Fitz

I've thought about it a lot. My issue with Tom's story is I'm just not sure what to write. I'm working on an 'anniversary' short story for another site, and really wanted to write the anniversary of Steve's death from Tom's perspective, but I just don't know what to do. The other problem is that section has already been explained extensively from Scott's perspective, and I'm worried I'll have issues with continuity between the two. I REALLY want to visit Tom's perspective, though. Do not be surprised if it happens, but I'm not making any promises!

The only thing worse than growing attached to the characters thanks to the wait is having to deal with stories being abandoned part-way through (or simple cases of extended writer's block)!! Like a couple chapters earlier, I had plans for custody to become a bit of an issue as he went through security or something, but it never quite played well. Maybe if I wasn't bringing the story to a close I'd be more willing to experiment with the idea of more custody drama being thrown in. From nightmares I've read, these issues are not brief when they happen, and can take several hours to clear up. Hubby is an engineering professor, and has personally heard of several instances of "You can't be an engineer because your a woman". He's actually the one who gave me the idea of a younger professor thinking Noah's 'too old'. He hasn't witnessed that, but we can both easily see it happen. The downside with end of sememster feedback is it's mostly ignored by most universities, and the issues someone has with a professor are usually not mentioned on the forms. I had a HORRIBLE professor once that I had to honestly give a good report to, because I wanted to answer the questions honestly. That was more frustrating than putting up with the horrible teacher all semester!

Lol...I guess having a dirty mouth and no children becomes obvious when I didn't even notice that! I agree about the teacher, but for some reason some seem to think it's their duty to weed out people THEY think shouldn't be there, not just the ones who can't actually cut it. Sometimes being in a relationship feels like a long game of chess, strategically laying the groundwork to make the other do what you want. Ok, that sounds underhanded and dirty, but you know what I mean. Thank you so much! I expect book one of Moving Forward to come out in the next 6 weeks or so.

Once Zach was positive Noah would be there when they returned, he was back to his usual self. Like many people any more, Scott's phone is pretty much his life. It holds his work contacts, calendar, and is the primary way he conducts business. If my kid ruined my phone, I'd probably freak out, too!! Of course what's done is done, and there's no point in punishing a little kid for an accident. Back when I was a kid, we used to use hotel room keys for diving practice, but then they switched to key cards. Then we used my dad's car keys, but those got replaced with electric key fobs. The phone would be much easier for a five-year-old to pick up off the bottom of the pool than a quarter! By the way, the original draft had the words to Scott's sex talk idea in a different order. Both hubby and David pointed out that I should probably NOT have the words 'child' and 'porn' next to each other for ANY reason lol. It may not be the most 'responsible' parenting in the world, but it might actually be less awkward than talking about it! Speaking of 'responsible' parenting, I went past a sex shop today, and noticed the sign on the door said 'minors must be accompanied by a parent'. Who brings their child to a sex shop?! For me, it's not so much HARD to believe that there are still teachers like that, but sad to realize they still exist. When I was in college (back in early 2000s), I knew more than one female engineer student who was told by a faculty member that engineering was the wrong program for them. I was pleasently surprised that Hubby's group in grad school was mostly women, until I realized that there were only 5 other women in the program in other groups. From there, it's not a stretch that a rapidly changing field would be home to professors who felt the same about older students. Yeah, Noah's not exactly old, but he is older than his professor. The same idea was brought up back when Noah bought the laptop. The salesman said something along the lines 'its good to see people bettering themselves, even at your age'. Of course even mid-20s can seem 'old' in a college setting. When I went back to school, the only thing that kept me from feeling old surrounded by the 19 year olds was the fact that one of my classmates was in his 30s! The only reason Scott DIDN'T teach him a lesson was I couldn't figure out a rationale for Scott to reach out to the professor for 'advice' without it seeming forced. Glad you enjoyed!

Chapter 43 A New Hudgins Despite our hopes, Emma and Ethan's baby didn't cooperate with our schedule. Ethan called me at ten o'clock in the morning on Friday with news that Emma had gone into labor. "But," he cautioned me when I announced we'd be on the first flight out of Atlanta, "the doc warned us it'll possibly be a long labor, and she's going to be stuck in the hospital until Sunday. Of course, Mom and Dad and Emma's parents are already on their way, but the way I see it, there's no

Glad you're liking it! I don't meet too many 'native' ATLians...most of us seem to be transplants! Hmmm...Zach's college years could be interesting. I'll have to keep that in mind! Hmm... I should no better than to give specific numbers. I expected Moving On to last 25 chapters as late as chapter 13! I think I've outlined about 13 chapters or so, and do not have a ton of notes left for the story, but each idea I have will easily flush into at least one chapter, and possibly more. Oh, and perfect that you said where you're from since I'm now making a map of readers. I placed your little red pin in Tuxedo Park, since I figured with a titled name, you deserved your own McMansion! I haven't shared the map, but I will soon!

