- Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
A little message from the author...
Well, I must say it's quite an achievement to actually finish a piece of writing for me. When I began working on Under my Skin in February of 2006, I never expected that I'd ever get through it or that it would turn out to be this long. In the past, my longest finished work had only been maybe 25 chapters and those were maybe three-four handwritten pages and of course nowhere near the caliber of writing in Under my Skin.

I've started many stories that I've never quite got off the ground, before moving on to another idea. Under my Skin is the rare exception to the rule. I must say that I am overwhelmed by the success of this story. As a younger writer I struggled to gain a respectable fan base and I can now say that I've definitely earned that with this story and I'd like to give a big thank you to my loyal readers. I'm floored to have the #1 favorite story on all of AC. That is a huge accomplishment and I'm extremely proud of it.

Admittedly, there have been points with this story (especially recently) where even I grew frustrated with the characters and the direction the story was heading in. I almost thought of packing it in a few times out of my insecurities with the ending of the story. I want to assure you that this is not the end of Nick and Alyssa. I have plenty more drama set for the sequel. I also want to thank those readers who have stuck by this story since I do know of quite a few readers who threw in the towel once they saw it wasn't going to be the happy ending they thought it was going to be. My goal with this story was to write a realistic love story with lots of emotional hang ups on both ends. I've received a ton of criticism especially about how overly frustrating and annoying the character of Alyssa was getting. I've taken note of this and I hope to make her a little less neurotic in the sequel.

But enough about that. I really wanted to post this after note to thank a few very special people who without them, Under my Skin would've never happened. First off I need to start by thanking Laura even though I know she probably won't ever read this. Laura was the one who inspired me to begin writing again and was really my muse in the beginning. When I found out she was quitting the fan fic world, I was devastated and almost wanted to quit myself, but instead I only pushed myself harder to finish. So thank you Laura. Without you there would be no Under my Skin.

Next I need to thank my amazing beta, Teri. She's helped me out so much as a writer and supplied me with some great ideas for Under my Skin. She's also helped me a great deal when it comes to those "dark chocolate" scenes I struggle with so much *winks*. Besides being the master of sex scenes she's also become amazing at picking out those little details that sometimes as a writer I overlook. I've had a great experience working on this story with this girl and I can't wait to continue working on ALTOS together.

I also want to thank those of you on Weird World who continued to plug my story on there even after I let my subscription run out. I was amazed that you girls carried on the updates without me for almost a year. That definitely meant a lot to me and you completely rule!

Thank you to my steady readers: Veronica, Moppy, Filiklepto, Rose, Alexfrack, Bsbfrk411, Izzy.... I know I'm leaving much more people out, but you know who you are. The ones who leave me such awesome reviews EVERY chapter. You really are the ones that push me to update. Without you there would be no story.

Finally, I want to thank everyone on the AC message board for their support and for their wonderful suggestions and conversations. Even though I haven't been on the board very often lately, I've found it to be an excellent place to go when I need the motivation to write.

I hope you've all enjoyed Under my Skin and will continue on the journey with A Little Taste of Sin. I think that it has the potential to be even more amazing than Under my Skin, so I'm super excited about it!
Luv Mel :)~