A Link, a Blog and an Update

Hi! Just a word to say that I have added a link in the right-hand sidebar to the Apple iTunes version of INSTITUTIONALISED volume 2 as published by ANDREWS UK LTD (click to visit their site whereat you'll find a selection of other folks work to choose from or click the pic to visit Apple iTunes). I have to keep this short as I have my driving lesson today. Talking about driving: I had a go at driving the 'other half's' car at the weekend, but I don't think she has got the personality for it - far too highly strung - and it led to panic on her behalf... which in turn led to panic my behalf and the whole thing turned into something of a nightmare. We must have looked like a pair of panicking blue bottles, thrashing around in a jam jar (a little play on words, there) - LOL. To make matters worse not only has it been extraordinarily hot and sticky over the last week or so, making sleeping at night difficult, but now I have caught a cold which has quickly turned into a chest infection. And this just days away from celebrating my birthday, for which I had planned to spend the day getting extraordinarily drunk in a pub in Camden with friends (but now the weather has turned anyway, going from ridiculously hot to "colder than expected for the time of year" which has put the mockers on the weekend).

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Oh!... I almost forgot - I did get a thousand words or so written yesterday around the scene wherein one of my characters is persuaded for the first time to not only accept her leg calipers but to put them on herself without having to be told to each morning. This occurs within an atmosphere of domestic discipline; the padlocks are added later as a superfluous statement of control by the hospital when, later, she finds herself detained - as we know she eventually will! This is a scene that allows me to play with some more ideas regarding psychological manipulation over straight-forward coercion through corporal punishment - in this case being the deliberate induction of hysterical paralysis through the power of suggestion (or satirical paralysis - as my voice recognition software would have it... LOL!!!). Actually, Eric Kroll has created a quite wonderful leg-calliper bondage shot, arguably the definitive - but I can't use it here for copyright reasons; how annoying! However, try this (left) taken from American Fetish, a film dealing with a multitude of fetishes by Michael Simmons (link added to right hand sidebar in blog list)- see right.

A Quick Update

Hi folks! I thought I'd take the opportunity to let you all know where I am at right now: I spent a chunk of yesterday and of this morning going through all the various illustrations and stages of the construction of the illustrations for the illustrated version of the new book and reporting back to my hard-pressed collaborator in the 'States. Now, suitably inspired, I am about to put pen to paper once more.

I am just about to get on with writing the part where our young lady receives visitors. She has received six strokes of her doctor’s riding crop across her bare behind and been placed back in bed just prior to her two guests arrival and so is still be sobbing when the plastic hospital curtains around her bed are drawn back. Her humiliation starts the moment her eyes meet those of her guardian and those of the lecherous old male solicitor that imperious woman has brought with her and she is obliged to thank them, not only for their visit but also for being kind enough to pay for her to be kept at the institution – not withstanding the fact that the payment is coming from her own trust fund, albeit passing through the hands of a certain church-run charity. But there is more to their visit than philanthropic concern – there are documents to be signed and consequences to be faced for non-cooperation: it’s all for her own good, after all!

The part I'm really looking forward to writing, though is the part where through flashback I get to introduce the enema chair that my artwork collaborator came up with, in the domestic environment of the young lady’s aunt's home and previous to her being brought to the institution – so appropriate to her aunt's long-held Victorian ideals of domestic discipline as applied to the control of teenage girls. I'd love to show you an early example of the illustration… but it would give too much away! Sorry – LOL! As regards the pic above and right. All this looks soooo much fun - and food for thought! Another one from Vintage Scans - see sidebar or my last post for link.

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By the way: last time I asked who could give me at least four reasons why the young lady depicted in her school uniform (see immediate right) deserved a long hard caning and gave the clue that they're all uniform-related...

Any ideas yet?

Leg-braces, Hysterical Paralysis, Spaghetti Plots and Vintage Shots

Hi there, folks. It’s been a while again, I know, but I thought that if I got something out today then at least it will have been less than a week this time. How it is the new book knowing, you're probably asking?

Well, the truth is that it's all been a little in the doldrums last week or so. Perhaps the doldrums is not entirely accurate; it's more that it has become bogged down in a spaghetti tangle of plot that even I find confusing its present form - and I wrote it! In terms of actual writing there are only a few more scenes to work through, although I still have one or two ideas that I'd like to weave into the back-story at some point. For example of the use of leg callipers or braces to restrict or curb an over exuberant teenage spirit seems self explanatory and of course their continued wearing can always be enforced by the judicious application of the cane or the strap or even by the use of straps and buckles secured by padlocks, if in an institutional setting. But how much more delicious if the young lady concerned - against her naturally rebellious nature and despite the measure being entirely unnecessary from a physical standpoint - can be persuaded to compliantly don her ugly restrictive leg callipers each day without having the supervising figure of her guardian or governess or whatever standing over her and flexing her cane?

