Blogging (Page 14)

As a blogger, I generally confine my writing to discussion of our interests and feelings. I figure that once in almost 2,500 posts I can talk about the blog itself and about how it affects me. Both of us like writing. I guess that much is obvious. We like reading what each other writes. Every day we exchange quite a few emails. Most of them are short; all express our love for one another. Sometimes, Mrs. Lion sends me previews via the blog of what we will be doing that evening. Other times, she surprises me and then tells you about it the next day.

You have an effect on me. Even though we have a lot of readers, I react to the comments and contacts you make. This blog is a form of social media. Unlike a newspaper or magazine, a blog is often a conversation between the blogger and readers. I’ve learned a lot from readers who have taken the time to comment on what we write. Sometimes we also feel pride that we have helped someone. That feels amazing. Thank you if you’ve let us know we’ve been useful. It makes my day.

We don’t “print” every comment we get. From the first, I decided we wouldn’t be a forum for narratives for chastity experiences if their only point is to provide an outlet about those experiences. On the other hand, if a comment has a point and is illustrated by the writer’s experiences, then those descriptions are very welcome. I realize that other bloggers welcome narratives written without relevance to the post they follow. That’s fine. I want the discussion here to expand on the conversation.

As a rule, very few comments need to be deleted. Generally, one person will write a series of long descriptions of enforced chastity, domestic discipline, etc. The most recent case was a series of seventeen comments about a whole two months of chastity experience. I indulged it for a while, but finally just deleted the lot. On the other end of the scale is a small group of people whose comments always add to the dialogue. Often, we learn from these people.

That doesn’t mean you have to be an expert to join in. You don’t. All you need is an interest in what we are discussing. Ask questions. Tell a joke. Offer your viewpoint. All that is very welcome. I love it when we get a discussion going. It’s rare around here, but when it happens I love it.

Wanna make me happy? Add a comment. Thanks.

I suppose it’s natural to be self critical. Mrs. Lion and I write every day. I am also a regular reader of other related blogs. I compare what I write with what other bloggers produce. Each blogger has an individual style. I truly enjoy the diversity. Then I start thinking about what I write.

There are choices on how to approach writing. Some of them are what I call journalistic. Mrs. Lion and I fall into that genre. Others are story form. Of course, you can slice and dice writing styles a million ways. But for now, lets just look at these two, very-different approaches.

Story style writing tends to be slice-of-life narratives. They feature highly descriptive language and generally include dialog. Here’s an example I created to describe my recent inability to get aroused:

It was time for her to have some fun. She told me it was time for her to take an orgasm from me. She didn’t wait for me to react. She pulled the blanket off me and began caressing my cock and balls. I stayed soft.

“Come on, up boy,” she ordered.

“I’m trying Ma’am”

“Can’t you see I am playing with you?”

“Yes, but I just can’t get hard.”

She shook her head and moved away. “This isn’t what I expect from you,” she said.

“I’m sorry.”

“Let’s wait a couple of weeks and see if you haven’t learned to behave properly.” …

Depending on the writer, the dialogue could be more elaborate and go into lengthy descriptions of how she moved her hand, my struggle to get aroused, etc. The story paints a picture you can see in your imagination.

I like that sort of writing. I like it a lot. But over time it becomes less a playback of reality and more an impressionistic painting of a power exchange. At best it is an accurate picture of an interesting piece of time. This style is frequently used in books on sexual subjects. A picture, even a mental one, is much more vivid than exposition.

But then, why do Mrs. Lion and I choose to write in a narrative style?  My reason is that I want to share more than my experience. Creating a dialogue, even an inner one, makes it more difficult for the reader to see changes over time. Also, the story format doesn’t lend itself to exposition; explanation of reasons things do or don’t happen.

Both Mrs. Lion and I reported on my erectile problems. You read her account of what happened and how she decided to handle the issue. I wrote about how I felt and how I worried the change might be long term or permanent.

The difference in the two styles is that the story style created a movie of events. You, the reader, can put yourself into role of one of the people in the scene. It’s a visceral experience. It can arouse, frighten, or perhaps amuse you. My account provided very little imagination fodder. But it gave a view of what happened, like you were reading a newspaper.

Neither approach is better than the other. It’s the writer’s choice. More importantly, it’s your choice. You decide what you want to read. If you’re like me, you like both styles. Each affects you differently. It doesn’t matter. If you come back to see what’s happening in our lives, then our approach appeals to you. If you also want a more experiential read, you know where you can find that too.

I admire good descriptive language. Some of the blogs in our list of blogs we read are incredible examples of storytelling. Others are like ours and provide a more “newsy’ approach. Isn’t it nice we can enjoy both?

Our preparations for my surgery continue. I ordered Dragon voice recognition software that will allow me to handle email as well as continue to write my posts. Of course, those post-surgical posts may be less than coherent and contain voice-recognition contextual errors. If it works, you will hear from me fairly soon after the operation.

I have no illusions that the world will stop spinning on its axis if I don’t post. I’m not even sure that anyone will care. I like putting my little message in a bottle and throwing it into the Internet ocean. I imagine that some people read our posts the way they used to read columns in the newspapers. My post goes in the morning paper for the commute to work and Mrs. Lion’s is for reading on the way home.

I am a native New Yorker, so I see daily commutes as reading times. I used to take Metro North railroad to and from the office each day. The trip was about an hour. It was just enough time to read the paper. I’m an Internet columnist who writes daily. Even if no one else cares, I would feel badly if I missed a day or more.

Mrs. Fever writes a blog about a variety of sexual topics. Recently, she wrote about being a sex blogger. Her post, “So You Want To Be A Sex Blogger” was a tongue-in-cheek look at some reasons people would want to write a sex blog. It got me thinking about what I think I’m doing.

Blogging has always struck me as a masturbatory exercise. After all, a blog is self publishing with no filter for quality, facts, even grammar and spelling. It’s a free-for-all that permits anyone to put their thoughts out for the world to read; maybe, more correctly, ignore. Blogging birthed “fake news”.

I’m swimming in this filter-free ocean. Almost all blogs on topics similar to ours are embarrassingly bad expressions of misinformation. I lament the state of our education system when I read the way English is abused in the blogosphere. More often than not, bloggers don’t understand that “to” and “too” are used differently. How many times have you seen, “I did this to (meaning also),” when the word “too” is required.

It isn’t that I’m a grammatical nitpicker. Maybe I am. But when you write for public consumption, it’s the same as dressing to go to a nice restaurant. It’s rude to show up in cutoffs and flip-flops. They may let you in, but you are still being disrespectful and inappropriate.

It seems to me that there are two important criteria to meet before writing for the public: First, be sure that what you represent as fact is correct. Thanks to the US President there is enough fake news in the world. Second, take care with your writing. You don’t have to create immortal prose, but at least use your spell checker and understand basic grammar.

My point is that while anyone can write a blog, it doesn’t mean everyone should. I think that if you like to write and for whatever reason want others to read what you say, then take the time to craft your words and use the language correctly. Or don’t. Your words will last forever. Wow, immortality is a few mouse clicks away.