A/N

It’s done, complete, finito, finished.

(Insert blank face here)

Has time really passed that fast? I can still remember sitting in front of my old laptop and typing out the very first chapter… with a can of Coke beside me, as usual! Now that I don’t have any more chapters of TCC to worry about, it feels very, very weird. It’s like eating a bowl of ice-cream while watching Bones and not realising that you’ve finished it till you’re done ogling David Boreanaz. While Reese’s story may be finished, she’ll definitely continue to live in me. Reese is me, in some ways (other than having Dev, which I definitely do not, to my utmost chagrin) and I’ll sorely miss slipping into her wacky character and creating the not-so-perfect protagonist. It’s my hope that reading this has brought you as much enjoyment as I had writing it! (:

Honestly, I’m also rather relieved about completing this. It’s been nearly one and a half years since I started writing. My thinking and style has changed quite a bit, and though I have no regrets starting this (I’ve made so many great online friends and learned so much), I think it could have been better. Life sort of threw up roadblocks and I’m not a planner. In fact, I hate doing it because I always stray away from my original plan. I knew what I’d do with the important details, like Jared and Taylor, but not really the process. I’m not satisfied with the way I developed ‘Reese’s boys’, especially Steve, Jack and Wes, as well as Arnold. I may have introduced too many characters, had too little focus on the bigger picture and messed a bit of the timeline up, but overall, I’m not going to change anything. What’s imperfection in an imperfect world? ;)

As to publishing, there is no way this is going to see the light of that. It is too unpolished (I started it in what would be freshman year of high school, should I live in the US), way too clichéd and definitely not publishing material. I’ll just let this be a reminder of how I used to write. Maybe when I’m in my twenties or thirties, I’ll look back and laugh!

Oh, yup, just for the record, someone asked me how to locate me on Facebook. You can find the link on my profile if you scroll down, together with my Bebo, Friendster and MySpace links. Alternatively, you can search for me through Louisa Tang at the Anglican High School and Singapore networks. I’ll be switching to the Meridian Junior College network soon (I think) but you can still find me at the Singapore network! I hope that helps. And yep, if you’ve been wondering where I’m from, that’s the answer :)

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Special thanks to the following people:-

Lientje46 for your support, awesomeness and guidance. I would be one severely depressed girl if it wasn't for you. Thank you for being there during my worst moments, giving me advice and being the best pen pal a girl could have!

Haziq (stealthy) for the early morning insanity, the spontaneous meet ups at your house/the mall/wherever, always cracking me up and giving me support when I’m being a worrywart (as usual). YOU ROCK, DUDE! May kum den never torment us again :p

K. for being the story’s grammar fascist and making me groan at the silly mistakes I make sometimes. Thank you so much!

Listerine for being my EPL pal and the brilliant inspiration behind Chapter 30! Spain ’08, hehe…

AJ for being totally insane, giving me tips on how to spruce TCC up and just being a great inspirator… that word should be invented just for you!

Genevieve for being a great guitar junior, sis and friend, as well as for the awesomely awesome song dedication! LOVE YOU!!

A big hug to each and every person who has read even one line of this story! I’m grateful that you’ve given it a chance, big or small. To all my faithful reviewers who have stuck by me even when I went through several stages of depression last year and didn't update for God knows how long, you all rock!! I'm sorry for the lack of updates over the past half year, I should be shot :(

Thank you for not giving up on me, Reese, Devon, Jared, Taylor, and all the others. Thank you for the encouragement, the laughter, the criticism, and the wishing that a Devon really exists in reality (sigh…). It's been a long journey - I started TCC when I was 14, wrote the bulk of it when I was 15 and finished it just after turning 16. Thank you for growing up with me, growing up with the characters and realising that it is not that hard to dream. I wouldn't have been able to finish this without all you guys behind my back. I never expected to get such an overwhelming response straight from the start, which spurred me to improve on my writing as a whole and branch into bigger things. Thank you to everyone who has moaned at my abysmal style of writing at the beginning, pointed out my mistakes and helped me to cut down on fatal errors. It’s not perfect and never will be, but every single piece of writing can always be improved. But most importantly, thank you for realising my dream of finally finishing a novel-length story!

Also, a very big thank you to the thousand over people who have favourite-d TCC, the 20 people who added TCC to their C2s, those who have given TCC a shout out on their profiles/anywhere, those who have spread the love to their friends (I’m always amazed by this) and those who have nominated/voted for me on SKoW in the past. The stats always overwhelm me and continue to – from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everybody who have supported me in some way or another. You have my eternal gratitude! (:

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Other projects

I’ve officially discontinued Atherosclerosis and Forgoing Sanity! Inspiration is running low, plus with school starting, I’m concentrating full-time on getting good A Level grades because I screwed my GCSEs up. I’ve made a file on the one-shots some of you guys requested last July or so and I’ll be working on them by the side. Don’t be surprised if yours shows up one day :)

I may or may not start a new chaptered story too! What I have now is tentatively titled Give Me Animosity. It’ll be along the line of TCC, only (hopefully) more polished and thought out. I may change it a little but it’s pretty much consolidated! If school gets bad, I won’t be putting it up because I know I’ll just procrastinate on it. But it’s just an idea, yup.