The question then becomes of course; how might one bring about that situation? What powers of persuasion might be brought to bear to so dominate the young lady's will that eventually she comes to accept this humiliating restriction along with the juvenile uniform and all the other points of discipline she must now live under? The angle I'm presently working from involves - without giving too much away, I hope - the concept of hysterical paralysis or semi-paralysis and muscle weakness; I can say no more than that for now.

As for the hideously tangled plot - I have to keep reminding myself that I have been through this stage before and come out the other side. It is partly the outcome of the way I work - in stops and starts and the creation of vignettes as and when the ideas come - but mostly it is a legacy of the style-path I set out along when creating INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1. It's a case of sitting down and reorganising the various chunks of writing into a logical stream of consciousness, even if having to tie in flashbacks and the like. Once I have worked my way through this current book, the way will be left open for me to tackle subsequent works such as the true volume 3 and whatever might follow that in a simple beginning-middle-and-end linear fashion (which is how I should have set out initially, not being a professional writer). Ambition has its costs - and boy, have I been ambitious with this one!

In truth, today's blog entry - other than the above ramble - has pretty much written itself. Some kind soul anonymously sent me these vintage shots last night. I would imagine that they originated with the old Spick and Span magazines but the source of the scans is pretty obvious as it is emblazoned right across one of the photos. This of course led me to investigate and thus I came across Vintagescans.blogspot (click top left pic to visit). Vintage Scans features “mid-century advertising, strumpetry & design”. These are large images scanned from vintage publications owned by the blog author - and very good they are too! Indeed, many have been scanned from magazines that I had no prior knowledge of. “Stocking-clad ladies are well represented”. but the collection is not limited to the blatantly erotic; there are many fashion plates, underwear adverts, sections on food and drink, technology and transport, health and beauty and the like covering the period between the 1930s and the late 1960s. For example, I was able to add to my burgeoning collection of vintage corsellete and girdle pics . Talking of which; I have managed to dig out a couple of old women’s magazines of the period at boot / antique fairs of late which very soon I shall start scanning to a new PicasaWeb album which I plan to create.

While on the subject of PicasaWeb: I now know what part of this site was deleted (no - censored) by PicasaWeb - as reported a while back by yours truly. Two of my carefully crafted PicasaWeb albums have vanished: that containing the work of Thorn / Hobbs (I'm not going to get into that controversy again) and that containing the work of Mr Roger Benson. I can understand why the Thorn / Hobbs stuff was targeted as one or two of the more up-to-date illustrations taken from online adult comics were a little, shall we say, gross. But I can't understand the deletion of Roger Benson's work. I daren't reinstate either, through fear of the blog being closed down completely, but I shall endeavour to provide links to other sources of their work in the fullness of time. Meanwhile: who can give me at least four reasons - other than you just feel like it or the fact she is clearly a strumpet - why this young lady should be given a long hard caning. I'll give you a clue: they're all uniform related.

Institutionalised Volume 2 Goes Live on iTunes

Hi folks!

It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that INSTITUTIONALISED Volume 2 has today gone 'live' on Apple iTunes click title above highlighted in blue to visit. I am out and about, 'chilling in the Woodgreen Wetherspoons, The Spouter's Corner, today but seriously bogged down in the writing of the new book - an ambitious tome to be sure. A little too ambitious? Only time will tell, but I am too loaded with ideas to let it go now, so I guess I will just have to run with it and see where it leads me. I am a little worried that the blog is going to rack and ruin - along with a big chunk of my private life - always it seems permanently bubbling away on the back burner. Its not that I have no ideas for it, far from it, it's just that I am so completely focused on my writing right now. Which unfortunately means through the bottom of a beer glass, as that is the way my imagination focuses best.

The Girl in the Striped Pyjamas - A Good Reforming Spank and a Blog

Since I have been going on at length in recent weeks (or has it been months) about humiliating baggy institutional pyjamas, can you imagine my joy at coming across a blog featuring a continuing reform-school style storyline including exactly that. The approach is somewhat different to my own and the scenario is entirely different of course, but the addition of
matching elasticated cotton mop (sometimes, mob) caps is inspired - although those of you who have read the first two volumes of my INSTITUTIONALISED series (see sidebar) (there are only two at present - but with a third on the way) will have come across the concept of the wearing of bonnets as part of an institutional uniform, although not with pyjamas and not at all of that style. But as part of institutional nightwear it makes perfect sense, somehow. I pinched the pic from the section that deals exactly with that - simply click on the photo to go read. To read the latest instalment from The Girl in the Striped Pyjamas.blogspot.com - click blog name here, or see the link I have posted in the right-hand sidebar blog list (err... over on the right?). By the way: I don't know where this pic originated - I have never seen it before - but notice how each seems as if obliged to permanently utilise one hand to keep hitched up her pyjama bottoms. A hugely demoralising feature - and a concept I have recently been exploring in my writing, although in what I would imagine to be a completely different context.

Badges of Shame and Other Summer Madness – With or Without Bars, Though?

