A Little Comeback?

I haven't posted in a long time. I haven't written in a long time. And I haven't published anything in nearly two years. I'm not that far away from being able to publish, but the creative juices for balloon-fetish fiction have been running a little dry lately.

Part of this is, no doubt, due to the lack of actual balloon activity in my life recently, just because of circumstances and life getting in the way, and not for any sinister reasons.

But another part is that I'm running low on ideas. I know that there are lots of permutations on this fetish of ours, but the problem is that only a limited number of them turn me on. And while I supposed it shouldn't be too hard to write on a subject that isn't in my sexual comfort zone, I'm not sure if the end product will be of interest to anyone who doesn't share my narrow interests.

That said, I'm giving it a go anyway. I'm writing some stories involving popping methods that are actually a turn-off for me, while trying to imagine how they might be a turn-on for someone else. Not that I'm really trying to get in the head of the character in this case (these are quick fantasies, not full-blown—sorry—short stories); but I'm hoping that I've framed the events so that they are a turn-on for a reader so inclined.

So I'm taking a risk, just to get past the writer's block, and maybe it will stimulate some ideas for the other book, the one that will actually contain short stories, with richer characters and, yes, some non-popping stories.

It will still take awhile, and I'm grateful to those of you who have stuck with me this long.

It's Here

My new story, Popping In, a New Year's Eve popping fantasy, is now available in the Kindle store. As I said in my last post, if you haven't read all of my stories, you might want to wait a few days and buy my entire collection instead of buying this individual story.

You also might want to hold off if you, like me, like holding a physical book in your hot little hands, to bookmark, highlight, dog-ear, and lend to a friend, because the collection is the only way to get these stories in print format.

And, the collection has two bonus works of flash fiction that I think you'll enjoy that are not available separately.

Whatever works for you, I hope you enjoy the stories, and I promise more in the months and years to come.

Coming Soon, But You Might Want To Wait

I'm publishing a new short story for Kindle in the next couple of days, a New Year's Eve popping fantasy called Popping In. But (and I don't think you expect an author to say this), you might not want to buy it right away.

That's because, within the next week, I will be releasing a collection of balloon stories that includes this new one, my three previously-published stories, and a couple of flash-fiction efforts that will only be available in the collection.

And the collection will be a bargain. Even in printed form, it will cost less than the combined price of the short stories on Kindle.

Of course, if you've read all my previous stories, you should probably get this one separately. But if you haven't, just be patient for a little bit longer and then you can pig out on 40,000 words of balloon-fetish erotica.

I'm getting exciting just thinking about it.

Free Stuff and Upcoming Stuff

Well, I did it. Withdrew from all my social media outlets except Twitter and this blog. It's been a little painful, but it has saved me much-needed time and attention for my real job.

Not to say I'm ignoring balloon fetish fiction entirely (and I'm certainly not ignoring my own balloon fetish, just so you know). I'm slowly writing a collection of short stories. I've complete one fairly substantial one, about a New Year's Eve party, and one very short one (short enough to be considered "flash fiction") about the angst before telling someone you love about your fetish.

Probably not writing this month, but when summer's over I will get back to it, aiming to have enough to publish by year's end or soon after.

Meanwhile, as sort of an apology for fading into the background, I'm offering my three short stories for free, starting today with Friends With Fetishes. Eric's Secret gets three free days starting next Monday, and Popping In a week after that.

Remember, you don't have to own a Kindle to read Kindle books; there are apps for pretty much everything, and even an online reader for those of you using devices and operating systems outside the mainstream.

I'll hope you'll enjoy them, let friends know about them, and, if you would be so kind, give each an honest review.

And follow me on Twitter, stop back by the blog every once in awhile, and even drop me a line from time to time.

I'm still here. I'm just being a little quiet.

A Question For My Readers

As I mentioned in my last post, I am planning a book this coming year which will have a collection of shorter stories. I have developed a list of ideas, already about 13 story ideas. I am sure I will come up with more, and I’m just as sure that some of them will lead nowhere and have to be abandoned, but I expect when I am done I will have something on the order of a dozen stories in the book.

Now, here is my question: some of the stories will be about poppers, and some will be about non-poppers. Some of the non-popper’s stories will have depictions of accidental or unwanted popping. And there may be a couple of stories that involve both popping and not popping (for example, a non-popper who becomes a popper, or has to deal with a popper, or something like that). Should I put some kind of—I can’t think of a better way to put this—warning for each story? At the head of the story or in the table of contents, something that says if there’s popping, and in what context?

This isn’t something I’d normally do in a short story collection, but balloon fetish stories, I think, are taken more personally because of the subject matter. Do you want to know ahead of time what you’ll be running into? Or are you okay just diving in with the knowledge that you may find something that makes you feel uncomfortable?

Of course, it isn’t only the matter of popping or not popping that might make you feel uncomfortable with some of these stories. In short-short form, I feel less constrained, with less of a need to insure a happy ending for every single story, or to depict every balloon fetishist in the most positive light. It’s liberating, and it lets me explore more of the various aspects of this unusual sexual (and emotional) interest.

But you probably won’t like every story in the book, no matter what your preferences. And on that, you have already been forewarned.

A New Story

I know it's been a long time in coming, but I've been busy with other writing projects with, shall we say, a larger potential audience.

