Beyond Redemption

Happy Heart Day, Y’all. 😀

In my last post, I mentioned a minor announcement and here it is:

Some of you may know, or you may not, but I created a new InuYasha fiction site about 2 weeks ago. I wanted to do something for Valentine’s Day, so I decided to take on a suggestion my kid brother gave me about 2 years ago. An archive specifically for the alternate universe genre.

Unlike Eternal Destiny, this site is not pairing specific. Any pairing is allowed (even the ones I hate! lol) so long as the story takes place in the alternate universe. Yup, that mean NO CANON WHATSOEVER. The only exception to that rule is if the story needs to begin in the canon universe in order to carry into the alternate universe. However, we’re only allowing a certain amount of chapters inw hich this needs to happen, or we’ll remove the fiction.

As an AU Grrrl myself, I definitely like the idea of a place that only caters to that genre because, in my opinion, it doesn’t get enough love, so why not make a little house of worship? 😛 Thus far, it’s been available by invitation only (just to test it out and get a feel for the atmosphere), but now that V-Day has arrived, I figured I’d say something about it here. Feel free to join and post, or join and read, or just stare at with your nose is pressed up against the glass. Whatever suits ya!

Inu-Verse.Net

And…. that’s about it. My mom’s birthday is tomorrow, so I just don’t know what kind of mood I’ll be in. But for now, everything’s breezy. 😀

Oh, (and this is a maybe), I might be posting the little giftie Kau made for me at Absolution (or my gallery) later today. Not sure yet, but it will be awfully cute. lol.

Ciao bellas!

EDIT: Kau’s gift has been uploaded to my gallery. Squee!

So, I took a short hiatus to work on a new project. Some of you know about it, some don’t (but you will, eventually). It had been a passing thought ever since my kid brother, Danga, suggested it to me. Only this time, I actually made a thought a reality. And it wasn’t without headaches, I’ll tell ya that much. But things seem to be in order and we’re testing the waters. If it goes the way it should, you’ll get some kind of announcement soon enough.

As for the writing, well, because of those aforementioned “headaches”, I didn’t get anything done. The hope is that this weekend that status will change. I’m feeling a bit blocky, I admit, but I’m going to try to give y’all something. To be honest, I want to update Pas De Deux and Age of Innocence for Jessie, and it’s annoying me that both are being a pain in my arse. It’s really important to me that I get those completed as soon as I can. That means, I don’t know when The Neighbor will be updated. Could be over the weekend, could be 2 weeks from now. I don’t know, but I have to be honest and say that it’s not a priority. The two I mentioned are, so if I can write them first, I’m going to. Sorry if that disappoints those that really only seem to be interested in Neighbor. It’s just not high on my list of musts right now.

That said, I do want to thank all of the people that have popped in to review that story. It kinda makes me laugh. I see all these new faces that never review me any other time, but they’ll review that one, if only to make it get updated faster. *chuckles* Thanks for that…

Anyway, I’m working on another new skin (I have 2 others you guys haven’t seen yet. But whenever I do update The Neighbor, you’ll see one of them. I actually did that header myself. Yay for me.), and Neo once again proved that she can take any concept I toss at her and bring it to life. She’s seriously gifted. SERIOUSLY. Since this one is for a completed fiction, I won’t make y’all wait to see it. I’ll post it whenever I finish my next update.

That’s really about it for now. Just wanted to pop in and bring y’all up to speed. I’ll be trying to get some updates going this weekend, so pop in at the site every now and again, or join my mailinglist and you’ll get a notice.

And last, but not least, Kau strikes again! 😀

She got me more b-day goooodies! Aside from the Vampire Knight stuff, she got me a GANG of cajun yummies to make here at home, including red beans and rice (my fave), gumbo, and cobbler (got the box today). Plus cake, cappuccino, imported Japanese candy and other NOM NOMS. She da shyt!

Look at the Zero plushie -what a cutie!

