A Reader's Contribution and a Note for Judith's Aunt

I am now back from my short Sojourn to Clacton and the surrounding areas of Essex - of which more another time. For now though: Hands up all those that remember the correspondence that started with the publication of the reader's contribution entitled; A well Deserved Regime (just click to view) way back in January of this year. Although not directly related to my writing it nevertheless made for some interesting reading and led to several other contributions / comments. Well another anonymous comment has now been posted up attached to "Another Note from Judith's Aunt and a Comment from yours truly" (click to read) and as is my habit I reproduce it here - those of a sensitive disposition where such matters are concerned are reminded that the 'child' being discussed here is a young lady in her late teens and refers to her treatment / regime rather than her chronological age.

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"Dear Judith's Aunt I thoroughly approve of your discipline of Judith and I appreciate your open mind in being ready to consider suggestions on how to develop it further. That is why I also venture to add some thoughts and proposals of my own for your consideration. I would greatly appreciate your comments on them, and of course also Judith's comments on her experiences if and when you choose to implement any of them. To begin with I wonder if it is any longer appropriate for the child, as I shall refer to her, to occupy a room of her own with a window and the opportunity to day-dream when gazing out of it instead of concentrating on her duties? Perhaps there is a basement in your house with some space - it need not be large nor have a window, a small cell just large enough to incorporate her wooden bed and a potty next to it is perfectly suitable - where the child an be moved. I would also recommend her bed to be provided with a thin mattress covered with a waterproof rubber sheet. I wonder about the child's hair. Given her very infrequent showers and the filthy condition her hair will be in most of the time, I think that for reasons of hygiene you might want to consider a new haircut for the child, leaving her with only a short buzz or even a bald head, which should then normally be at all times covered with a bonnet she could make for herself from the same gingham material as her school uniform. I also note that you have not said anything about her bra, or even if she wears one. Here you might want to consider providing her with a plastic or rubber bra, which would serve as a continuous humiliating and uncomfortable reminder of her status and discipline. To accompany such a bra you could also make her wear matching waterproof knickers, with her sanitary pad inside them of course. You have very properly imposed a rule of silence for the child, so that she will speak only when spoken to. You could also take steps to ensure that this rule is respected. While some might think that a gag is the obvious answer to such a need I don't agree with this. A gag should only be used as a specific punishment when the child's behaviour has called for it. When this is the case I would recommend something akin to a scold's bridle or branks, as such a head harness will not only silence her but add further to her discomfort. For everyday silence a pacifier is much more useful, but I would limit it's daytime use only to situations where the child's behaviour has called for her to be treated in a more infantile way than usual. But having the child suck on a pacifier during the night is quite alright and can become a source of comfort for her and allow her to sleep better. Another situation where a pacifier can be used for control purposes is during her corner-time, when the child could suck on the pacifier connected with a short chain to the wall. Her hands can then be attached behind her back making it impossible for her to move away from position during the corner-time without the pacifier falling. If you have small basket or pouch attached to corner somewhat below her mouth, the pacifier will fall into at and it will be impossible for her to put it back in her mouth without the use of her hands should she let it drop. My preferred recommendation for keeping the child silent is to have her keep a suitably-sized rubber ball in her mouth at all times, to be taken out only when she has been specifically told to answer, and for her meal times. This will be a constant reminder for her and can be used when taking the child outside in public. No-one will notice but the child will be acutely aware of it and it will be amusing to note her discomfort and anxiety should someone address her. It should make her want to keep as close to her aunt at all times, so that the adult can answer on her behalf. Most people will put the child's awkwardness in such situations down to some disability or retardedness, which will only add to her humiliation. Finally a word about her toilet habits. It is quite right that she has to ask for permission every time she wants to use the toilet, but I feel that the use of an adult toilet should only be allowed for responsible people and not such children as Judith, whose only use for an adult toilet is when she cleans it for her elders and superiors to use and when she empties her own potty which she must use for all her needs. yours Angel"

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All of this got me thinking and to put in my penny's worth - I wonder if old fashioned 'combinations' might not find a place in the girl's wardrobe (see drawing on left, above). An undergarment in which the knickers are combined with a bodice - with all the attendant inconvenience that entails - and that which could perhaps be modified to include a latex or polythene lining - Garth.

