I'm baaaaaaack! 👋 Did you miss me? I sure did miss writing, but reading is nice as well. 😉

Anyway, I'm feeling all nostalgic of late and have started re-reading City Hunter mangas, because I sure miss those two huge, lovable idiots (Ryo and Kaori, that is). I even started writing Homecoming as well...Only to end up blocked once more because I made such a mess of things. I like the next couple of chapters, though, so I'm not changing a word, I just have to wiggle myself out of the problem I created. Give me time.

And then, because I'm a nostalgic sap, I went and started reading everything I've ever written on the subject of City Hunter. Some of the earlier works sure made me cringe (my writing style was appalling back then), but the stories made me laugh and cry and sigh...I felt everything I felt as I wrote them and everything I wanted the reader to feel.

I also cringed at the fact I left one of my longer fic unfinished for more than a decade. Why did I leave it like that when the ending was so nigh. All those years obviously offered a much needed perspective and the story and plot are so clear in my head right now, I cannot believe I left it stagnate so long.
I guess I just needed the right moment, the right push...Or the right amount of nostalgia.

The fanfic I'm talking about is What Men Want the last chapter of which was posted (on my now defunct website) on April 7, 2007.
The blurb went like this: During a mission, Kaori falls and hits her head, scaring the bejesus out of her partner...Luckily, she wakes pretty soon and appears not to have suffered greatly from the injury—if it were not for a tiny little complication...She can hear the thoughts of all the men around her. Ryo will not be able to hide his feelings from her any longer...Or will he manage to weasel out of this one, too?

The story was based on a challenge, and I had all intentions of writing a funny, oddball story only a few chapters long. As always, it didn't go as predicted and I kept adding drama and angst (because it's Ryo and Kaori, people!) and a darker, suspenseful sub-plot I haven't even touched yet.

In my note to readers, as I put the story on hiatus, I wrote about having more chapters written without having yet reached the middle of the story. Having read those additional chapters, I don't think I'll use them, I simply kept on piling problem after problem, twisting and turning the story into something even I cannot recognize today.
So I decided to write a whole new "second part" (and yes, it will take me a few chapters more, but won't be as long as predicted 10 years ago). Even the suspense element doesn't look as daunting now as it did back then.

And I also promised my readers no more steamy scenes. To which I now reply: Are you crazy? We're talking about Ryo and Kaori, here. About Kaori being able to tap into Ryo's dreams and fantasies. Do you really expect me to keep everything vanilla from chapter 25 onward? If you do, you don't know me very well. 😉

Anyway, since Homecoming is acting up, I decided to post What Men Want instead. Of course, not immediately, I need to edit the whole thing, tweak the voice a bit, get rid of the cringe-worthy-written parts...And of course, I have to still write the second part. That crystallized in my mind this morning as I was mentally preparing to get up (I do my best thinking in the morning, go figure), and the "proposal" is already written, waiting to be expanded. Now, I just need to find the right soundtrack and get down to work.

As for the posting, I'm shooting for a chapter a week (patience, people) starting sometime in late August. Stay tuned.