Afterword & Acknowledgements 

I began writing Sheam as a little text to go along with an OC commission. That was (I think) April 25th, 2025. I got a little carried away. The first drafts of Sheam Parts 1 through 3 were written in a flurry of passionate obsession over twenty days. Then, four months of revisions and additions followed, including five of the seven epilogue tales. I finally put my "pen" down on September 5th.

Sheam was written in trains, hotel rooms (I travel a lot), park benches, on my lunch breaks, at cafes (too much coffee), and bars (too much alcohol).

I wrote in so many different waiting rooms; some before getting an HRT injection (testosterone blockers), various facial-feminization consultation appointments (surgery soon), and once in a very stressful stay at an immigration office. 

I spun entire chapters in my head during showers and long walks, while laying on the couch, or laying in bed awake (and in my dreams as I slept, though I didn’t keep those parts.)

Every now and then, I wrote at an actual desk with a keyboard.

While writing Sheam, I drew on over two decades worth of fragmented story ideas. I rescued my OCs Sheam and Daelus from my old Thief: The Dark Project fan-fics, and decided that they were the same person this entire time. I reimagined characters I had once intended to be villains in other stories (Kaite, Jaegré). I gave new life to some of the personas I had adopted online as a way to be myself during my years in the closet (Flo, Obs). I allowed my admiration and adoration of people who had impacted me over the years to sneak onto the page (Nat, Emmett).

I expressed my love of libraries, art galleries, maps, history, cities, and architecture. I put my take on (and frustrations with) the science fiction genre on the page. I excavated and then crystalized my feelings about family, found and otherwise. I also discovered a whole lot of brand new ideas that manifested on the spot, and then had to actually do something with. I interrogated my relationship with work and creativity. I dramatized real internal struggles and negotiated with different sides of myself. I illuminated my path out of darkness and into gender euphoria. I allowed love, connection, and trust to thrive. I frantically scribbled down my hopes and dreams.

I cried a little almost every time I wrote a new chapter. Sometimes, I cried a lot.

Thank you Marie Najean, my cover artist, for being the first person to finally paint Sheam the way I imagined her.

Thank you Krissy, for believing in this book, and all of your excited posts and memes.

Thank you my dear Ell, my egg cracker, my guiding light in the darkness, for bringing certain ancient memories freshly into mind, so that they could then flow onto the page. Ephie wouldn’t exist without you, in more ways than one. I love you.

Finally, thank you gentle Ela, for inspiring me to write again, to have fun with it, to be messy, silly, and playful, and to write for myself, first and foremost. Oh, and for the fucking fantastic proofreading and feedback that pushed this work far beyond what it would have been without you, and for being patient as I then obsessed for months on end. I love you.

I hope you found this enjoyable. I hope you felt like you were on a journey with me. I am glad I was able to share it with you.

Now, it’s time for me to see what’s next. I already have a few new novels in the works. Let’s see where they go.

DanaENight

An extra special thank you to all of my scribble hub readers, especially those who have been reading since I first posted Part 1 back on May 1st.

It would mean a lot to me if you shared your thoughts about my story as a comment or review, or even a direct message. I look really forward to it.