A Quick (very) Blog Update

I have today removed the link to the Lynn Paula Russell site (Paula Meadows, as was ) from my sidebar's 'Useful Resources' list as during a routine check I found the link to be broken - yeah I do stuff like that: a bit anal isn't it? However I will shortly be adding a Picasaweb album with as much of her stuff as I have - I guess that broken link has finaly given me the impetus I needed. Keep an eye on the Spanking ArtWork Albums list in the sidebar on the right. I have also rearanged the resource list a bit so that all the artwork links are bunched together and I have just added a link to the blog list for an interesting spanking blog I have just come across called SPANKEDHORTIC (just click to visit - or see sidebar).

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Incidently, Flickr is sometimes worth a visit: For example I just found a nice collection of pics entitled Spanking Fun (click to view). If you try to download / save any, though, they come up as 'Spaceballs' which means the pics are protected. Why folks choose to do this I have no idea - I thought that the rationale behind Flickr was to share images. However it is quite easy to get around this limitation, or security measure or whatever it is: From 'File' in your browser window (in Explorer at any rate), choose 'Edit with Microsoft Word'. You then have a Word page with the image embedded and can then edit out all of the other stuff you don't want and work from there.

Travel Plans and the Fruits of a Bit More Research (A Little Forced-Haircutting / Institutional Head Shaving)

Yesterday I made a modest start on the 'in-betweeny' / fill-in / prequel volume thing that I spoke about last time. I was going to give myself a bit of time off from this sort of thing but I'm in something of a buoyant mood, boiling over with enthusiasm and besides the majority of it already exists in one form or another. And that is another reason for my enthusiasm; quite a lot of the writing dates back a couple of years or so, deals with ideas I had then regarding subtle techniques of humiliation, the imposition of shame clothing and uniforms in the domestic environment, CP and mind control, the later including the deliberate induction of phobias in order to stifle a young girl's spirit - within the latter there are also hints of the encouragement of dependency on her therapist, on the gentle but insidiously-addictive sedatives she has been prescribed and on the woman into who's arms she has ironically fled in order to escape the clutches of her guardian.

My writing style - such as it is - has evolved somewhat since creating much of this body of work - necessitating a bit of alteration and rewriting here and there - but quite a lot of effort and imagination was expended on it so, as you can imagine, I am quite keen for it to see the light of day in some form. Quite a large chunk would not fit in with the proposed volume 3 in any logical way and the parts that would (most of which were originally intended for volume 2 and a couple for volume 1) would have necessitated flashback scenes, something I am keen to avoid from hereon in. Over time, through correspondence generated by way of my blog, I have also accumulated a fair few ideas suggested to me by various folks, some of which - for example covert treatment by way of the application of small doses of Botox in order to reinforce in a girl's mind the fear that she is developing a speech defect thus rendering her more amenable to the negative suggestions and psychological manipulation of a speech therapist - would have most easily sat within the first two volumes or within a prequel but I believe will work just as well in the format I propose. For the time being this volume I have provisionally entitled INSTITUTIONALISED B: Schoolroom Discipline and the Chastisement of Lavinia.

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Now, as there is a forced-haircutting scene as part of institutional hospital discipline - as well as the surgical placement of an intimate prophylactic device designed to curb masturbatory habits (loosely based on a Victorian device that actual existed), but that's another story - I have been looking around for suitably inspirational pictures. In addition to a couple of YahooGroups, of which more next time, I came across a nice little source of such scenes as pertaining to main-stream cinema. Click on the first two pics above to link - or see sidebar.

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As for yours truly: I am probably going to be off to a village just ouside of Clacton (on Britain's east coast) later today to sepnd a few quiet days taking in the countryside, drinking in country pubs (and, of course, the Clacton Weatherspoons on the seafront). I'm taking my trusty note book, so by the time I return I expect to have knocked up a well thought out and concise book description to go on Lulu for volume 2 and the foreword that will be nessesary in order to link this next volume to the two previous in a suitably logical manner and make clear its positoning along the story arc. Bye, bye for now...Garth.

An Appreciative message, Some News and Some Blogs to Visit

Many thanks go out to all of you that had been kind enough to e-mail me with congratulatory messages, feedback, encouragement and such kind comments. In many ways I have been more nervous about publishing volume 2 than I was over publishing volume 1 and so the positive feedback I've received so far has come as quite a relief, particularly as it differs in style to some degree. In particular my thanks go out to the kind soul that rated it six stars out of a possible six on Lulu -seeing that meant so much to me I can't tell you and particularly so soon after its release.

