Only Love - Ben Howard

Untitled

He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.

Amazon Breatkthrough Novel Award; 2013

Yay! Beast and I have made it to round two of the Amazon Breakthrough Contest. The quarter final winners will be announced March 10th.

New cover for Adaptation

I'd like to thank Jiani Yu Williams for creating a cover for Adaptation. It is now the official cover for the story. This is still a free read exclusively to be found here on the Writing Feedback Blog.
 

Adaptation coming Monday February 18

I know its been a while since the last chapter of Adaptation. Thank you for your patience while I finished up some other tasks. The next chapter will be available this Monday.

Music for WOS book 4

Ho-Z just sent me the first sample for the music to WOS 4. OMG! I'm so loving it. He is truly inspiring me me in the direction that I intend to go with the storyline. You guys are going to love the music of WOS which is essentially the sounds of Jason. I can't wait until it's ready. I've always told Ho-Z that he should be making and selling his music so I'm truly happy that he is back in to it.

A Seal Upon Your Heart Review by Cozimfree

I wanted to share a review of A Seal Upon Your Heart that posted on Amazon. It moved me so deeply that it just made me cry. Others commented that it did the same and I wanted to share it with everyone.

I value my fans and friends and blog followers. You all keep me motivated and I know that you care about me as a writer and as a person, just as I care about you as both fans and people that are affected by my stories.Whether you write to me on FB or here on the blog or you read the posts and don't comment doesn't matter. I see the numbers and know how many people read my posts and I value every one of you!

 Many other people will review this book, I can only hope - and give potential readers the proper insight into what they have just experienced. I, however, don't want to review this book so much as speak to how this author continuously enriches my life and my outlook on life and my fellow human beings. I have read all of the Pepper Pace book offerings. Each book leaves me with a glimpse into a world that I can only imagine being beyond hard to live within. I was raised to never make fun of someone who was physically or mentally challenged. Never stare. Never think they are less than you. You do not know who is in that body. Take for instance, Professor Stephen Hawking. Diagnosed with motor neuron disease - regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein, Albert Einstein. He is currently Director of Research for Theoretical Cosmology. A mind among minds, but trapped inside a twisted body without the ability to speak or do anything for himself. Yet...he speaks for the Universe. I bring him up to say, could I be in a physical relationship with him, could I kiss him, could we swab tongues, could I care for and love him. And, he is not even the type PP writes about, he is on the highest food chain in life. She has found a way to bring love to the lowest in this food chain, they get a happily ever after. For this and if only for this - Pepper Pace is the boss of bosses.

Each PP book gives me deep faith in my own ability and capacity to love beyond the shallow. Nope, not there yet. Each PP book leaves me more in love with love and being in love. To see the beauty of a scorned soul that is longing for a human touch and understanding, this package too can be an exquisite thing no matter the package it dwells within. They too deserve to have their heart massaged, to be held tight, to dream a lovers dream and to have those moments that leave them breathless (even if it is after a seizure).

I heart this author and all that she brings to the literary world. She speaks to and for survivors, in any form they exist (homeless, MS, overweight, mentally ill, morbidly disfigured, Rwandan survivor). She speaks to and for any person who has been abused, left out, ridiculed, bypassed, overlooked, looked through and overwhelmed by the hand that life has dealt them.

When I started Seal I thought, wow, this is different. In this book PP has gifted a troubled widower with an orphaned amnesiac survivor of the Rwandan genocide, raised in a convent that she has just been asked to leave and face an uncertain world. Wait. What? The heroine is dealing with her issues and we are moving along. No disability, none of the usual suspects (in a good way). Then as I got more into the book, I was like OMG PP began unfolding the rose, one delicate petal at a time as she always does. She also always takes on the vulnerability of both lead players. The thorns are indeed burrowed beneath both of their skins and PP makes sure that you get pricked. No one is ever perfect. How does she continue to speak for these people? How does she continue to be an advocate for the voiceless and ignored of society. The people others look through or around. The cast offs and the cast aways. How is she able to introduce and familiarize us with them until she MAKES us look at them differently. Until only the most delicate and fragile part of the flower remains, attached to a stem that is barely hanging on. One layer at a time you see the mental disability of two people broken down like a fraction and carefully rebuilt into an amazing equation, a two part harmony reaching Heaven. Yes, Heaven.

PP you are gifted and we as readers are blessed that you said yes to accept your mission in life and yes to sharing the voices inside your head. Review by Cozimfree

Love Intertwined vol 1 & 2 retired and re-uploaded

Yesterday I had to retire my two collection of books; Love Intertwined Vol. 1 & 2 due to some book size issues. Generally you can upload re-edited copies of books without removing them but not if you have opted to have an ISBN assigned to them and then later want to change the 'trim' size.

My paperback books are 6x9 but I accidentally selected the size 8x11 which made them appear to be like a big picture book. It's kinda hard to tuck a big picture book into your purse :)!

So yesterday I retired them and re-loaded them. They can be found immediately in the Createspace store. It will take several days before Amazon.com receives them. *Here is a discount code for $2.00 off the following paperback books. You can only use it on Createspace and can get there by clicking on the books: Q4ALJ9EB

Here is the link to get to the Pepper Pace paperbacks on Createspace if you would like to see additional titles.

