Maybe it was a form of unintentional foreshadowing when, in the later chapters of Lightning in a Bottle, Lisette was declared the runner-up in the Miss New Jersey pageant. I had no way of knowing that the story itself would finish in second place in three Clitorides Awards categories - Best Erotic Story by a New Author, Best Do-over Sex Story, and Best New Author 2014.
All kidding aside ... that's far better than I had a right to expect. Lightning in a Bottle was, more than anything else, an attempt to try my hand at constructing a tale in a genre that has given me so much reading pleasure over the years. I got over half a million words out of that attempt, and no matter what I come up with from here on in, LiaB will always hold a special place in my heart.
I'd like to offer sincere thanks to those who voted for LiaB, and give another shout-out to those who provided editing and content assistance - Seattle22, LastCallAgain, mcguy101, Tendertouch and Bandit IRA. Congrats to all the other winners, most especially rlfj for "A Fresh Start" and G Younger for "Stupid Boy." There's certainly no shame in finishing second to either of those outstanding stories.