Well, I hope everyone enjoyed Leap of Faith! It's been a pleasure to write, and I'm always touched when I get reviews and notes from my readers. You guys are the greatest! I want to thank you all, particularly my anonymous reviewers since I can't PM you to thank you personally.

I know people are going to wonder why I decided to end the story at this point, so I'm going to go ahead and tell you. It's just getting out of hand, and getting far too long, and this felt like the right move to make from a technical standpoint. There's going to be a pretty drastic shift in perspective from this point on, and it made sense to stop things here and start fresh with a sequel. The working title is Ode to Joy, but that might change; it's still in the planning stages. With luck, I'll be able to start posting it before long. I'm going to be without my computer starting Monday —I'll be in Seattle for another week and I'm not bringing it along this time—but I hope to have the next story started by the time January 1 gets here. We'll have to see.

I know it's taken me a while to get these last few chapters posted, but life has been kicking my ass pretty hard lately. I'm still job-hunting like a madwoman, but it's looking like I won't land anything before the end of the year. My grandparents both have Alzheimer's, and this is probably going to be the last holiday season we get to spend together. They're both getting to where they're pretty out of it; they just can't handle the strain of huge family gatherings anymore. Another relative is in the hospital with cancer. And it continues to go downhill from there. It's starting to take a toll. But enough about that—I'd rather be thankful for all of the good things I have in front of me than stress over the ones I can't control.

Happy holidays to everyone, no matter what you celebrate! I hope to see you all again soon!