There is still a bit of work to be done before I put it on general release as it were ie get an ISBN assigned to it and release it through Amazon etc. For starters I'm going to include certain groups of keywords as footnotes on the chapter title pages to help Google find it. If any of you were wondering; the reason for the ridiculously long title and subtitle as it appears on Lulu is for the same reason, to make it more visible to Lulu’s search engine which looks for keywords within book titles rather than within their pages. The reason for all of this is that volume 1 is damn near invisible on Amazon and Google. Even I find difficulty in finding it - and I know what I'm looking for! I guess what really needs to happen is for someone to review it or for it to get noticed and for folks to chat about it on some of the message boards.

Then there is the cover; as I said before, I'm not happy with it as it stands. The present cover is purely temporary but I intend to redesign it by removing the female figure and perhaps having a straitjacket suggestively draped over the bed with the cane laid across it.

I still and suffering from a rather tiresome and protracted chest infection but it didn't stop me from enjoying a day out in Cambridge on Saturday with the significant other and having a good few pints too many at the Spaniards Inn, Hampstead, yesterday afternoon. Today I shall be, in a moment, be nipping off down to Camden Town to meet up with an old school friend for a celebratory pint or two by the Regent's canal (A pub called The Ice House). But despite my celebratory mood nevertheless I have decided that today shall at least in part be the first working day dedicated to developing the upcoming volume 3 and also the small volume that will link volume 2 with volume 3 and that I have spoken about before. In the pub this afternoon I'm hoping to get composed the book description for volume 2 to go on the Lulu Page. At the moment it consists of a very slightly altered version of the book description I wrote for volume 1, copied and pasted in as a stopgap. This is not quite the trivial task it sounds as it has to put over a something of the storyline and of the spirit of the book but within a very few words - ie it has to be concise and to the point and that is something of an art in itself.

By publishing a short volume that fits between volumes 2 and 3 - and that both ties up and embellish is some loose ends from volume 2 and details more of the events that led up to the storyline presented in volume 1, particularly as pertaining to how Lavinia Vitesse came to find herself incarcerated in the institution - I will be able to approach the storytelling element of volume 3 in a more traditional linear manner rather than incorporating the flashbacks and back stories that run throughout volumes 1 and two. I will also be able to lavish more detail on such things as the uniform that Lavinia was made to wear at home before coming to the experimental psychology unit and the therapy she had been undergoing at the hands of her aunt’s psychotherapist acquaintance. To do have really have done these areas the justice they deserve in the present work would have meant volume 2 ballooning well past 300 pages in length, and possibly closer to 400.

As for volume 3, well there is obviously going to be a complete change of scene - a far more domestic backdrop. You have to imagine a sheltered little private world embedded within an isolated country home, existing in today's world but totally steeped to the tiniest degree in the Victorian world - a world of strict governesses and children's nannies; of stifling regimes, petty rules, drab, stiff-collared, confining childish school uniforms, and spirit crushing discipline; of drills and forced exercise and PE in tight leotards urged on by the cane, the switch, the tawse and even the birch. To this end I have made a modest start this morning in researching some sources of inspiration - and in so doing, as always it seems, I became somewhat sidetracked, but even that has been worthwhile as I have uncovered a few more interesting blogs that the more exploratory minded of you might wish to visit.

The first is a French language blog and then a sort of pictures called ‘jpcolorgallery’ (as always just click to visit or see the blog list in the sidebar)

Another nice spanking / discipline blog can be found at ‘MARQE'S Study’ (well worth a visit - again, just click the title or look for the blog in the sidebar blog list).

Fighting the corner on behalf of the more consensual approach to discipline we have ‘The Art of Authority’

Then there is ‘About Spanking’ (click on either of the pictures above to visit)

Finally, I came across ‘Výprasky, prísna výchova a disciplína’ I have absolutely no idea what language this is in (please someone let me know) but with inspiring pics like the one on the right here it can’t be bad! I think I would have little doubt about placing her in my employ if I was the owner of some private institution for young ladies and looking for a suitable governess or schoolmistress to curb the livelier spirits amongst them. With her smartly cut high coloured starched blouse, no-nonsense tie and tight skirt can you just imagine what would happen if she were placed in control and given free rein over a small group of teenage girls, kept under lock and key and safely beyond the prying gaze of the general public and free from any possibility of interference from government officials and busybody social workers and the like?

