I'm not sure if anyone's noticed, but I have been very inactive on LJ lately. I haven't been posting (what's new?) and I haven't been replying to journal entries I'd normally reply to. I apologize if I've missed anything important, and haven't been there to provide support or anything.

I've been trying to redirect my life as of late. I am, by nature, a hermit. I don't often socialize, leaving me to spend most of my time on the internet/LJ. Lately, I've been trying to change that. I'm extending my social network, while also working hard academically. Together, these leave me very little time for internets, causing me to neglect you guys.

I am really sorry if I've missed anything important, but I really need this. I love you all, and consider you guys my friends, but the ratio of time spent in NL versus RL was getting unhealthy.

So this is me, announcing my hiatus.

Does this mean SR has been abandoned? Not at all. Will I be posting the next chapter soon? In all likelihood, probably not.

Will I be reading your posts? Yes and no. I may occasionally pop onto LJ, and go through your individual pages, instead of friends' paging it. I'll probably be skipping fic, just because of time. Will I be commenting? Not really. I may occasionally, but please don't be offended if you don't receive one from me.

I AM contactable, though. If you'd like my e-mail address (the one I check more frequently than flufshepherd@yahoo.com) just ask and I'll give. E-mail conversations are super-duper, and don't take as much time out of my life than LJ does.

Thank you for understanding.

THIS JOURNAL IS NOW ON HIATUS

Sour Revenge won another award!

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Thank you to all who voted for me, and to whoever nominated me!



"Keeps true to characters, amazing writing,and the story flows easily. Description is good.
Love the way the relationship evolves."

Thanks, Kitty, for showing me! *tackle hug*

Okay, so first I have a few questions that I want to get out of the way.

1) Is there any way a basic account user can put up an original header, or am I stuck with what I've got? I like this layout, I just don't want to have a header that I didn't create. I'm weird like that.

2) Is there any way a basic account user can change the layout of the friend's page and not the recent posts page?

... or am I screwed on both counts?

And, I said I'd update on RL here, too, so for those who aren't interested, look away now.

Earlier this year I was experiencing a terrible slump - one of the worst I've ever had. I was very uninterested in everything, very anti-social, and very lazy. I suspected depression, but seeing as how I've been feeling much better lately, I'm just chalking it up to a case of 'feeling blue.' Hopefully I'll never feel that down again. It could have had something to do with the last remaining of my cats passing away, but I was feeling down before that, anyway, so who can really say?

That was months ago, though. I've been getting much better. Made more friends, re-bonded with older ones, got closer to my family. I've even had some ideas for writing - fic *and* original. I just haven't quite gotten to the writing yet. Also, I still maintain the 'no writing until SR is finished' rule.

I'm also starting a project in which I'm going to read more literature. I was in Barnes & Noble today and realized how few books I've actually read. So I'm compiling a list. I'm going for well-known classics, so if anyone has any must-reads to recommend, please do!

I believe that's all that's up with me. So, how have you all been? I've been reading posts, but I'm still interested, if anyone has any new news.

Also, please help me with my layout questions! I'm rubbish at these sorts of things!

I have officially tagged my whole LJ. This means that you guys can subscribe to my Sour Revenge tag and this (through some process that I am to understand is not dissimilar to sorcery) lets you keep track of it without having to check my journal or friend me. I have many tags, so if you are more interested in icons, other fandom fics, or my rl-related posts, there are tags for all of those, and more.

Unfortunately, the Boxer layout doesn't let me display my tags, so I'm going to have to customize my journal. So, if you'll bare with me while I do that, I'll let you all know when the tags are see-able. I just wish LJ hadn't changed the way of customizing your journal; my choices are so limited now!

While tagging, I re-discovered what I had once called my "Howard" 'verse, for want of a better name. I have found that 'better name' and now it's called "A New Kind of Family." If you don't remember, that's the one where Spike and Drusilla had stolen a baby!Xander from the Sunnydale hospital and raised him as their own. I have many fics that I've started/outlined that I plan on continuing after I've finished SR, but I think ANKOF is going to be first on that list. Since it's not a real WIP, I can write single fics in that and post them with no responsibility.

Having learned from SR, I am very keen on the 'no responsibility' aspect of one-shot fics. No more WiPs for me. If I ever post anything multi-chapter, it will be fully completed by that point.

That's all for now. I have some vague RL news, but I'll put that in when I post the all-clear for the tags.

ETA: Uh... is it possible that free account users can't display their tags? Because I'm not seeing any option for it.

ETA part deux: Never mind. I see it depends on the layout you're using.

Me!! I did!!

I never won an award before, so excuse me if I seem a bit happy, but


EEEE!!!

Thank you, takhen for bringing it to my attention!


"Keeps true to characters, amazing writing,and the story flows easily. Description is good.
Love the way the relationship evolves."

