Concessions to my need to keep things orderly.

From this point forward, new Piety content will be released as "updates" versus "chapters."

Today's economy: twice as much work for half as much money

My Ideal Schedule
The following is highly flexible.

11:00am-12:00pm: wake up at some point
12:00pm-02:00pm: love making, grooming, maybe some breakfast
02:00pm-04:00pm: exercise and yardwork
04:00pm-04:30pm: food prep for the evening feast
04:30pm-05:30pm: more love making
05:30pm-06:30pm: feast prepared, devoured, and cleaned up
06:30pm-08:00pm: game,conversation,dessert, movie, other activity with lover
08:00pm-11:00pm: writing
11:00pm-12:00am: reading & snack
12:00am-01:30am: writing
01:30am-03:00am: love making
03:00am-11:00am: sleep

My Actual Schedule
The following leaves very little wiggle room, but is modified on days with client meetings

08:00am-08:15am: get up. no, really. get your lazy ass out of bed.
08:15am-08:45am: breakfast & grooming
08:45am-09:15am: yardwork
09:15am-10:15am: exercise
10:15am-01:00pm: work
01:00pm-01:15pm: lunch
01:15pm-01:30pm: exercise
01:30pm-05:30pm: work
05:30pm-06:30pm: food prep & consumption
06:30pm-07:30pm: clean or die
07:30pm-07:45pm: shower again
07:45pm-08:30pm: more work
08:30pm-10:00pm: sit around in a catatonic haze, work on remodel, write, read
10:00pm-08:00am: sleep


I need to inherit a wealthy benefactor. Ha. "Dear Marcus- I will pay you a sum of $200,000.00 a year to write me smut. Sincerely, Mister/Missus Deeppockets" Might as well dream big, yah? xD

sabo

As those of you who follow my twitter likely already know, I recently suffered the loss of the novel I was working on. Three spiral-bound notebooks of notes and writing have disappeared into the world. Despite having put my name and number into the front of each & begging return should they be found, I've received no calls (nor do I expect to). Most likely they've been sent off to the dump, along with my ancient Jansport covered in faded patches and rusting pins.

I've let this keep me from writing, which is really just shameful. I should be rewriting like mad while it's still somewhat fresh. At the very least I should draft up some new notes. Instead I just stare sorrowfully at my screen and stuff my nose into books I've already read. It's not that I don't know what to write, it's just that I'm not doing it. Such is the difference between the weekend warrior & the professional.

At the recommendation of MacAllister Stone, I did read one new book. Grammar should be fun, and this book makes it just that: It was the Best of Sentences, It was the Worst of Sentences. It may not be very interesting to those of you who do not have any interest in writing mechanics (and reading mechanics, for that matter), but I found it to be an absolute joy.

And now I'm off to pen a short for you lovely folks. Tomorrow is a full day of work, followed by an evening of rewriting. No more of this mopey nonsense.

onoes a rant

I started writing something. It was going to be a short something. It has turned into.. well, a beast. One thing led to another, and I was knee deep in reference books and notes. I possibly have more pages of notes than I do of actual writing. Historical fiction is no light undertaking for someone who skipped all but the required history classes in favor of the sciences for credits in school. It is unhelpful that I continue to become distracted and am simply reading these text books instead of digging out the significant information that I require. Even as I undertake this, I wonder just how much I actually need for the purposes of my story. I suspect very little.

On another note, I read Black Wade at the recommendation of this blog. The art is positively gorgeous. The writing leaves much to be desired. The dialogue is stiff and the script hackneyed. To say nothing (except that I am saying something) of the fact that it contained a few of my pet peeves in commercially available erotica. For example, why would the brawny pirate with thick body hair and scraggly jaw take the time to give his junk an immaculate shave? Did he do this while they were sailing in open water? At high seas? Imagine if they'd hit a swell. Oops, there goes a testicle! Guess it's Eunuch Wade we're reading from now on.

Then there's the issue of rape. This story isn't the only one guilty of it. It's an all too common theme. The author feels the need to incorporate forced sex in order to win over the 'curious' protagonist. However, at some point during this rough fucking, the victim (yes, dammit, victim) comes to enjoy the act. Now, I can understand the point that publishing houses don't want to publish actual rape. That a hint of resistance in the beginning and utter yielding and enjoyment are required for the sake of actually having your story hit press. However, if it's not rape, why not just skip it entirely? Use some other device. It's insulting.

Rape is not sex. Rape is not something that the victim enjoys. Sure, some people enjoy rape fantasies, but these are two very different beasts. In the realm of the fantasy scenario, I am the very willing partner playing out the role of the straight-laced archetype fighting and resisting my also very willing partner who is playing out the role of the big-bad pirate. Presumably we even know just how far the other person is willing to take said role. In the case of an actual pirate having kidnapped an actual naval officer (who has supposedly never dabbled and only has eyes for his well-bosomed fiance) and opted to give him what-for with ye old immaculately shaven endowment, the rape victim is not going to continue to cry 'stop' while visibly enjoying himself. And no, I don't just mean involuntary erection with possible ejactulation. I mean swooning expressions and lust-driven moans. I see it all the time in m/m fiction.

"Sure I fucked him. Yeah, he said no, but he didn't mean it."
"How could you tell?"
"The look on his face, your honor! The sounds he was making. He wanted it. Hell, he started begging me for it!"

In what universe does that not make the rapist sound like an ego-driven fuckwad? Oh yeah, the universe of m/m erotica. You know, the one in which the antagonist and protagonist shack up afterward and live happily ever after somewhere under the cumbow.

Dear writers, give us a little credit. Oh, and you know what else? Rape is not okay. Read about it, write about it, what have you. Just stop equating it to love-making. Your magical fuckstick is not going to turn that straight guy queer no matter how much you force him to take it up the ass.

At what point?

At what point does one cross the line from erotica to pornography?
At what point does one cross the line from romance to erotica?

I tend to be of the opinion that erotica is pornography, just the less harshly-phrased spectrum thereof. I think that anything more than implied sex pushes one into an erotic scene, though the journey from that point to "main-stream pornography" is a long one.

Is erotica simply the realm in which one is nibbling at tiny morsels of story between sexual encounters, and romance the realm in which one is nibbling at tiny morsels of sexual encounters scattered through long stretches of story? Is it possible to maintain a balance of both and appeal to both readerships?

Food for my thought, in any case.

On a related note, Marie doodled me this:



I was too charmed not to share.

Writing. Confusion, conundrums, and things to do in between.

Romance! It's what everyone wants to read when they're not skipping between the smutty bits with a more tangential goal. I've been taking a break from Piety in order to try my hand at it. The results have been laughable.

Browsing about on various writing forums, I have found that most writers seem to have difficulty with writing sex scenes, and the rest just flows. I seem to be afflicted with the opposite problem. What's more, I do not feel as many of them seem to, that writing smut is a more personal/revealing thing than writing any other genre.

So. Where's the love story? Where's the shmoo? The fluff? How to make it not be overwrought cliche tripe? How to do anything at all interesting with fawn-eyes and staring contests?

It's not to say that I haven't seen it done, but when I have the romance has been some side-matter in a novel dealing with so much more. Erotica seems to have romance as the main focus of the plot. I know; I've been researching. Quandry, quandry.

In other news, my rosebush became so top heavy that it fell right over. It's amazing what you can find to distract you when working on something challenging.