WOS shirts by Ho-Z designs

Announcing the release of Wheels of Steel shirts! 

Now you can 'rock' your very own WOS shirt!

Me and some of my friends have been wearing the upside down wheelchair shirts for a while and they get LOTS of attention. Mostly people look at you like you are trying to drive a steak through the hearts of all people in wheelchairs. Those brave enough to ask you what the meaning is earn lots of kudos.

WOS followers probably know that I got the icon for Wheels of Steel from Ho-Z designs. The upside down wheelchair man began as a statement for Ho-Z and the way that he embraces his disorder. He doesn't have to say I can run my own company, create music, make digital art despite my disability because it seems to me that he is saying; I am this man in the wheelchair AND MORE.

Here are some pics of me and my daughter wearing the shirts.

My daughter

Me

Me and Sugar (My Mom's pup)

random lady asking me about the shirt (ok we were acting)

My daughter wore hers to school today

I wore mine to work AND Starbucks

Brrr

There are more pics on Ho-Z's website. Anyone that gets a shirt and wants to take a pic of themselves in it, then send it to me and I'll post it here or send it to Ho-Z and he'll post it on his site...or do both!

Btw, I don't get any profit from the shirts, but I do get some word of mouth advertisement and YOU get a cool looking shirt.

Here are the links directly to the WOS shirts:

America: http://hozdesign.spreadshirt.com/wos-C83802
Europe: http://hozdesign.spreadshirt.no/wos-C185955

Here is the link to the upside down wheelchair shirts (remember to select US or Europe):
http://hozdesign.com/wp/store/

Click this for a direct link to Ho-Z designs 




Now, as promised, here is the first update for Wheels of Steel. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


Wheels of Steel update 1/2011

WOS news

Hey guys. It hasn't been that long ago that I finished WOS. But I promised regular updates. I figured I'd do my first one in spring or something. But I decided to do an early one since I have another WOS surprise.

Ho-Z and I have been working on a project and it's completed. I decided to introduce it along with the first WOS update tonight. But I gotta go to work first. See you tonight!

CRASH pt 3

The Final Chapter. 
 
CRASH PT 3

New blog feature; total blog views

I've been waiting for the day when I reached 100 followers, which happened today! So I wanted to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you; those who leave your name, those who remain Anonymous, and those that are frequent visitors without becoming 'followers', for making this blog a success, and for taking the time to interact with me.

It's been nearly 2 years since I made my first submission to Literotica. Since my first post of October 27, 2009 there have been an excess of 130,000 views here! 
I guess you guys have figured out by now that I am a COMPULSIVE WRITER. And having this outlet has really helped me to stay partially sane. ~smile~  

I've added a new feature to share the stats. They are really impressive! Just today this blog has had 123 views, yesterday it was 477. I have a fan base that runs from the US, UK, France, the Netherlands, Trinidad, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Spain, New Zealand and China. People are viewing the blog from their blackberry, Ipod, Iphone, cell phones and even playstation (oh, and my NOOK E-Reader!)


Corrected to show ALL-Time Stats

Pageviews by Countries United States  108,356 United Kingdom  5,298 Canada  3,182 Australia  1,632 Netherlands  953 New Zealand  838 Malaysia  820 France  474 Belgium  439 South Africa  367

Pageviews by Browsers Internet Explorer  48,854 (38%) Safari 3 4,799 (27%) Firefox  26,705 (20%) Chrome  11,275 (8%) Opera  3,134 (2%) NetFront  1,466 (1%) Iron  613 (<1%) PicMorphSearchToolbar 306 (<1%) SearchToolbar  138 (<1%) chromeframe  112 (<1%) Pageviews by Operating Systems Windows 88,158 (68%) Macintosh 13,616 (10%) iPod  7,572 (5%) iPhone  6,252 (4%) Linux  6,143 (4%) BlackBerry 2,915 (2%) iPad  1,304 (1%) Samsung 1,203 (<1%) Nokia  317 (<1%) SonyEricsson 289 (<1%)

The PepperStories blog has over 39,000 views with followers from Indonesia, New Zealand and Denmark. And the Wheels of Steel blog has had over 11,000 views, with additional audience of Germany.


Again, I just wanted to thank you and if you want to follow the traffic along with me, then you will find it listed beneath the Followers to the right of the blog. You guys are terrific and I appreciate you more than you can imagine!

CRASH pt 2

 Thank you all so much for the feedback for CRASH. Here is part 2, I think there is only 1 last part after that which I am completing now.