Okay, I’m out! But first, a little VK fanart…

I finally updated a chapter for The Knife of Romance. It had been over a year, which kinda astonished me. I didn’t realize that much time had passed. But I guess I do that a lot, huh? Some days I want to write my fingers off, and others, I don’t want to update at all. Mostly because of a lack of feedback and my carpal-fucking-tunnel. I had a relapse in these last 2 weeks writing and rewriting that KoR chapter -just to not be happy with it by the end. So, I’m back in hand braces and that’s just F-U-N, especially given the fact that I don’t think many people liked that last chapter. It was like jacking my hands for the hell of it. Yay! \o/

In other news, if you’re here, then you’ll see that I upgraded my blog and installed a new layout. That took a nice few HOURS, but I’m happy with the result. This layout allows me to have several background images to choose from at will. Currently, I have up a giftart that Kau got for me: Pirate InuYasha, Spock InuYasha, and “Crow” InuYasha. They’re so fucking neat -and each one holds a special meaning- so that makes it even better. But I also have several other backgrounds that I plan to switch around every so often, so that should be fun.

Absolution also got a new skin up. I had some art done (I mentioned this before), for several of my stories and will be posting new layouts with some of my updates. The one up currently is for The Knife of Romance, and again, several more are coming. I love my site, I really do. I love having commissioned artwork that no one else has and I love how Neo sprinkles her fairy dust on everything and makes it perfect. Absolution is home, and at this point, I’ll never feel comfy anywhere else. I just wish I loved writing as much as I loved decorating.

Nothing left to say, so later.

Well, here we are. Five years, 70 fictions (71 now), 17 websites, and a big ball of drama, both good and bad.

When I started writing, I never foresaw all of this. I expected to write out a few ideas and have a little fun in this newly-discovered thing called InuYasha. But then it turned into… this. And that’s not to say this bumpy ride has been shitty. Nope, being in the IY fandom has taught me tons of shit, but I won’t bore y’all with it. I’ll just say that I’ve quoted this before and it still holds true:

“You could be anywhere in the world, but you’re here with me. I appreciate that.”

-Jay Z

For my 5th anniversary as InuGrrrl, I decided to treat myself with 3 new skins. 2 of them are for The Neighbor and 1 for Hikari. 😀 All of the headers were created by my home slice, Neo, (Including the new header on this blog) and you know when she touches it you get gold! I hope y’all enjoy them (Remember, to see them, you’ll need to use the skin changer on the homepage.).

I’ve also ordered an anniversary plushie from Notoes with a hand drawn face by Maria. He’s for The Neighbor (Mixed with a bit of Ayamegusa’s gift art), and he’s going to be the cutest little thing. He’s even got nipple rings! 😛

Last, but not least, I’ve posted the prologue of a new fiction. I wrote this a while ago, but I think now is a good time to start it. It’s very short -below 10 chapters- and a rather simple love story, but I think I’ll like penning it. I have no idea why I keep writing fluff-oriented shit when that’s clearly not my forte, but I came up with the plot ages ago. Maybe I was fluffier then. lol.

I’m finishing up The Neighbor and a couple of others. My hope is to have something new for y’all by the weekend. I’m in that “wrap it up” mood again, so I really want to work on lingering stories. The last time I said that, I actually closed out 3 of them, so wish me luck!

And finally, I give y’all my thanks. There were so many times I wanted to walk away from my writing, my hobby, my enjoyment because I was letting trolls get to me. But because you guys stuck it out, I stuck it out, and here we are. 5 years and we’re still doin’ dat shit!

Thanks for making them so memorable. <3

I still haven’t done much writing, much to my own chagrin. I wanted to, but got sidetracked with site work. I’ve been improving things at my dot net and Eternal Destiny and making some techie changes that I’ve been wanting to implement for a while.