INSTITUTIONALISED Volume 2 Now on LULU (at last!)... I'm Knackered!

I've still got the 'sniffles' but I have managed to get INSTITUTIONALISED Volume 2 up on LULU (Click cover to link). In the end I had to take out a chunk which I couldn't really do justice to in the time I had available but that will still work as a flashback in volume 3 wherein I will have more space to include all of the unfinished sections of writing (some parts dating back over two years) that I would otherwise have had to leave out. As it was, volume 2 was getting unwieldy (over 300 pages at one point) and I have loads of fresh ideas that I would like to pursue and to do so requires a change of scene - as much as I like the whole institutional - reform school - asylum thing.

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For the time being volume 2 will only be on LULU for download - there are bound to be some typos that have gotten through (I am dyslexic, don't forget) and the cover is up for a redesign (I no longer like the present effort and consider it a temporary stopgap). The thing is; it is difficult and expensive to make revisions after an ISBN has been assigned so for the time being I'm holding back from making it available through Amazon, Waterstones et al until such a time as I'm absolutely satisfied with it (volume 1 had 11 revisions in the end). In fact I found a typo just a few moments ago but it is only a misplaced hyphen so although I have corrected my copy I have not bothered to upload the correction to LULU - it's daybreak here in Londinium and I haven't been to bed yet. I have also yet to post up a proper book description on LULU (I've just recycled the one from volume 1 for the time being) and I haven't had time yet to create a proper preview (because I'm going to bed). It is actually really quite hard to find on LULU via a straight forward search at the moment - but then, I have only just this minute (quite literally) uploaded the thing and it probably takes LULU's search-engine a while to get going. Obviously it will not appear in a google search at all at present - a situation that will remain until I am totally happy and have registered the ISBN (but it is hugely cheaper to electronically download these things anyway rather than buy a physical copy through a bookshop, because of their enormous markup).

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One other thing - I have used an illuminated letter at the start of each chapter (in the hope of creating something of a Gothic feel - just a little bit of fun and frivolity) but it pushes up the file size so if anyone has any difficulty downloading please let me know and I'll upload the plain version. I am also think of quite quickly (for me that is) putting out a shortish followup / adendum to fill in the gaps and tie up loose ends before working on volume 3 per se - that would allow me to change scene entirely to a more domestic setting without having to worry over flashback scenes (at least in terms of flashbacks to the institution). What do you think? I actually really feel quite nervous at the moment to be honest with you, despite the positive response I got from volume 1 - volume 2 is a different beast in some ways and I'm a little worried that it all got a bit too ambitious (so please be gentle with me - I don't feel well).

Night - night...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Yet More Proofreading, a Cough and a Spanking (blog)

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Induced Image Dysmorphism and Other Wonders

Sorry for sparsity of updates of late but 'yours truly' is buried deep in final proofreading at present. But I am still in connect by email with various folk who have contributed their ideas and what have you in the past and one of these kind people recently sent me a link to a story that I found so intriguing that I damn near lost a whole days proofreading due to the fact that I just couldn't 'put it down' so to speak. And of course I then went on to work my way through a lot of the other tales presented on the same site. Not all turned out to be my thing but I have to urge you to read the tale that got the ball rolling “Rest and Relaxation” (click to go to the story page and then look for the story title. the author is definitely ‘evil’ and is herself the inspiration for the dominant character: Dr Evelyn Benedict. There story touches on many of my favorites: Leg-braces (the use of which you will encounter in the upcoming INSTITUTIONALISED volume 2), humiliation, mind control, corsets, catheters, sensory deprivation, dependence, immobilization. The use of a drug similar to botox and in a way that has been discussed on this site in the past is featured at one point and I have to say that the writing is excellent, give or take the odd typo - even though I generally don't go for first person accounts, I loved this one. The site is called Evil Dolly.com and you can find a link to the main page in the sidebar 'useful resources' list over on the right some place. If you like psychological manipulation I can also recommend you read 'Workout Girl' on the same site, wherein a girl is deliberately addicted to exercising to a pathological extent and encouraged to develop what amounts to a body dysmorphism condition - whereby no matter how slim and toned she becomes she is convinced that she still looks fat and becomes more and more obsessed with exercise regimes and diet to the exclusion of all else (very, debilitating)... see y'all soon with a proper post.