Happy Thanksgiving and updates

For those of you that celebrate this holiday, Happy Thanksgiving!

The rewrite for WOS is coming along; slowly but surely and I am now tackling my first major re-write into the story.  It is concerning how quickly Robin and Jason fell in love.  I'm having there relationship extend for a period of weeks before that fateful day when he said, 'I love you.'

So that is a major undertaking.  The improvements are subtle but great; something that good editing would have fixed in the first place. 

I had mentioned before, that when my muse, Ho-Z approached me with a story about a guy in a wheelchair that I had written and re-written different ideas... Ho-Z would love them but still I'd scrap them.  I want to share with you one of the stories that I scrapped.  I'll tell you why in another post.  So I began writing this about nine months ago and it would have been WOS had I not scrapped it...It is called THE THROW AWAY YEAR.

Enjoy!

Working on the Wheels of Steel Novel

Hey guys.  Thanks for being patient as I took my little break from WOS.  I needed it!  Whew.  But I have been anxious to get back to work on it.  I have some great things to write.

Good news and bad news:  First there will be no more updates on WOS.  I seriously can not stand the stress of trying to meet a deadline--SERIOUSLY.  Second, I'm just going to finish it all in one POP and just post it.  Y'all are probably tired of this novel length story appearing in updates anyways.

Some things that have not changed:  This story will not end, even if the 'book' does.  I WILL continue to tell their story in regular posts that will be complete stories with no cliff-hangers.

Changes:  I'm rewriting this story.  That doesn't mean that it's going to completely change. Everything that has happened, and everyone that's in the current story will still remain the same.  The plot, the actions, the events haven't changed.  HOW I tell this story definitely will.  So, what that means is that this is a novel length story that is all pieced together haphazardly and not cohesively.  The flow stopped about halfway through.

To make WOS novel ready--book ready, it needs an overhaul.  The story is good enough to submit to a publisher--but not the way it's written.  I'm going to prepare it to be book ready.  I hope you all agree that this is the best thing for such a good story.

So, to show my appreciation for all of your kind words, your support, your friendship I'm going to give you the rewrites to read; review, comment on before I tackle the ending. And then I will give you the ending in one fell-swoop. I'm going to need your feedback more than ever.  I'm pretty confidant that you will say, 'Damn Pep the improvements are awesome.  You have turned a good story into a great story.  And if I'm falling short, don't you dare hold back on the criticism.  I am not that sensitive.

Now, back to the drawing board...

Oh, and btw, Casey asked if I could just say whether or not Robin is pregnant.  No.  I cannot answer that question.  Haha, that would spoil it!  Love you guys!

The mouse is dead...

I got up this morning, house is dark, needing to go to the bathroom in the basement since my daughter was already in the shower upstairs.  I walk past the cat, step on something--hope it's not a hairball, but who knows since I'm wearing house shoes.  Before I get to the kitchen I hear the shower stop, go back (avoiding the possible hairball) turn on the light...and see the dead mouse.

I'm not even grossed out by the fact that I stepped on it, or that it managed to find its way upstairs.  I'm just happy that the cat didn't crap out on us after all!  Yippee for Icarus the cat!  So I guess I'm in camera mode because while I'm bamming on the bathroom door for my daughter to get rid of the mouse I am also grabbing my camera phone.  BTW, she is an awesome kid because this is the 2nd mouse that she has gotten rid of inside of 2 weeks.  My mother paid her $100 after she offered to get rid of the dead mouse from her basement bathtub.

My daughters immediately goes into action; asking the necessary questions; Is it dead?  Can I put my clothes on first?  Yes to the first, no to the second.

The jury is out on whether the mouse died by the claws of Icarus...or because my big-ass stepped on it.  But the mouse is out of the house!

And I know someone out there is going to say...but wait, you know you got another one somewhere...

Icarus

(will get a nice boiled egg!)

Picture of daughter's messy room

I had to do this, blog friends.  But I went into my daughter's room Friday and my eyeballs actually began to hurt!  I just stopped dead trying to understand the mess that I saw.  So I took a picture and when she got home from school I showed her this picture and told her she had 24 hours to clean it or the pic was going up on the internet.

She gave me a bored look and shrugged.  "I don't care.  But I'll clean it anyways."

This is what I saw.  There is a cat in the picture if you can find her...

This is what it looks like...sorta clean.  This is 2 days later incidentally.

To be fair I'll post a pic of my room.  And mine is always neat (because I just moved into it a week ago.)  Yay!  The ceiling is fixed and I'm moved out of the basement.  Bye bye Mr. Mouse...hope you aren't too lonely in that basement by yourself!

THE SHADOW PEOPLE (re-edited)

I found some problems with The Shadow People and decided to make some corrections and expand on the ending.  I think it gives more closure.  Hope you enjoy!  Both links to the original story and to this one will show the updated story.

THE SHADOW PEOPLE

ODE TO THE CRAWFISH TACKLE BOX

Here is a photograph of my crawfish tackle box.  As you can see it is overflowing with yummy goodness (yes, I did eat some prior to taking the picture as evidenced by the hastily ripped open carton of dunking sauce!).

I will admit that the crawfish tackle box is even better then the McRib.  I admit this reluctantly.  But my ex-boyfriend called me last night and left me a message.  When I retrieved it he had confessed to eating another tacklebox for dinner yet again.  I don't condone this--but I completely understand it.  I am staying home from work today with a cold and am already making plans to have another for lunch...