Yesterday was a bit of a lost day at this end, I'm afraid - but that has been too often the case recently. First of all there were personal problems at home, necessitating going out quite early on and not having the space to boot up the machine even for a glance at my emails - it would all have caused too many more problems! Then I had to scoot up to Enfield to help my mother with something... Then finally I sat down at the Enfield Costa-packet coffee house - from where I can ordinarily get a good fast WiFi connnection - only to find that I couldn't log on. Next I went to the nearest pub, The George in Enfield Town, which, I happen know, has a free WiFi setup - but it was full of football supporters waiting for the England v someone-or-other match. So I cycled back down to Woodgreen, to the Wetherspoons there, as I know that branch is not showing the matches. It quickly became apparent that their WiFi was down and I couldn't get a signal from the local library WiFi box while sitting at a table outside either, as I usually can (probably because there was a huge mobile unit lorry (truck) thing parked directly outside it, blocking the signal path. Next I wandered down to the Turnpike Lane wetherspoons branch where they were showing the match but where I also knew I could sit outside away from the row. So I got a beer, as you do; I got a seat - great - I even found I was getting a good WiFi signal - even better! But before I could even begin to log on, let alone get anything done, a guy who knows me and who sometimes chats to me sat down and...well, chatted to me. ...And chatted and chatted and chatted... Beers were bought and downed, the sun fell low in the sky...well, I'm sure you get the picture. Then it was morning and I found myself back home, with not a single word or idea or thought to show for it.

It's a difficult thing to deal with and I am trying not too beat myself up about it. If I am working and get a lot done - as is often the case on a bender - then I can justify it in some way in my mind. But if all I am doing is sitting getting drunk? It's just that everything and everybody seemed to be conspiring against me. As it is there are constant rows over the time I spend writing, both with the other half and my mother, both of whom keep coming up with things that need doing, the argument being that I am not working so I must have plenty of time. Writing a book is not seen as 'work'. I should have lied and said I'd found a modestly-paid 9 till 5 job some place and then gone out every morning as if off to work. Sounds crazy but I have heard of folks doing exactly that!

Right, enough of my babbling sorrows! I have managed to do a fair bit of writing over the last week or so, despite these and similar tribulations and think a complete first draft of the new book should be about completed in three weeks. Meanwhile my arty collaborator in the 'States continues to throw up new ideas and to explore new directions and of course I have a contribution or two to make (I hope). Actually I am looking forward to starting work on designing the new cover soon - one of my favorite bits of all this - and in preparation I have today be putting together some ideas for how the badge might look on the regulation hospital-issue patient uniforms in the institutional discipline scenes depicted. Actually most of the illustration work has thus far focused on the institutional discipline aspect but ideas have simultaneously been emerging as regards the domestic discipline scenarios - and there are plenty of those - so some effort will, I expect, soon be expended in that direction. Meanwhile here are two variations of the uniform badge I have come up with, this version being intended for patient 30, quite obviously, who those of you who have read the first two volumes will recognize instantly as a young lady who is never far from the controlling, grasping hands of her guardian - even if safely behind the locked doors of a secure institution. By the way; the textual appearance is deliberate and supposed to make it look as if painstakingly embroidered on fabric.

A Tiny Bit of What I Have Been Writing

The choice was stark, but even having the notion of a choice was a form of subtle psychological torture. She could sit quietly and dwelling more and more inwards, turning it on herself and sending herself quite mad in the process or let herself be gently led by the hand deeper and deeper into mental illness by her sweetly smiling guardian angle rustling and bustling around her in her blue-checked uniform dress. For what else could this be but some form of mental illness? Head swimming in swirling sedative fog, hands thrust down the front of her hospital issue asylum pyjamas masturbating furiously, fingers plucking and twitching under stickily-humid plastic mental-home incontinence knickers and worrying at a sutured rubber thimble cap device who’s sole purpose was to rob her of the one thing she desired more than anything else in the world at that moment – sexual release.
“Stop that, now – it’s time to get you back into bed and I’m going to have to draw back the curtain”.
The command bit deep into Lavinia’s psyche; shame and humiliation shared equal billing with hot-cheeked heavy-breathed, tear-wrenching frustration. She felt her hands being physically tugged from their private fumbling and being placed forcefully in her lap, the musky pungency of her unrelinquished arousal rising accusingly from fingertips left tacky with bodily lubrication. She was only half aware of the head and shoulders pressing thorough the opening in the plastic curtains surrounding the bed and the chair in which she was presently seated, wriggling uncomfortably in her sweat-soaked pyjamas.
“I’m so sorry, Sister – I just didn’t know what to do to stop her”.
“A quite disgusting display! I want her put back in full restraint immediately and she is to be confined to bed at all times for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, you are to make out a full report of this behaviour for the doctor under the heading of ‘evidence of pathological sexual obsession and obsessive-compulsive behaviour’.

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Now, I bet you're wondering what the pony-girl illustration is all about - hmmm? Not really my thing as such - and nothing to do with anything in the new book - it's just that I recently came across a couple of great pony-girl sites which I have now added to the 'Useful Resources' list that can be found in the right hand sidebar (listed under pony girls, amazingly enough!).