I finally added a watermarking system to my gallery and I’ll probably be adding that to ED’s gallery as well, just as extra protection for the people that do use that gallery. I also added a new skin to my gallery that I truly love because it has the look of a wordpress blog rather than a gallery. Neat, neat stuff. I also plan to skin ED for the summer as well as a new one for Absolution. I’m just waiting for Neo to work her magic and then it’s a go.

And while we’re on site stuff, ED’s LiveJournal comm will be starting on June 1st with a new format. Most of the details are already on the profile, and prompt lists will post to the comm in a few days. The hope is that it will be a relaxing summer activity people will enjoy. Then, of course on the same day, the Destined Awards start. I’m supposed to do Legends again this term, since it’s retroactive and this would make term 3, but we’ll see. That’s a lot more work for me… and we’ll see. >.>

Okay, back to the writing, I’m trying to get something posted this week. I can’t guarantee that it will be The Neighbor, though. I’m not happy with the chapter I have for that and I don’t know if I want to finish it and post it. I probably will -not very chap will be a good one- but I need to at least feel like it’s passable and I don’t feel that yet. So, there’s the heads up in the event that it feels a tad off to you. I also want tow rite a couple of old, neglected stories, but we’ll see. I don’t want to overwhelm myself because I’ll end up not writing anything.

Those that have been visiting the site lately and leaving some love, even though I haven’t updated in a bit, thanks so much! It’s a nice reminder that people do enjoy my work and want to see more of it. <3 Okies, I'm out!

I’m finally writing again. Not as much as I’d like yet, but it’s coming along. I don’t want to say what’s being posted yet because I don’t know, lol. I’m pretty much adding lines to several chapters and hoping I can get at least two out this week. I think between the carpal and being overwhelmed withw ork, ED, and other site stuff, I needed this break. (Can you believe it’s been a month since I updated The Neighbor? O.O) I need to find that “loose” mindset I had before so I can churn ’em out again.

In other news, I opened a new forum. I used to have one a loooong time ago when I first opened Absolution. It was one of those phbb (are those the right initials? lol) boards and it wasn’t that great. I didn’t know CSS then, so the skin was yucky (though, it was a Pulp Fiction skin, which was funny) and I wasn’t too savvy on enhancements and so on. Plus, I had unwanted visitors >.> so I ended up shutting it down and never bothered again until now.

Like before, it’s just a “hang out” spot for friends and lovelies to relax in a non-wank atmosphere. This is the link: Exoneration You can see a couple of sections of the board as a guest, but you won’t see any posts or anything until you join. Registration requires admin approval -to avoid troublemakers who’d join for the sheer purpose of wank- so if you decide to join us, try to use a name that I recognize from this journal or Absolution (I pretty much know the names of my regular reviewers so I’ll know who you are). And participation is a must, even if it’s small. If you join and never say anything, I’m going to assume you’re there to “spy” and I’m going to kick you out. 😛 But if you’re just shy, no worries. It’s a “homey” atmosphere and everyone (cause there are people there already) is cool. So no excuses. Pop in and say hey. 😀

In other, other news, the Japanese kitkats were awesome. I still have some left, but fucking WOW. Am was right in her assumptions -the maple ones were delish! The Royal Milk Tea >.> tasted like earl gray, and if you ever had that, then you know it has a peculiar taste for tea. Not bad, but different. The Raspberry/Passion fruit made me wince. Yuck -kinda bitter and gross. Green Tea was sooo good (but I knew that from before), and Cafe Au Lait is decent, but it has a very strong coffee taste. I have 2 more I haven’t tried yet, and since they’re written in Japanese, I’ll need to ask my aunt to translate before I can give you the flavors. Stay tuned!