11th annual Readers Choice Awards winners announced

Not sure if you have had a chance to check the forums at Literotica but they have announced the winners of the Annual People's choice award.  I won two first place awards!  I won for Blair and the Emoboy in the category of NonConsent.  I also won for best Novel/Novella for Urban Vampire Ch 7.  I came in second in the other two categories that I was nominated for.

I just want to thank you all for following my writings and giving me the necessary comments to improve on my writing skills.  I appreciate your input more than you can ever know!

Pep

~BTW~

Congrats go out to JG for his editing work on the two stories that won number 1 in several categories for a different writer.  It is not an easy task to edit a long piece, and to edit someone else's vision.  Now you understand why I always hint that I could use your editing skills again JG  :)  In actuality, I'm just happy to get your input; all of your input!

11th Annual Literotica Author Awards:

The Best of 2009

The stories and authors below were chosen by our readers as the best of 2009. Though these are not the only wonderful authors and stories on Literotica, they are worthy of praise and recognition. Thanks to all of the writers for providing us with hours of hot reading, and to all of the readers for your input, support, and attention.

* * * * *

Best Nonconsent Story:
Blair and the Emo Boy / PepperPace
Also Nominated:
An Opportunity Not To Be Missed Ch. 27 / bambigirl44
Birthday Gifts Fit for a Prince Ch. 05 / CharmingVixen
Claire's Career Ch. 08: The Singer / seth_perm
Turnabout is Fair Play / Charles Petersunn

* * * * *

Best Novel / Novella:
Urban Vampire Ch. 07 / PepperPace
Also Nominated:
Into The Light / rachlou
Knox County Ch. 09 / Rehnquist
The Surprising Road Home / Scorpio44a
The Time of My Life / NickyFaulkes

* * * * *

Best Nonhuman Story:
Redemption Ch. 02 / Elianna
Also Nominated:
Cursed and Coveted Ch. 06 / Candlelight062
Fire Ch. 06 / Enithermon
Sacrifice / pandarus
Urban Vampire II Ch. 08 / PepperPace

* * * * *

Most Literary--Genre Transcending:
Seven Days Ch. 10 / soular
Also Nominated:
April and September / I_M_Patient
Failing Upward / el_wing
Juicy / PepperPace
Lovers Without Realizing It / RedEmerald

ODE TO THE MCRIB

I was talking to my friend Ynot via internet and mentioned, 'Hey, the McRib is back, did you know it?' and he said; 'Yeah, it's been out for about a week.'

An entire week????

I missed a week of McRib???

Let me explain, I have these uncanny obsessions.  One of them is with the McRib sandwich.  The idea of the McRib sandwich makes my hands shake and my mouth water.  I told my friend Ynot that I would be getting my McRib tomorrow for dinner, to which he replied, 'Good for you...'

Yeah yeah, so he doesn't understand.  I don't even understand.  The idea of it is disgusting; pork by-product shaped into the form of a babyback rib and then dipped into sauce to mask what it really looks like.  Who would fall for such a sham?!  ME!!!  I love you McRib...

Um...I digress.  Dinner the next night turned out to be something different.  I had thawed out pork chops a day before and needed to cook them.  I cooked the porkchops, smothered cabbage sauteed in onions and bacon, yukon mashed potatos with the skins still on them, baked sweet potatoes, corn bread (Jiffy mix), and it was so beautiful...but all I could think about was my McRib sandwich.  Oh, I ate every delectable bite of the pork chops--but I still wanted the McRib.

So at work today, I wondered if I would have time to dash to McDonalds at lunch, get parked in the garage, and be at my seat all in half an hour...no.  Not possible.  So I settled back to wait for dinnertime. As I was leaving the building and deciding which McDonald's to hit so that the food would be at the optimum in freshness and warmth, my cell phone rang and my ex-boyfriend (still good friend) called me.

'Hey, Kimmie' (he calls me Kimmie), 'I know you like this so I wanted to let you know that Popeye's Chicken has their crawfish again.  It's called the crawfish tackle box and I just got it yesterday.  It was so good!'

I stopped dead in my tracks.  Popeye's crawfish is even better then the McRib...

I explained that the McRib was back and he was very lackluster with that revelation.  Damn him!  Why couldn't he have told me a day later?!  I kept with the plan and headed for my closest McDonalds, got my daughter her usual nuggets and then sat down with the beautiful sandwich before me.  I kid you not, it looked just like the picture above!  It was sheer perfection. 

The first bite; fresh soft bun, a hint of pickle, the crunch of onion and then the tangy sauce.  My eyes are closed as I chew, several french fries and then a sip of icy Coca Cola to chase it down.  As I write this two hours later, my mouth begins to water.  The last bite was as good as the first.

So my ex calls me and I explain about my love affair with the McRib and how I'd marry it except eating it would then be frowned upon--which he then made dirty jokes about. He's coming over to house sit so the furniture guys can come in with my new bedroom head and footboard and he asks, 'Want me to stop and get you anything--another McRib'

Damn you Ex-Boyfriend!  Damn you.  Do you know how tempting it was to say no but you can stop and get me a crawfish basket from Popeyes.  But I did not.  I had some type of control. 

Tomorrow is another day and I might be writing another Ode--this time to the Crawfish Basket.