But, just in time for a nice Christmas download, I've finally come out with a new erotic short story, Friends With Fetishes. I won't bother to describe it here—it has its own landing page in the tabs above, and there's a link to the right. I hope you'll check it out.

This coming year, I'm going to try something different. No, not another novel. At least I don't think so. No, I'm going to try to write a larger number of short-short stories and publish them as a collection. We'll see how that goes, but I have a lot of interesting ideas that just aren't involved enough to make for five or ten thousand words.

And I just might do what I've threatened for awhile and write a non-fiction book about my balloon fetish. Maybe. I'm not making any promises on that one; we'll see what flows out of my keyboard in the next year or so.

And, in case I don't get a chance to post before then, I hope you all have a Happy New Year filled with whatever kind of kinky balloon fun you most enjoy.

Surprise

There is a story that I have been struggling with. I think I know where it is going, but I don't have any idea how it gets there. I probably will have to abandon it altogether or start it over with a different situation or a different character to support the same theme. I don't know.

What I do know is that, out of the blue, another story idea came to me, and to find out whether it seems to be going anywhere, I decided to just sit down and write for about 30 minutes.

And I pumped out about 700 words! They just flowed out, as if I had been preparing to write the story for months. I don't know if I'll run into any roadblocks or not—that sort of thing does happen—but from the first scene, knowing who these characters are and what their relationship is (although I haven't actually revealed that in those first 700 words), I find myself liking them already and seeing ahead to what's in store for them, and being very excited about getting them there.

With luck, you'll be able to see the results of this burst of creativity soon. No pun intended. Well, maybe a little.

Update on Writings

I'm still not sure how the character in my new story, a phobic female non-popper who never throws away her balloons, makes the transition to being a popper. Usually this is the kind of thing I like to know before I start writing an actual manuscript. But somehow I just decided that I needed to write, to get to know the young lady before I put her through, well, whatever is going to change her mind and turn her life in a different direction.

So far, about a thousand words in, I still have no idea. But I think I know the character pretty well, so once I've reviewed a few ideas about how such a conversion might take place, I'll know which ones are not credible for her, and which are. With luck, one will stand out as being just right for her. I welcome any suggestions from those who have made the transition.

On the non-fiction front, I haven't gotten as many responses to my requests for research material as I had hoped, and I think I'm going to have to be a little more aggressive in going after information. Don't worry, I won't bite. But I will be asking people I know online (and find online) in a more direct manner as time goes on.

Meanwhile, I've decided that I am going to turn the one book into two books. The first will be a personal perspective on balloon fetishism, out of my own experiences and what I have observed over the past five decades that I have had these strong feelings for balloons. Why? Because I feel the need to get something out soon, to counter some misinformation that's already out there, and more that I expect in the near future (I won't go into detail about that—I just want some facts on our side).

And I don't want to give the second book, with real stories from real fetishists to show the depth and breadth of these feeling, short-shrift. I don't want to feel rushed to get something to press and find that I have left important aspects out, or misinterpreted what I've read online without getting the whole story.

So that's where I am now. I'll keep everyone up to date.

Thinking About My Next Story

I'm starting a new short story, and I think this one is going to be about a non-popper who becomes a popper. Not venturing too far out of my own experience yet, but give me time!

My conversion experiences happened in my late teens, only about five years after my first sexual experience with balloons. It kind of started with the TV show Wonderama (if you're too young to remember Wonderama, try to find reference to the "Balloon Bottom Relay" on the Internet; you will not find any footage, which is just as well because all the participants were underage. But then, at the time, so was I).

Then a girl that I lusted over told me that she like to pop balloons by sitting on them. At first I was repelled by the thought, but since I wasn't repelled by the girl I started to have fantasies about her butt in such hard contact with a balloon, and my fetish took a very different direction after that.

But I think I'm leaning toward an adult conversion in this next story. I want to make sure I set up the character's fetish in such a way that the conversion is believable even after all his or her time being a non-popper (haven't decided if the main character is male or female yet).

That will probably involve a lot of time trying to recapture the way I felt before I was excited by balloons popping. I don't think that will be too hard; I still enjoy non-popping play, and I like to keep balloons around for a long time, as I've mentioned here before.

As to the actual conversion event, that will probably involve a lot of fantasizing. It's a tough job, but it's got to be done.

New Story, Available on Kindle

My new short story has just been published. It's called Eric's Secret.

Eric Walker is turned on by toy balloons. But he has kept that secret from his wife Gina during almost five years of marriage. Will a dream of his past force his hand? Does Gina have a secret of her own?

This time, the main character is a non-popper. I hope you enjoy this new story. I'm already cooking up an idea for the next one.

Writing While Researching

The research on the new book is proceeding very slowly. I was hoping to be further along, but this annoying need to make a living keeps interfering in one way or another (just as life takes time away from balloon play).

Meanwhile, I am composing a short story, not related to Blowing It! in any way (don't want to get anyone prematurely excited about a sequel), but just something I thought of one morning and decided I wanted to write. I expect that it will only take a few weeks to whip it into shape and get it published on Kindle.

I asked my Facebook followers if I should make the character a popper, a non-popper, or some kind of combination between the two. I got lots of opinions, and you'll have to read the story to find out what I decided, but some of their other suggestions sparked some other plot ideas.

So, rather than having to wait until I can do a whole novel, or get the research done for an entire non-fiction book, I just might have some stories for you to read this year.

It should be fun; I hope you'll enjoy them.