And last, a shameless plug! If you’re a member of Eternal Destiny, you still have until Saturday/11:59pm to submit a story to the “And I Was Born For Her.” contest. And if you draw, there’s a contest going on at the Deviant Art Group as well (Deadline is June 1st/12am). The prizes are pretty nifty, too, so give it a whirl. If you’re a member of Challenge Destiny (the LJ comm), I’ll be posting the prompt lists soon and they’re some real goodies. My mods came up with them, and of course, they rock, so I hope y’all join us. And finally, a reminder that the Destined Awards nominations begin on June 1st as does the re-opening of the comm. So it’s gonna be busy around there. ^_^

Alright, done for now. I have mail to write, chapters to finish, and with any luck, I’ll have a new skin on Abi soon. (Yep, I get easily bored and always like seeing new stuff go up!) And speaking of, Ammmmm made this totally badass avatar for me. I love animated ones and this one is too groovy. xD I asked her to make another one, and that one will be even cooler. Can’t wait. Squee! 😀 Annnnnd it looks like my Claudio Sanchez plushie is ready! I’m just waiting for an official pic. ::pumps fist::

How about the cutest boys in anime?
(I’ve always loved this pic!)

I can listen to that song all day -and I have. The band is called Silversun Pickups (Yeah, I know >.>), but the music is stellar. I have them playing on Absolution, so give them a shot. The lyrics to this song, especially, says a lot to me about people I know. I love when a song can do that, put shit in fucking perspective, and this one does it for me. The title alone is wow.

Anyway, short entry. I had a blast at the Coheed signing/acoustic show and Claudio’s voice is just fantastic. Totally love that guy, but I’m also growing a huge appreciation for Travis as well. He’s a real sweetheart. I’m stoked for the concert in May; I hope they come back at the end of the tour like they’ve done in the past. I’d so be there.

I got more chibis! The ones for ED I’m not posting. They’ll show up for the summer skin in June. But I did have my “signature” art redone chibi-style and it put such a huge grin on my face. I made this pink background for my deviant art ID, and of course I watermarked, but you’ll be able to see it well enough.

I also got Kau a chibi art that I knew she’d go apeshit for. She has a thing for Kouga/Rin (go fig!), so when you see that pairing in my fics, it’s for her. <.< always. But anyway, I'll give you a peek at her art. It's a wedding piece. 😀

I gave myself a nasty cold on Tuesday, so I’m under the weather. I’ll be indoors, having not accepted any work this weekend for that reason (I hate spreading germs), so I’ll be trying not to get worse and get some writing done for the next few days. I’m really hoping to finish The Neighbor, but I’m not going to push it if it doesn’t cooperate.

And in a WTF? moment, I bought a new mouse cause the old one was old and acting up. Well, this one is super responsive and it’s making me crazy because every little touch has me clicking the wrong thing. Can’t win for fucking losing!

EDIT: Chibi Hikari is on my gallery. He looks so damned cute! Once again, Neo rulez.

WHAT’S UP, Y’ALL!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

It’s been a few days, but your Grrrl is back and ready to catch y’all up on the happenings!

First off, the new chapter for The Neighbor has been posted, as is the new skin I promised. Maria did an outstanding job on InuYasha Emmanuel of Hikari and I couldn’t ask for anything more beautiful. The full pic is enormous, but let me just say that it’s absolutely exquisite. I’m going to post a small version with a heavy watermark because I’ve HAD IT with people stealing my commissioned pieces for personal use. The stuff I purchase is always for my websites, which makes them “commercial” and it grates my fucking nerves when people steal my headers and shit from right off my site, hence why there is a watermark on the new header. Not that it stops people. I had one using my gift art, art with my likeness and name on the character’s clothing, as a personal icon (cropped from one of my headers), so that goes to show what they’ll do.

May I present the angel we ALL wanna meet!

Again, sorry about the massive watermark and miniature size. I have no choice these days. But that’s not the only sliceof delish I wanna share! InuHanyouNikkie made me some birfday art!!

AND HE’S NAKED!!!!!!!