She has the solution to everything… or so she thinks. But when Answer Woman takes on Former Golden Boy Writhing Within the Throes of Amnesia, she may just transform into Blunder Woman. Insert awkward moments and magical powers (yeah, right).

For those who have read Rain or Shine, my SKoW challenge one-shot, I’ve been contemplating starting a one-shot sequel to it too, tentatively titled Fight or Flight. I actually wrote 3 pages of it, accidentally erased it off my USB drive, cursed like a sailor and didn’t think about it anymore till now. Casey will be back, but not as the main narrator. Whether or not it will be in the angst/tragedy vein of RoS, I’m not sure yet, but I’ll make no promises ;) If you guys are interested in this, I may write it, but I’ll have to find time to. Also, I have no idea how cancer patients (yep, that’s a hint) get their treatment and the aftermath. If anyone is willing to share some information, I’ll be extremely grateful!

Playlist

As said in Chapter 28, the playlist links are all up on my profile, together with the lyrics. If the links somehow fizzle out (I have limited downloading for my Ripway accounts, which I use to host some of the songs on Project Playlist), the songs are as follows:

Acceptance – Different
The Fray – Trust Me
Acceptance – The Letter
Chevelle – Family System
Flyleaf – There for You
Snow Patrol – Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
Coldplay – The Scientist
The All-American Rejects – Change Your Mind
The Used – Yesterday’s Feelings
D.H.T. (cover of Roxette) – Listen to Your Heart
Umbrellas – Ships
Savage Garden – Carry On Dancing
The Perishers – Sway
Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
Savage Garden – Crash and Burn
Vertical Horizon – Echo
Sugarcult – Explode
The Used – I Caught Fire (In Your Eyes)
Paramore – Conspiracy
Daughtry – Crashed
Hoobastank – If Only
Sia – Breathe Me
Lifehouse – You and Me
Poets of the Fall – Carnival of Rust
Switchfoot – Dare You to Move
Darren Hayes – Who Would Have Thought?
Snow Patrol – Signal Fire
Muse – Invincible
Carrie Underwood – We’re Young and Beautiful
Muse (cover of Frankie Valli) – Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You

A little advertising (I can’t resist, lol): do try to check out Darren Hayes’s two-disc album, This Delicate Thing We’ve Made! For a preview, Who Would Have Thought? is the second track from the first disc. The album is FABULOUS – every single one of the twenty-five tracks is beautifully crafted, melodious and close to the heart. He was the singer in Savage Garden, only they separated in ’02 (it separated the atriums and ventricles of my heart too… okay, corny). You won’t regret it!! The album is way too unknown – his previous albums are good too, but this one tops them all. And the best thing: it costs the price of 1 CD. Whoooo!

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To me, TCC started out as a sort of experiment. I wanted to see if clichés are really as bad as they seem to be, and at the same time, try to disprove the fact that clichés are mundane and unrealistic. A lot of readers and writers alike are put off by the mere presence of it. Debates in LJ communities revolve constantly around clichés. Teenage girls and women alike sigh at Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams on the theatre screen. (Personally, I loved that movie partially because of James Marsden too, lols!) Cynicism is born from the belief that clichés can never happen in real life. But what is this real life we talk about? Clichés were from real life in the first place. This is fiction. While fiction has to contain at least a little bit of realism, in every piece of fictional writing, there’s got to be a tiny snippet of cliché in it. We don’t have to be realistic all the time, but at the same time, clichés don’t necessarily have to be non-existent. Could we have our fairy tale ending too? It’s not that hard to dream and it’s definitely not that hard to find one in real life! My own parents are complete opposites in a sense (my dad was a Journalism major while my mum was a Maths/Physics major, plus my dad was the typical F grader -ssh- while my mum went to the top junior college here) but they met in the university church choir, fell in love and got married 4-5 years later. They’re the last people I thought would have gotten together, but they’re still happily married – 25 years this year. Maybe the best friend’s brother/best friend/brother’s best friend/mortal enemy/childhood friend/neighbour may be totally clichéd, but you never know. Don’t be put off by clichés – there could be more to them than you think there is!

(If you still dislike clichés, it’s okay. I’ve got a fresh arsenal of rotten tomatoes for you to take from and throw at me. It’s just my opinion (: )

For the final word: I’ve enjoyed every single review and comment from you guys and I hope my future works will see some of you returning to read them! Feel free to add me on any of the links on my profile, have a wonderful year and thank you, once again, with all my lurrve. :) Happy reading and writing!

May a Devon (or a Reese, if I happen to have male readers!) appear in our lives someday,

-Louisa