Noah always tried to give Zach a Christmas in the past, at least a few gifts, but Willow would always return or sell the majority for drugs. I figure most of the toys he had in the trailer were all gifts from Noah at one point or another, since I highly doubt Willow would have ever bought him anything willingly. We crate trained our dog when she was a puppy, and I'll never forget the famous last words when I told my mom on the phone one day that 'she won't have an accident in her crate' only to get home and find out just how wrong I could be. As one door closes, another opens. What has become book 2 (and is outlined for about 15 chapters) was originally going to be an epilogue of about 10k words. I had the idea for the change after briefly exploring Scott and Steve's relationship in Our First Christmas. The elements I planned on exposing in the epilogue set the stage nicely for a unique way of being able to write their story, but I wanted to flush out the future more to tie it in. It still amazes me that this went from a story I was expecting to run 25 chapters to a three-book series with a handful of shorts thrown in!

It was very weird to write a Christmas chapter in July. Without all the decorations and all that, it's hard to get in the spirit lol. The first part of the story that I actually wrote out was the final scene, and it ended with the words 'The End'. Those two words were conspicuously missing when I sent Chapter 44 to my editor. This will not be the end of the story of their lives, just one part of it. Glad you enjoyed the chapter. I like to think that Tom was getting his revenge for Scott and Noah ruining his plans for a quiet and uneventful evening!

Chapter 42 The Christmas Spirit "Is everything ok? Is the baby fine?" I asked into the phone in a panic. Ethan had just told me they had gotten bad news from the doctor. I frantically waved Noah over, about to set in motion us traveling up to be with my brother if he needed us. "Jeez, always with the melodrama, bro. No, he's fine – shit, that was supposed to be a surprise. Don't tell Mom and Dad it's a boy. Anyway, the baby is perfectly healthy and looking great, and Emma is coming along j

The story really has shifted to being centered around Zach, hasn't it? lol. That's part of the reason why I tried to limit the focus on the holidays. Then again, the story was supposed to end in mid-October. While it would've 'worked', I liked the idea of extending it through Spring, and I really struggled trying to decide how much of each holiday to include, since it was never something I originally planned to include in the story. Scott is ultimately telling the story for a specific reason. Zach obviously plays a big role in this, but it's far more targeted towards Noah. As much as I want to explain it, it will eventually become a central theme in book 2 (actually a large part of 'why' Moving Forward is written). It's been difficult with a rambunctious five year old stealing scenes, but I've been trying to return the focus to Scott and Noah. Hopefully that makes sense, since I'm trying to not reveal too much lol. Also, I used to work at a Walmart. We spent most of Thanksgiving Day putting up all the Christmas decorations around the store - while all the Christmas stuff for sale was put out before thanksgiving, we did things like wrap the lights above the check out lanes with wrapping paper and hand garland around the store!

Yes, it was quite mean. Fortunately for you though, you only have to wait a week for the resolution of Moving On's final cliffhanger! That scene turned out FAAAAR better than my first attempt for some action when Scott's parents arrived. Originally, Zach didn't land on his feet that time and broke his arm. I realized how far off base I'd gotten when Scott was being interrogated by TSA for kidnapping and they wouldn't allow him to contact Noah for verification, so I decided to just go a completely different route!

I did Black Friday once in central PA. The walmart was completely insane. The closest I've come here in Atlanta was seeing everyone camped outside the Edgewood Target while I was getting a couple last minute items from Kroger on Thanksgiving last year. Thanks, but I'll personally stick to doing my Christmas shopping online on Cyber Monday. Anymore, those deals are identical, AND I can shop in my underwear! Does knowing it's the last cliffhanger of Moving On help? Of course, with only three chapters left now, there's not really any chances to include them.

Chapter 41 The Holiday Rush It turns out Noah was right about Zach's Halloween costume requiring creativity. He couldn't decide between Spiderman, Peter Pan, or strangely enough, a princess. The first two were obvious, especially since the Peter Pan ride at Disney had been one of his favorites, but I had no idea where the princess came from. Noah helpfully suggested to Zach that he be all three, then left it to me to solve. After the more obvious methods of combining costume bits were reje

Crap! Forgot to actually copy in the passage from the update for chapter 2. It's really just a slight change in Will's explanation, but still... "I really didn't mean anything by it; that's not even what I said! I just mentioned that Scott was a good-looking guy, and I hated seeing him in pain. Yes, I'll admit that I find him attractive, but that's hardly something to fault me with, is it? I wasn't about to throw myself at him or anything..." Anyway, on to your thoughts on Chapter 3. Again, my intentions were showing Sarah as a slightly over-bearing neighbor with good intentions, but it wasn't until later I realized how it comes across. In the re-edit, it was done with input from Scott's family as well (although still without his permission). I have no defense for Will and Sarah waiting in the bedroom...actually I'd never even thought about it until you brought it up! I hope you give the story another chance. The tone of the story dramatically changes around chapter 8. Either way, thank you for your opinions, and I appreciate your honesty!

