for each chapter and for going through this journey with me!

And once again, I am getting a lot of requests for another story in this series/universe. Which is very nice of you all!

I always thought that if I was ever going to do another story in this series, it would just be a one-shot of Ashur's 18th birthday and him receiving the journal. After all, there's many interesting questions that could be answered! Does he have siblings? Cousins (either through Kastle or Nessa, or fake cousins through Galinda and Boq)? Is Frex in his life and what is his relationship with his maternal grandfather like? Are all his grandparents still alive? Are both his parents still alive? 

But you guys constantly surprise me with your thoughts, questions and what you want to know! So far, I've had suggestions for:

• "Something about Nessa as she deals with her fertility issues and perhaps her and Halim going through the adoption process or perhaps something following Galinda through her first pregnancy" (via Bookworm0485)
• "We all want to see Ashur grow up and (maybe) get siblings." (via ElphieOnEarth)

(I'll add any more I get to this list as they come)

Also, Fae the Queen wrote her own one-shot/sequel to 40 Weeks, called The Journal, so check that out!

But I just wanted to say thank you! I am currently on chapter 12 of Come What May (which would probably be a more impressive statement if I knew how many chapters there would be...), and I'll keep you updated on my progress.

If you have any questions, thoughts, comments or... whatever, post them below! (or tweet me, but I like comments. No one comments on my blog, haha). 

Thanks again! 

40 Weeks: Week 32

I did have fun with this chapter, deciding what exactly the nursery would look like. And then I saw this wall art type picture and thought it was perfect- I didn't feel like Elphaba would want anything too cutesy.

Thoughts? I really like this, and it fit in with my yellow scheme, I'd decided on.

Elphaba's dress in 40 Weeks

This is supposed to be the dress Elphaba wore to Ibrahim and Kasmira's anniversary banquet in 40 Weeks.

But in blue

One of my lovely readers/Twitter followers just sent me this, and I had to share.

The T-shirt: A History

So, this mostly evolved from when I was writing Taking Chances and I went to mention a T-shirt (I think it was chapter 21...) and then had to think, because pretty much everyone knows I like to try and keep my Oz as realistic as possible.

And surprise, surprise, I found the history of the T-shirt online (seriously, Google and Wikipedia have everything). So here we go:

"The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century, through cutting the one-piece "union suit" underwear into separate top and bottom garments, with the top long enough to tuck under the waistband of the bottoms. T-shirts, with and without buttons, were adopted by miners and stevedores during the late 19th century as a convenient covering for hot environments.

T-shirts, as a slip-on garment without buttons, originally became popular in the United States when they were issued by the U.S. Navy during or following the Spanish American War. These were a crew-necked, short-sleeved, white cotton undershirt to be worn under a uniform. It became common for sailors and Marines in work parties, the early submarines, and tropical climates to remove their uniform "jacket", wearing (and soiling) only the undershirt."

The Spanish-American War, just FYI (because as an Australian I had no idea what that was), is listed as the following:

"The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence. American attacks on Spain's Pacific possessions led to involvement in thePhilippine Revolution and ultimately to the Philippine–American War." 

So there you go. I had no idea it had been around that long!

And because I have my own form of logic as to what era I use to set Oz in (I go by the movie was made in 1939, which in terms of the musical is Act 2 and most people usually agree there's about 2 or 3 years between Act 1 and Act 2, which would make it 1936-1937. I know the Wizard of Oz book came first, but I  use the movie because that's where the Wicked book and musical get their inspiration from), it makes it very possible that certain characters (Fiyero) would have T-shirts to wear, albeit usually as an undergarment.

That's just me though!

Writing Update

I'm in a unique situation at the moment, one that hasn't happened many times before and never for a Wicked fanfiction.

I'm writing a story at the moment that has a firmly fixed number of chapters. There is no way I can decide to add or remove chapters at any time during the writing process.

I can tell you right now that my current fic 40 Weeks will be 40 chapters.

This means that it's really easy for me to give you updates so you know how far I am into the story and how close I am to finishing.

Well, as of today I am on chapter... 18.

Yes, I still have another 22 chapters to go. And at this stage, I can't tell you (even a rough estimate) when you can expect this story to be finished and uploaded. All I can say is that, hopefully it will be up by the end of the year.