He’s pouring caramel sauce on himself and requesting that I lick it off. So.. if you’ll… excuse me… for…

*Comes back 6 hours later licking my fingers with with sauce on my chin*

How y’all doing…..? 😀

But seriously, she did a WONDERFUL job and I love all that nummy below the waist.
*laps it up with vigor*

Now, before I was distracted by the urge to suckle… <.< I was talking updates, right? Yeah... The Neighbor has been updated with chapter 9 and I’m writing Chapter 10 now. I’m overwhelmed by the positive response the story has received and kinda stunned at all of the reappearing faces. When you don’t hear from people for a long time, you automatically assume that they don’t read you anymore. Sad, but a fact of life. However, it seems that that isn’t the case for many. Apparently, they are around and just haven’t reviewed.

In any case, it’s really nice to see some of the people that have been with me since I started almost 5 years ago. Especially at a time when I’m debating my retirement date, because no, I won’t write fanfic forever. But before I hang up IY’s haori, or in my case, Yankee cap, 😛 I do want to get several more works out there. So many, many thanks to everyone who left my story some luv; it’s an awesome feeling to know that my work is still enjoyed.

I’ve decided that I probably won’t be touching any other stories until I finish The Neighbor. It’s not a long story at all, and we’re over the halfway point. Then I’m going to work on all the chapters that I mentioned a few threads ago that were close to being posted. I also want to work on a couple of fics that are near the end, and I think I’m putting Sengoku Medical Center to bed permanently. I’ve had a hankering or two for new chaps, but overall, I’ve lost too much interest in it to continue. I won’t delete it -you never know if I’ll revisit it someday just for my own sense of accomplishment- but there won’t be any continuance in the foreseeable future. Sorry if anyone was hoping I’d revisit it.

Pretty Brown Eyes will be completed, though, as it’s only a chapter left. It was supposed to be two, but I’m shortening it to one because I want it done. For me, at this point, it’s about ending the old fics and I don’t want to drag them out any further. Same for Edge of Seventeen; I’ll be finishing that final chap as soon as possible. Same goes for Love Like Winter. That one, though, is Nikkie’s giftfic, so there won’t be a rushed ending. It’s one of my faves and I’m going to end it in 2 chapters the way I planned to from the start. And you can add Loved to that list as well.

Hooray for a plan of action! ^_^

Okay, I’m out. Enjoy the eye candy!

Before I dig into my quickie entry, I want to wish my girly-girl, Selina, a very happy birthday!

May your day be as wonderful as you, and I hope you like my gifts! <3 Now, onto my lil update. Sorry I've been so completely MIA. It's been a crazy couple of weeks and shit isn't exactly calm yet. But that's how real life is, ne? There's always something going on, pulling your time away from the shit you'd rather be doing. Sigh. So, I'm dealing with it and making time for fuckery when I can. 😛 I haven't done a lot of writing, but I did work on the OC fic (I'd say the chap is about 70% done) and I wrote the prologue for a new story. It's going to post later on today (Yes, despite the fact that I have enough WIPs to fill a library!), and with any luck, you guys will like it. I have plans to update a few others as well, and the hope is that I'll put a few chapters out there (of different fictions) all at once. So, fingers crossed y'all. I was hoping to do that last week, but a bunch of stuff went down and I just didn't have the time. I hate that shit because it always happens when I don't have block. Then, when I have the time to devote, I can't get my head into it. Urg. Last, I found another band to love: Professional Murder Music. You probably heard them on Absolution (A Night Like This), but I got my hands on the 3 albums they released and found a bunch of cool songs. They have a great sound, but unfortunately, I don't know if they're still together. Their site hasn't been updated in about 2 years, so... but they're great. This kind of reminds me of Spineshank (who are fucking AWESOME). By the time I found them, they had already broken up!

Allrighty, it's after 3am and I'm whooped. I'll be around this weekend, trying to get some chaps done, so pop in at will. 😛 I'm also going to update the goodie page this weekend. Yay!

Happy Thursday!

For all of you that have/had a hard time getting into Hulu, I’m embedding the video.
To shut off the music, use the controls on the lower right side.

Welcome back, baby. How we’ve missed you!
(And the subtitles are present!)