Ahhh part of the problems I ran into as a first-time author learning as I went. There were many times I knew what I needed to get done to advance the story, but not the best way to accomplish them. Actually, several months ago, I started the process of massively re-editing the early chapters - in part to bring them more in line with the writing style I began to adapt as I gained experience, and in part because there were many things I wasn't happy with. Unfortunately, I started while experiencing writers block, which quickly ended and I began to push hard and fast towards the end of book 1 and start organizing book 2. I've never updated the chapters since many of the changes made in the first 6 chapters (as far as I got) require continuity edits through at least chapter 9. Here's the updated portion of that section. It was supposed to be a passing comment made by Will that Michelle over-reacted to in grief, but also lay some foreshadowing for events in the first few chapters (to me, the first 5 chapters are almost more of a prologue to the story itself, and it doesn't really pick up steam until the introduction of Noah in chapter 8. I'll admit that parts of the first 7 chapters can be a bit monotonous and difficult to get through lol)

I hear you on the reviews! Don't be heartbroken, since there's much more on the way in book 2! Thank you so much!

Based on my memories of last time my mom busted out MY scrapbook of our road trip (I would've been about 6 months younger than Zach at the time), I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I wrote about a theme park we went to. We also went some botanical gardens where the paths weaved back and forth kinda like ~~~~. I said 'it went smiles and frowns forever'. Actually the first day of school in 2012 (when the story is at) was the day of the custody hearing to give a little context in the story. And since I can't edit my replies, last chapter, I meant to say 'everyone is always quick to share their stories of their trip there'. Not too many people have to resist the urge to flick off the disney camera guy who takes your picture when you stumble over the trolley tracks while marching in the parade!

Hubby and I keep batting around plans to go just the two of us. My parents last went shortly before my 21st birthday and bought me a mickey mouse bottle opener I've had on my keychain ever since. I've been several times, 3 as a kid growing up, once with band in high school, and again in college we got to spend most of the day in the Magic Kingdom after marching in the main street parade since our team was in the Gator Bowl. (Yes, this is the reason why it had to be Disney...everyone who's been has stories like these lol)

I wasn't about to have a second drawn-out court scene for Willow. Originally, she was to take a plea immediately before her trial, but I really just wanted to get it over with. I never intended her to even have a chance to walk free and didn't have the evilness to pretend with extra cliffhangers, etc. Although book 2 starts a few years in the future and covers MANY more years than book 1, so don't think this is really the last you've seen of her! Terry is based on a nanny by the same name in a story I read years ago called 'Watching Brad'. Unfortunately, the focus in these last few chapters is much more on Scott and Noah than on Zach, so Terry has a fairly minimal role.

I'm glad you caught it! Chapter 41 starts right out with Halloween costumes and you would've been SOOOO confused!

Chapter 40 Developing a Routine I spent most of Saturday trying to unwind from the busy two-week vacation – well, that and doing a crazy amount of laundry. Even Zach seemed worn out, but he also spent two hours on the phone with my parents, sparing them no details of our week in Florida. He insisted on calling his other grandparents as well, but Richard cut him off after about fifteen minutes, telling Zach that he could give all the details he wanted next time we all got together. Noah, o

Glad you enjoyed! Part of the reason I chose Disney as the destination is that I've been there many times and have always had a wonderful time and left with vivid memories. A few of the things came from when I visited WDW when I was around six. I'm still pissed at that ewok all these years later! I've lost the autograph book over the years, but I still have the photo album!

Glad you enjoyed!

Yeah, it was a little more obvious than I'd originally wanted it to be. I knew Noah was going to be guessing and going insane, but I thought it would be cute if Zach got it at once. It wasn't until I was working out exactly how I'd tease everyone that I realized how early I gave it away. I figured it worked as a form of dramatic irony. I always find it interesting how comments left in various places seem very different. On my facebook group, EVERYONE jumped on the 'yay Disney' from the beginning, but it wasn't until the last chapter than anyone even said 'Disney' here, so I decided to keep up the idea of it being a 'secret' even in the comments lol. Glad you enjoyed!!

Chapter Thirty-Nine A Magical Vacation After we got settled in the condo my brother and his wife shared in downtown Baltimore, and Ethan suggested we walk down to the Inner Harbor and explore a bit. Noah insisted Zach stay in his stroller as we walked the few blocks, since there was enough car and foot traffic to make us nervous. Zach wasn't a happy camper and whined a bit, but behaved after I announced we couldn't go since someone was being bratty and turned around to walk back to the cond