I'm is happy.

Congratulations to the other winners and runner-ups!

If I didn't have so much to do today, I'd celebrate by writing more SR. Though, next weekend is pretty empty for me, if I recall...

*hugs kitty_poker1*

That will be all...

My f-list seems to be shining up with happy reactions re: LJ's wonderful new ideas which completely keep users' happiness in mind and definitely don't slap us all in the faces.

So, yeah. Am I taking part in the strike?* Yes. Yes, I am.

Because, oddly, I don't really like getting slapped in the face. Weird, innit?

Also, I'm probably going to become more active in my InsaneJournal. That is, I'm going to start moving my fics and icons over. And I'll be double posting. (If you're reading this in IJ, then I guess you don't really need to be told that. :-P)

My biggest issue with completely abandoning LJ right now is that I know that LJ is more active in the fandoms, and I don't want to miss anything. Until the tables have completely turned, you can find me at either site.

( Sour Revenge News )

BTW... I'm pretty psyched about getting 100 userpics at IJ. Now I get to show off the pretties I've been working on for the past few months. :-D :-D

*I know, I know. As if I'd have posted that day, anyway, right?

*peeks out* Does anybody remember me?

I hope you all had excellent holidays. My life since last posting has been full of various ups and downs. Cat died, had an experience almost close to romantic, had wonderful holidays, and, what you're all probably most interested in, wrote a new chapter of Sour Revenge. I experimented a little bit with this chapter, so I'm pretty nervous about it.

Some day, this series will be finished. Once that happens, I hope to write many stand-alones in loads of different fandoms. Also, I'm so going to create an icon journal. You have no idea how many icons I have waiting to be posted.

I predict three more chapters of this series, not including this. For a sane person, this might take about a week. But, since I'm me, who knows when I'll be done? Feedback will definitely encourage me to write faster, though. *g*



Title: Sour Revenge, Part 30
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Rating: Entire series is NC-17, though this chapter's PG-13.
Concrit: Very welcome in comments.
Disclaimer: The characters, story, and rating system are not mine and since I'm not making any money, nobody should care that I'm using them.

Summary: Whole series written for willowschild who asked for "A variant on what happened to Xander when he cast the love spell. Only instead of attracting all women it was all men and the only one who could break the spell was his true love."

Beta'd by the fantastic and brilliant kitty_poker1.

Previous parts here.

( Banner, by authoressnebula )

( A wee recap in case you forgot what was going on )



( And now for the story )

*achem*

A bit over 6 months ago, a certain lovely lady had a birthday. I promised her a Jeeves/Wooster fic, and now, finally, she can have it. Ignoring that it's now closer to an early birthday present than a late one:

Happy Birthday, skyblue_reverie! I hope you like it. :-D

Title: A Reflection
Author: flufshepherd
Fandom: Jeeves & Wooster
Pairing: Jeeves/Wooster
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 1,821
Warnings: See rating.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit.

Summary: Bertie reflects on how his relationship with Jeeves became the way it has.

A/N: A super-late birthday pressie for skyblue_reverie, beta'd by the marvelous, fantastic, marvelously fantastic kitty_poker1. Thank you, Kitty!



( A Reflection [Jeeves/Wooster] )

I think I mentioned this before. I don't think anyone on my f-list is into LoM, so this is probably of little interest to any of you. But, while I'm here, I do really recommend the show to all of you. It's only two series long, eight episodes per series, and it's pretty damn fantastic.

And it's slashy. That's why I'm here now. :-P

This fic isn't very good, and is probably (definitely) confusing if you've never seen the series. Hm... I think I'm just going to shut up and post it before I start saying not to read it.

Title: A Visit
Author: flufshepherd
Fandom: Life on Mars
Pairing: Gene/Sam, Sam/Maya
Rating: Green Cortina (PG)
Word Count: 2,239
Warnings: SPOILERS probably straight through to the end.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit.

Summary: DCI Sam Tyler receives a visit from some strange men.

A/N: This is my first fic in this fandom. I always thought my first LoM fic would be some type of PWP with loads of fighting, banter, and some good, old fashioned ignoring of emotions mixed in. Instead, I was bitten by this plot bunny. It seemed like an awesome idea at the time, and I hope it came out at least somewhere close to that. Anyway… fic:
ETA: I can't believe I forgot to put this in, but a huge THANK YOU to kitty_poker1 for the beta!


( A Visit )

It would appear that I'm posting a chapter of a fic that most of you have probably forgotten. For those who haven't, I bring to you: Sour Revenge, 29.

Title: Sour Revenge, Part 29
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Rating: Entire series is NC-17, though this chapter is PG.
Concrit: Very welcome in comments.
Disclaimer: The characters, story, and rating system are not mine and since I'm not making any money, nobody should care that I'm using them.