A Question for Pep

Here is a question that I wanted to share with everyone. Thanks Yolanda for asking and giving me an opportunity to talk about it.

Question:

Hi Pepper
Just finished reading A Seal Upon the Heart. Loved it. Love it probably more for exploring a chapter in Africa's history that has haunted me for the longest time. The genocide in Rwanda happened against the backdrop of incredible events in South Africa (where I'm from) we had had the first free and fair elections and were looking to Mandela's inauguration in May '94. Here we were just buzzing when news reports began to filter through about the devastating events in Rwanda. It was unbelievable that this was happening, the unfolding story was one I do not believe can be suffidiently described in words, I still get goose bumps and a chill to the bone thinking about it. But it happened and life has gone on.

Thank you for this wonderful story and your effort to give a face and voice to a survivor.

(small quibble - I love your work Pepper - I have read all your work bar the Purple Trilogy (down loaded just waiting for time) - there are still instances where 'than' is used instead of 'then' and sales instead of sells, possessive form is used instead of plural and character given the wrong name - eg Claudine instead of Claudette) I can forgive all that and have forgiven similar errors in other of your work however a friend new to your work remarked that she could not get past the errors and took some persuading to read further and get into characters. I would hate for other readers to put your books down as a result because your characters are just amazing, you give voice to people and subject matter seldom seen in popular writing and for that I take my hat of to you.

Thank you for your work and for continuing to share it with us.
Yolanda

Response:

Yolanda, I'm so happy that you enjoyed A Seal Upon Your Heart. It wasn't an easy story to write due to the many controversial subjects. I tried very hard to tell a romantic story--a love story from two characters with different backgrounds. In doing so I had to explore genocide in more detail than I ever put to pen. I listened to survivor testimonies and I knew that I had to touch upon that in some way without changing the dynamic of the story. There was also the storyline of religion and sex which is sometimes very taboo. Then add to that a huge age difference AND an interracial story--and it's no wonder that I stopped writing it to regroup (smile).

So I can say that this was the most difficult story that I've ever told. And I'm happy that you were touched by it!

Several people have mentioned the errors they find in my published books. If they tell me where they find them I go right in and correct them (as I've just done with correcting the name from Claudine to Claudette--Thank you Yolanda!). It does affect my sales as well as reviews. A reviewer wrote in regards of my story Beast, that I had no command or understanding of the English language because of then and than confusion. She then gave the story 3 stars or 2, something like that.

It's not that I don't understand how to use words properly. A writer's eyes stays on a word for a fraction of a second--one word just a fraction of a second. First I follow a flow as my thoughts transforms to words THEN I go back and edit--first for content and then for grammar. When you edit your own work, what happens is that your eye/mind tells you that you are seeing something that may not actually be there. Or...and here is the worst, you stop writing a book for a year and forget your characters name!

So here is the solution; my boyfriend says that you don't have to be with a big publishing house to get editors. Copy editors are waiting to be hired, sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Hire a copy editor. That would give a set of fresh eyes. That would polish up the story.

But this is what I hear...Give birth to your precious baby and now give him to a surgeon to fix his defects. I'm like NOOOOOOOOOOO! Don't touch my baby!!!

LOL, that is a horrible analogy but it is the way I feel and why I've always been so resistant to handing my 'baby' over for editing. I'll go over the entire piece again just to make sure nothing else has been tampered with (as you should). It is a control thing--Yes it is. But it's also a very personal thing; it would have to be someone I trust not just some ANYBODY. Also they have to work on MY timeline and not their own. Yes I'd be demanding! I can write fast and I don't want a slow editor...or I might write slow and I don't want them 'nudging me' because they got other clients.

I do have an editor who I completely trust but he doesn't edit anymore and short of begging he cannot be persuaded to come out of retirement.

Anyway, with that said, I will have to really consider your advise and the advise of others. I'll give it a try with UV 3 and WOS 4 and see about finding the right 'fit'. Also if anyone knows of a good copy editor that they can recommend that would be a helpful start; someone that writes in the IR romance/erotica genre.

Thanks again Yolanda for your comments

Please give me your feedback, comments and suggestions (even if its to to say stop being so selfish and get an editor!) Thanks everyone...you are an awesome set of friends and fans and I love and appreciate you.

Ellora's Cave writing contract-DECLINED

Recently, I semi-announced that I was offered a writing contract for the Urban Vampire Series. I had been contacted by the acquisitions editor who had read samples of my work and asked me to send them a submission. I have always wanted Urban Vampire to be formally published because I think the series is dynamic and I truly want to see it published through a publishing company who can market it appropriately. Stranded was also on the table. After some editing we polished off some rough edges and since I knew that Ellora's Cave was known for romantic-erotic stories I figured I would be a good fit.

Unfortunately it wasn't. The acquisitions editor liked both stories and offered me a contract which I accepted...but then came the realization that they required a revision to the story and not just edits. I won't do that--there are too many fans already following the story and the formula is right for me and my fans even if it isn't right for these publishers. 

So the long and the short is that I contacted them and stated that I will not be signing a contract with them for UV or Stranded. Me and my books are homeless again.

Uh...well for now. Now I will begin actually shopping for a home for us instead of waiting for offers that drop into my lap. Regardless, UV 4 will still be published by either me independently or someone else.