Tilly At Last

I thought that as soon as the kids went back to school, I would have some alone time to play with at least one of my new Tilly 76 spiral balloons. I should have known better. My wife had time off, and though she would have been fine with me spending a little time with a new balloon when she was home, we never managed to have any time alone. Too many kids' activities and house work and, well, life going on.

So it took more than two weeks before I had some time all alone in the house to blow one up. They had been beckoning to me from my bedside drawer forever!

Now, I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm scared of long balloons because of the way the inflate all at once instead of little-by-little (in any one particular spot). So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I began blowing up this 5-footer.

First let me mention (in case I didn't before) that these balloons are pre-inflated at the factory to make them easier to inflate by mouth. On that score, I give Tilly a perfect 10; the balloons are very easy to blow up. And I kept reminding myself that, since these have been inflated before, the chances are good that any imperfections were already visited upon the workers at the factory and the bad spots have been weeded out.

It was still scary as hell. But, I'm happy to report, the balloon inflated tip to neck without popping, and I survived.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a "high-performance polymer." I though the balloon might not feel as nice as my lovely Qualatex favorites. I was pleasantly surprised. It had a nice soft feel to it, not plastic-like at all. And, being a long balloon (and not too tightly inflated because, you know, that's not how I am), it had a lot of give to it.

I played with it for awhile—very stimulating—but had to pop it because I have no place to keep it. But later in the month I get more time with these balloons, and I'm really looking forward to it. It will probably be a very long time before I use up the entire pack of 18, but I'll enjoy every minute of it.

Thanks, Tilly!

Consolidating

Electronic publishing is definitely overtaking publishing on paper, at least according to my sales figures, and so I will soon be retiring the paperback versions of my short stories. Blowing It! will still be available in print, but nothing shorter than around 20,000 words will be published in any format but Kindle.

That said, I am going to offer a "box set" collection of my three short stories, which will include at least two new stories, sometime in the month of September. One of the new stories will also be available separately on Kindle, but there will be at least one flash fiction story, and maybe one or two others, exclusive to the collection.

And for those few of you who prefer something you can hold in your hand, annotate, dog-ear, and easily lend, the collection will also be available in paperback.

As an aside, I have not forgotten about the Tilly balloons, which are coaxing me from my bedside drawer; I just have had zero time alone all summer, and I'm just waiting for the chance to give one a try.

Tilly!

My Tilly balloons came a few days ago, a couple of days ahead of schedule. They look amazing, and I can hardly wait to open them up and try them out. But, of course, I have to wait, because I'll have no privacy until school is back in session.

My wife and I are going to try to arrange some alone time in September, which seems like years away, and balloons are definitely on the menu. I won't report in detail on the alone time (don't think my wife would care for that), but I will report on the balloons.

A reminder, if you're reading this on the day of publication, Popping Out will be available for free on Kindle from tomorrow through Wednesday. Good time to get in on some very stimulating reading.

Gone and Done It

I said I would. Well, at least I said I might. And today I finally did. I ordered a package of Tilly 60-inch long spiral balloons. I've never had any of these before, and I've been fascinated by them for a long time, and, well, I like the company.

I bought them on eBay, from Tilly's own account, and it shouldn't take them long to get here, because they aren't far away. I'm brimming over with anticipation, which is kind of a shame, because even after they arrive I probably won't get a chance to do anything with them until next month, after the kids are in school.

So, that will be torture. And then, when it actually comes time to use them, well, the truth is that I've always been fairly afraid of long balloons. If you've been reading this blog for any time, you know that, while popping balloons turns me on, and watching a pretty lady pop balloons turns me on more, it also scares me.

Round balloons blow up evenly all around, giving me a chance to inspect for imperfections before they get taut enough to pop (in most cases, anyway; accidents happen). But long balloons blow up along their length, and each portion gets fairly tight in very short order.

So buying these balloons that I've never had before, that kind of scare me, might seem an act of foolishness, or an act of bravery. Well, foolish it might be, but as far as bravery is concerned, we'll see when it actually comes time to blow them up.

Just a reminder, if you're reading this on the day it was published, Eric's Secret, my only story so far with a non-popping main character, is free today and tomorrow for Kindle.

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.

Pulling Back

As I mentioned in an earlier post, writing balloon fetish stories is not what I do for a living. And what I do to put food on the table is now taking much more of my time. And so compromises are in order.

I will still be writing balloon stories; I love them too much to let that go. But my social media presence is about to get much smaller.

Before the month of July is out, I will have deleted my Facebook account, and with it the mostly-inactive page for Blowing It!

I am not leaving Facebook because of any mistreatment; it's just taking too much time and attention. I will also be bowing out of Pinterest and my practically non-existent presence on Goodreads and Library Thing.

So, where can you continue to find out about my new stories as they appear? Twitter is still a good bet, and this blog will still be around. You can also check my Amazon author page from time to time. And I check my email every day.

I want to thank everyone who's friended and followed me over the last few years since the publication of Blowing It! And I hope that you'll keep up with me.

And, of course, I wish you many lovely balloons in the years to come, in whatever ways you most enjoy them.

May Have To Give In

I've been successfully resisting my strong urge to buy some Tilly Slim Jims for several months now, since I discovered them on eBay. It's not that they don't look like fun, it's mostly that I don't know that I've have any opportunities to put them to good use anytime in the next, well, five years or so until my kids leave home.

But now I have yet another reason to patronize the Tillotson family. If Neil Tillotson had done nothing more in his life than give us the latex balloon, people like me would still be forever in his debt. But he also created the Tillotson Foundation.

Recently, the Tollotson foundation, which supports charity in and around Coos County, donated $300,000 to various projects. This was a man who cared about the people in his community.

Neil might not have been one of us, but he gave us something special that changed our lives, I think for the better. I don't know if I would be the person that my wife fell in love with without my balloon fetish. Not that she loves my fetish so much, but I think I would be a different person without it.

When the Tillotson family decided to start making balloons again, they didn't start back up in Dixville Notch, but they didn't go far; just a little north to Colebrook, on the Canadian border.

I think this kind of dedication to both quality balloons and the local community deserve my support. I don't know when I'm going to get to try out my Tilly balloons, but I think I'll be buying some very soon.