Summary: Whole series written for willowschild who asked for "A variant on what happened to Xander when he cast the love spell. Only instead of attracting all women it was all men and the only one who could break the spell was his true love."

Beta'd by kitty_poker1, who I can never thank enough.

Previous parts here.

( Banner, by authoressnebula )

( A wee recap in case you forgot what was going on )

( And now for the story )

First off, HUGE thank you to authoressnebula for the virtual roses on my user info. So pretty! Thank you, sweetie. *hugs*

Also, thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday. I had a very good day, so that was nice.

Now for a quick update on me, for those interested:

In the writing department, I've been a busy little bee, I'm happy to say. I have, as of right now, written the next chapter to Sour Revenge, written a little Jeeves/Wooster for skyblue_reverie's super-late birthday gift, and I surprised myself by writing a Life on Mars fic. It's Sam/Gene, but really pretty gen. All of these will be posted soon enough.

I've also been a pretty busy icon-making bee. Life on Mars, specifically. I've decided that when I finally get around to making that icon journal, I'm going to do single-fandom icon posts, and the first will be Life on Mars. After that? Well, I'll figure that out later.

I'm really glad that I'm almost finished with Sour Revenge. I went about that fic all wrong, and that definitely had its consequences. I've written myself into corners too often and had to keep putting off writing more due to my disappointment with myself and it. I've worked out most of the problems with it, but my love is no longer with this fic.

Like I said, though, I did write the next chapter, and I am going to finish it. I'm just also going to be very happy when it's done. No more WIPs for me.

I hope all of you are enjoying your summers and that you're not all dying from the incredible heat.

Hey everyone! I figured it was about time to do a post on the current state that is me.

A few people have been asking after Sour Revenge. I'm really flattered that people are into my story enough to make inquiries on their own and I feel more than guilty that I always take so long to get the latest installments out. I have the rest outlined and, if chapters stay basically the same length as they have been, the story is going to end in somewhere around six chapters. I have almost all of the next chapter written, so I can't imagine it taking much longer to get out. I am also working on skyblue_reverie's very, very late birthday pressie, though, which I'd love to get written for her before her next birthday rolls around.

Also, I'm thinking about creating an icon journal, which got me reconsidering my LJ priorities. Here's my plan for my LJ-life future:

The journal flufshepherd will be used for personal posts and for writing. I will not post any WIPs in the same way that I've done SR. From now on, anything I post will be 100% complete when I post it. That will hopefully ward off all frustration and guilty feelings. The free time I will then have once SR is all finished might go to icon making, which I find a very relaxing and productive way to spend time when I don't have any decent plot bunnies hopping around my brain.

Also, I hope to be able to start commenting more on my friends' posts. I know that I don't do it very often, but I do read all of your posts. I've never been the greatest at things of a social nature, so I never really know what to say and often feel like whatever I am saying is pretty stupid. It's a problem I've had for as long as I can remember.

I do read every single one of your posts, though, down to the last word. For those of you who have been going through a hard time right now, as I know a few of you are, I'm really, really sorry and I hope things start looking up for you. I'm here to talk to, if anyone wants.

And, lastly, Doctor Who? So intense. I am loving this show. I want it to be Saturday right now! Or, well, more accurately, Sunday, as that's when it's normally uploaded onto the 'net.

So, uh, does anyone have any suggestions for a name for my new icon journal?

Hokay, enough procrastination. It's icon time. Here's the line-up:

07 - Doctor Who (2005)
07 - Firefly
13 - A Bit of Fry and Laurie
13 - Angel
17 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
27 - House MD
27 - Jeeves and Wooster
2 - Animated Blackadder

Teasers:

39. 77. 103.


( Click here to see 113 icons )

PLEASE,
* Comment & CREDIT me
*DO NOT EDIT in any way
*DO NOT HOTLINK

Resource post.

And now, the next installment of the reason over half of you have me friended: Sour Revenge. I know, the wait has been long and I should be shot for promising this would come earlier and not having it for months. Hopefully, you'll all think that this was worth the wait and refrain from shooting me until some later date.

I've finally got the rest of this all outlined, so if things all follow plan (I've learned not to make promises any more), this series should be done in four or five chapters.

Also, there may be an icon post coming from me in the not-too-distant future, in which there shall be Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Doctor Who, ABOF&L, House, and Jeeves & Wooster icons.

Right, I'll shut up now and post the story.

Title: Sour Revenge, Part 28
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Rating: Entire series is NC-17, though this chapter's PG.
Concrit: Very welcome in comments.
Disclaimer: The characters, story, and rating system are not mine and since I'm not making any money, nobody should care that I'm using them.

Summary: Whole series written for willowschild who asked for "A variant on what happened to Xander when he cast the love spell. Only instead of attracting all women it was all men and the only one who could break the spell was his true love."

Beta'd by the fantastic and brilliant kitty_poker1.