CRASH pt 2

CRASH

I began a new story entitled CRASH. I feel I should explain some things before I post. I'll never apologize for a story (only for a crappy updates when I know that you and I both deserve better), however, this is a story that has some very strong themes. Obviously, you wouldn't be reading this blog if you don't already know the topics I tackle.

But this is different.

"  There was no beginning and there is no end. There is just the moment when everything came crashing together, and that was where it started."

These are the opening lines of CRASH and that is how the story came to me. Literally one minute before I first began writing it, I had no idea that this story was inside of me. It totally came out of the blue and it made my hands shake. I had no choice but to open up a fresh word doc page and began letting the story flow out of me.

Now here comes the part where I referred to the apology...This story has some very strong references. Male rape, incest, child abuse. Is this story about those things? No. But these very disturbing topics are referenced and because of that I warn people who are sensitive to these topics not to read this particular story.

Also...I'm not going to tell you what the story is about.  Because one minute before I began writing, I had never ever considered writing anything remotely close to this. But the story came and the characters told me where to go and I followed and I feel that you will just have to do the same.

There is a 'light' that glows bright in my head when I am on the right track with a story...and when I stray it dims. And when it dims I stop writing (or should). That light stayed bright for most of this story and I wrote the first 40 pages over the MLK weekend. The second half dimmed because I had to 'step' in and sort of direct the story to the end. I believe that CRASH doesn't want me to do this...

Am I giving CRASH too much power? Yes...because I don't write this kind of stuff and I still have no idea where this story came from.

CRASH may be the truest thing I've ever written...and I don't even feel as if it's mine. And though I've told myself that I wasn't going to post partial stories anymore because it is stressful, I truly need some feedback on this one. If you hate it tell me, if you love it tell me.

CRASH PT 1

Lucas

                                                     Sophie

                                                      

New story under AngelSCC

Hi folks. Just to let you  know that there is a new story posted on Literotica under my alt account AngelSCC. It's not an Interracial story, and it's just a real short one. As you may have remembered, my alt account was supposed to be used for me to post stories under different genres. I actually would have liked to try to post at least one story in each of the Literotica categories, but that idea fell by the wayside.

CHATROOM FUN was something I'd written many years ago. I may have already posted it here on the blog, but if so, I don't recall. But in any event, here is the link to the Literotica page. Please enjoy.

What is Pep listening to; January 14, 2011

Several years ago I saw a movie entitled Half Nelson. It starred Ryan Gosling. If you've never seen it, then do your self a favor and check it out. I'm including a clip of my FAVORITE scene and the song that turned me on to a an awesome group that is not very well known: Broken Social Scene.

(SPOILER ALERT) In this scene, 13 year old Drey has become a drug runner in order to make ends meet. She unwittingly makes a delivery to her favorite teacher. Drey recently discovered that Mr. Dunne was um...heavy into crack--I won't say he's a crackhead...well yeah; he is a crackhead. This scene blows me away as Mr. Dunne is trying to keep her on the straight and narrow, but then his need for his drug forces him to cross the line and pull this girl deeper into the underside.  I was blown away by this scene but the song playing in the background stayed with me. I couldn't get it out of my head. After much research I discovered that it was called Shampoo Suicide and thus...my love of Broken Social Scene was born.

BSS is a Canadian band that doesn't have a set number of members. Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning are the two constants. Wiki describes their music as a combination of all of its members' respective musical projects, and is characterized by a very large number of sounds, grand orchestrations featuring guitars, horns, woodwinds, and violins, unusual song structures, and an experimental, and sometimes chaotic production style.

That means...you can't define them. They have songs that sound like backdrops to movies; their music actually appeared in the movie Scott Pilgrim vs the World. They have songs that are OBSESSIVE; like I'm still your fag (which I've used as an inspiration for a story that I've been working on for a few years by the same title) lyrics being: I swore I drank your piss that night to see if I could live.  Damn...how can you not appreciate a group that can incorporate such imagery into their music?


I'm not done discovering BSS songs that send me into music induced orgasm! I can't even tell you my favorites because I just can't decide. I was at work today with my headphones blasting Time = Cause. I probably played it 20 times alternating between Da Da Da Da.


Enough said! Check out my playlist devoted to my favorite Broken Social Scene music.

I can't even go a week!

...without writing.  As I sit here attempting to read some of these horribly written stories on my NOOK, I've gotten the writing bug again.  Now I just need to decide what to write. 

Are there any good books out there?

I know there are but I need help!  What do you guys like?  I'm trying to load up my NOOK with awesome stories instead of duds.  I like almost all genres (not huge into mysteries--because I don't really feel like working out a problem when I'm trying to escape into the pages.  I'll save that for the movies.)

