I'm Writing Another Book

I was considering writing a sequel to Blowing It! after letting that first novel find its audience, perhaps in a year or two, because although I have made less money per hour as a balloon-fetish novelists than at any other pursuit aside from, perhaps, taking online surveys, the fact is that I have come to love my characters enough to think that they deserve to live on beyond the one book.

What I absolutely did not intend to do was write a factual book about balloon fetishes. I am no expert, beyond having a balloon fetish myself and the reading I've done, not so much of academic studies and papers, but of correspondence and online postings from the balloon community at large. And that does not give me any deep understanding of the causes of, or the details about, the wide variety of balloon fetishes in the world.

But then along comes Taboo from National Geographic. And Strange Sex on Netflix. And then thinking back to the few times others outside actual participants in balloon fetishism have tried to portray us as if they had a firm grasp of the facts and feelings of our fetish—and failing utterly. Branding us with cute names like "looners," and dividing us into neat categories like "poppers," "non-poppers," and "semi-poppers," as if we are so easily defined.

And worse yet, using the most far-fetched psychological (psycho-illogical?) theories to explain why we feel what we feel, and what balloons represent to us, and passing themselves off as experts. Do you realize the "expert" that Taboo featured is a journalism student?

And so, to combat this nonsense, I am writing a factual book, Not a comprehensive look at balloon fetishism, not an attempt to explain, but an attempt to show the human side of our special fetish, to show some of the great variety of both people and balloon interests. And to dispel some of what has been said about us in other media.

Will I succeed? The only way for me to find out is to write, publish, and wait. You, on the other hand, can help. If you have a balloon fetish, and would like to give me some of the information I need to achieve a realistic and sympathetic (and non-sensational) portrayal of people who love balloons, then drop me a line at balloonfetishauthor@gmail.com and let's start a dialogue.

Don't look for this book in a month. Maybe a year if I'm lucky. But I feel strongly enough that I really don't care how long it takes. At this point it's a book that's begging me to write it.