Previous parts here.

( Banner, by authoressnebula )

( A wee recap in case you forgot what was going on )

( And now for the story )

You may or may not have noticed that I've been a bit quiet as of late. I'd put my money on 'not', because I'm usually pretty quiet, anyway. But, I have been more so lately. I owe e-mails and comments and I have no free time at all. In fact, I was going to make this post earlier this week but I didn't have the time to until now. I haven't even checked my friends' page in days. *weeps*

I did get a chance to watch House on Tuesday, though. I'd post my thoughts if I had the time. Maybe later. I am curious as to other people's opinions, though. So, please do pop by to discuss.

And, finally, some news on Sour Revenge for those interested. I know many of you have probably given up on me (I know I did, for a while there), but I may finally have a new chapter for you guys when I get back to my state of sanity. I also may have an icon post, but for that, I make no promises.

Now, before I go, I want to apologize if I've missed anything important by not checking my friends' page this week. For anyone having a bad time, I offer you *huge hugs*, but I do hope nobody needs them. Instead, I hope all of you are perfectly happy, healthy, and any other adjective that could describe the state of 'goodness' that I hope this post finds you in.

That's all for me. You may now return to your normal broadcasting and I'll return to my... very hectic life. *growls*

Firstly, I'd like everybody to notice the icon I'm using. It was made by authoressnebula as a Christmas pressie to me. She made me another sunglasses icon, a wonderful Sour Revenge header, and another icon to go with it! I can't wait to use them. *squeezes Neb to bits*

In other news, I'm really pleased with the response I got to the Jeeves/Wooster fic I posted. It did much better than I'd expected it to. All of these fics are getting such great responses and it's really fabulous. I'm extraordinarily pleased.

This is the last one of the batch. It's Spike/Xander, requested by lishel_fracrium who asked for, "season 4 or 5..but no anya..truth or dare with drunk scoobies..Xander's never kissed a guy. S/X." Hope this is what you had in mind, sweetie!

And, before I post the fic, I'd just like to make it known that I did not choose to post this today because of the neat pattern it'd make on my calendar. *whistles innocently*

*is a big loser*

Title: Truth or Dare
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 1499
Feedback/Concrit: Would be adored and cherished.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. This is not for profit. Consider all disclaimed.
Warnings: None.
Summary: What happens when you try to make Spike play 'moronic games'.

Beta'd by kitty_poker1, for whom I'd try to find the words to describe how magnificent she is, but, sadly, the thesaurus doesn't have enough synonyms for 'marvelous'.





( Spike! Truth or dare? )

Only one more to post after this!

This is my first ever attempt at writing anything in this fandom ever, so it's not all that great at all. Even still, I think this may be my favorite of the whole batch. Mostly because it was something very new and different and was great fun to write. This was written for skyblue_reverie who wanted Jeeves/Wooster with eye contact.

I'm really, really tired right now, so I'm going to go straight to bed after posting this. I'll post it to indeedsir tomorrow.

Title: My Valet's Eyes
Pairing: Jeeves/Wooster
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 2027
Feedback/Concrit: Makes me ever so happy.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. This is not for profit. Consider all disclaimed.
Warnings: None.
Summary: Jeeves really does have the most marvelous blue eyes...

Not only should I thank kitty_poker1 for beta'ing this, but you all should, too. Because, without her, everything you're about to read would be complete trash. Seriously. Complete trash. So, thank you, Kitty!



( My Valet's Eyes )

So, last time I posted the H/W for kitty_poker1's prompt: 'H/W or Spike/Wesley - a secret finally revealed.' Today I post the Spike/Wesley.

The House/Wilson one went over very well, and I'm pretty damn happy about that. So, here's the second part to that prompt:

Title: Beers and Bears
Pairing: Spike/Wesley
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1114
Feedback/Concrit: Brings about nothing but joy.
Disclaimer: Neither the characters nor the 'verse belong to me. And there's no profit. So, consider it disclaimed.
Warnings: None
Summary: Spike and Wes spend the night drinking and talking. Some secrets revealed.

Beta'd by the marvelous, fantastic, superior, and delightful kitty_poker1.



( It was raining out and they were both... )

Okie dokie! Time for ficlet #2! This one was requested by kitty_poker1, who asked for 'H/W or Spike/Wesley - a secret finally revealed.' Spike/Wesley is coming up next.

Title: A Secret Revealed
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1808
Feedback/Concrit: Please
Disclaimer: Neither the characters nor the 'verse belong to me. And there's no profit. So, consider it disclaimed.
Warnings: None
Summary: Wilson wonders why House is avoiding him.
Notes: This would probably be less OOC if you imagine the Tritter thing never happened. Remember the angst-free days? No? Well, try.

Beta'd by: kitty_poker1, who was able to find the story behind the millions of commas I hid it under.



( Now click to read )