I'll share some that I enjoyed in IR:

Megan Hart; NAKED
JJ Murray; SOMETHING REAL
Sandra Kitt; THE COLOR OF LOVE

Series:

Kim Harrison; THE HOLLOWS
Charlaine Hamilton; SOOKIE STACKHOUSE

Sci-Fi

Any and everything by Octavia E. Butler who I deem to be one of my most influential writers.  I've read everything ever published by her even that strange Paternist series (and enjoyed it).  But there is a reason that she is a master in her genre. I think of Octavia Butler as an interracial writer as much as she she's been lumped into the Sci-fi category.  I heard her speak once and she indicated that she didn't like her work being categorized as simple Sci-Fi. 

Octavia E. Butler; KINDRED, XENOGENESIS SERIES, PARABLE SERIES, FLEDGLING (vampire story but I struggled a bit with the child sex aspect)

I can sit here and list a million books written by a million talented authors--black, white, etc.  But I won't.  We know that E. Lynn Harris is a great writer, Mary Monroe, Eric Jerome Dickey, King, Koontz, Danielle Steel etc.  But there is a new wave of writers out there that I don't know anything about.  If you discovered someone that intrigued you, then share.  I am always open for that new story that will blow me away!

Has anyone else noticed this?

I spent the weekend reading and relaxing.  I didn't even check my phone for messages for two days!  As I mentioned I got a new toy for Christmas; a NOOK (electronic book).  I really like it, despite the fact that I never ever thought I'd get one due to my love for actual books made of paper.  I couldn't wait to go e-shopping for e-books.  I found several but decided to start off with two by author's that I've read before and admired--both have written stories n the interracial genre.

To my supreme disappointment, I noticed that the first book was mostly filler.  What I mean is that a publisher will say; I need a novel with 180,000 to 200,000 words.  But you only have a story with 60,000 words (Like what happened with me when I'd written JUICY).  So instead of just developing the story, maybe broadening it, a writer will just fill it with 'fluff'.  The first story was so tedious that I broke my first rule by skimming through much of it.  I won't mention the Author because in general it is a person that has written amazing pieces of work.  In this case the Author filled the story with horrendous novels read by one of the characters.  These novels within the story took up about a quarter of the book and was freaking tedious!  I truly felt jipped out of a complete story as the Author attempted to just 'pad' it to increase the word count.

So...moved on to the next book.  SAME THING!! This author wasn't quite as obvious but when you have multiple 'dream sequences' repeating the same tedious theme or memories that go on pages and pages...and in both cases they were romances with no sex!  There wasn't even unsatisfactory Harlequin Romance sex!

I won't blame this on just e-books, obviously they can be purchased in paper form.  I read a newly published book by Dean Koontz (I don't mind mentioning his name because there is nothing I could say that would hurt this man's popularity!), it was the most recent in his Brother Odd series and I noticed the same thing.  I was not satisfied by the story in the least and felt that he wasted too much paper (haha) talking about boring, unimportant things.

Sigh, I've become spoiled by the free stories on Literotica.  On that site you get a story; good story, bad story, but you get a story--not a bunch of filler!  Am I the only person noticing this?  Or is it because I'm engrossed in being a 'good' writer that I'm noticing things that I would not do.  Take Stephen King.  I love King.  I can tell you that he is my favorite writer.  That is not to mean that he is the best writer, but his style, his stories, his 'weirdness' just clicks with me.  And when he writes a good story, well nothing tops him in my opinion.  But he wrote a story called Under The Dome.  Has anyone read it?  Oh, I don't mean has anyone STARTED it, I mean has anyone COMPLETED it?  The book is promising; great concept but so freaking tedious.  It has always been my complaint with King; that he goes in to far too much detail--hey, maybe I do, as well for some readers.  But I still love the guy.  But I had to put down Under The Dome when he started writing from the POV of a woodchuck.  That was just too much...

Now, I believe in writing constructive reviews that may be deemed as negative, but only because I would want a new writer to see where there is room for improvements.  But for the two Author's that I read over the weekend; shame on you for forgetting the reason behind writing!  Shame on you for cheating a fan out of your best!  I still won't mention them because I don't ever want my criticism to 1) Effect someone's ability to get paid 2) feel that I am tearing them down.  But they've both written quite a few books, one even has a blogspot on Blogger (and might even be an anonymous follower).

I will probably provide feedback expressing my displeasure on my NOOK where you have an option to post a rating. But just wondered if anyone else has noticed this.