#365Gratitude Day 204: Stroke, stroke!

I'm not above enjoying a little ego stroking. Two days ago I posted a new Concerning Littleton story and proceeded to enjoy the spike in my page views. 

I post stuff to my blog for a number of reasons, one of which is getting folks to know my writing and want to buy my books. 

It's super nice when it happens.  This morning I saw a bunch of nice comments over on /r/ABDL on Reddit including this lovely one:

"So I decided to treat myself last night and buy Concerning Littleton u/makoAllen, and it was absolutely AMAZING!!! Ahh, not only as erotica, but the story itself was heartwarming, and I love all of the characters! I just finished, but I think I have to go back and read it all again right now because it was so good!!! Thank you! :)"

No, thank you! I live for stuff like this. 

#365Gratitude Day 203: Worth exploring

The thing about being an author is that it's kind of like having another job that doesn't pay anything.  

Except that's a lie. I do make royalties. And I get praise from readers. Who knows, one day my work may have that watershed moment and catapult me to another place.  There are other compensations too.  

This great Zen Pencils comic speaks to that.  

Here's just a bit of it. Go check it out.  

Writing is its own reward.  

#365Gratitude Day 202: Shifting Gears

As I told brother the other day, I know I'm really doing well when I'm writing.  My writing is a sort of mental barometer for my well-being.  Recently, I've been doing some short story work.  I've got a bunch of follow-on stories to Concerning Littleton.  I've got a bunch already written, but I decided to do a pair of stories here on my blog, about two of my favorite characters, Adam and Christina Jordan.  

The first one I finished about a month or so ago, it's called Passenger Seat. 

Well, just this morning I finished the second of the pair, Gear Shift.

The two stories take up several months after the last chapter of Concerning Littleton, and are about how Adam and Christina are learning to live their daily life of ageplay, authority, and kink together, authentically.

I got a lot of help with them.  Special, close friends inspired some of the content, test read them for me, too.  My work is a synthesis of what matters to me, what turns me on, what matters to my friends, and what turns them on.  I am so grateful they help me to do this thing which is so important to me.  Check out the story, I hope you like it.

One final, not-safe-for-work note about the piece.  I often use imagery as research and inspiration.  There's a particular very NSFW image I found which inspired the big finale at the end of Gear Shift.  Here's a link to it. 

#365Gratitude Day 201: imaginary & real numbers

So as it turns out, my $12,100 fake dollars I won at my company Casino Night... they turned into $300 actual dollars.  I found the prize on my desk when I went into work yesterday.

One other guy beat my $12K by all of $60!  He won $800 actual dollars.  But as I told my boss, and his boss, and HIS boss, as soon as I saw this card, I'm very pleased to have taken second place.

Sometimes, stuff really does work out.

#365Gratitude Day 200: Light entertainment

My babysitter-something-complicated-whatever-I-just-love-her Maya, and her partner Michael are just as big Steven Universe fans as I am.  I caught a tweet from one of them about an iPhone game based on the cartoon, Steven Universe: Attack the Light

Man, it's really, really good.  Playing it is challenging, and it's filled with story and media stuff that connects you to the characters.  I find myself saying "Neato Burrito!" a lot.