NaNoWriMo Prep Work

It's my favorite time of year again. No, I don't mean Halloween, even if it is the most cross dresser friendly holiday. I’m referring to NaNoWriMo. Over the last few years the final two weeks of October get me all excited for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

Not familiar with NaNoWriMo? In short it is the Boston Marathon for writers. It's a challenge to write a novel in one month. Write 50,000 words within the 30 days of November. Sound hard? Well it is. But where’s the fun if there’s no challenge in it?

This will be my third attempt in four years. I've been successful twice so far and feel confidant that this year will net another successful attempt. I'll not bore you with the details of NaNoWriMo. Head over to the website and check it out. www.NaNoWriMo.org And if you decide to give it a try let me know. I'd love to help support my fellow writers.

The reason I’m about it here (in my blog about my cross dressing and other sexual exploits) has to do with my warm ups to NaNo. Like a marathon or any other endurance event, there's some preparation and training involved. At least for me. I know that some people dive in to NaNo head first, having never done a lick of prep work and been successful,. But that's not in my personality.

In order to hit that 50,000 goal I try and write about 2200 words a day during NaNo (1667 per day is the base amount if you wan to hit the goal but I like to take a few days off). Since I don't normally write that many words per day either with my fiction or my professional writing I need to work up to it in the weeks leading up. Just like a runner increasing his daily milage before doing a marathon.

My trick to getting the word count up over 2K every day? Erotica. That's right: sex, sex, sex. I drop down to my knees, pump out as many dirty metaphors and creamy similes as I possibly can and then wipe my chin clean with the back of my hand when it's all over.

They say to write about what you know, and I've known my share (and possibly your share too) of engorged pens and heaving beasts over the years so it's an easy topic for me to spread wide on to the page, so to speak.

However, I've found that there are only two ways to keep up the flow of dirty deeds and erotic adventures. I either have to have far too much sex, or far too little. If I’m getting just enough to keep a grin on my face and a bounce in my step then I have no mojo left to drill in to my characters and their activities. So here is my theory on the ratio of actual sex to the amount of sex you can write about.

In the one hand, as it were, you can go without any sex. This includes self satisfaction. The idea being to bottle up all that desire, wanting, and lust and give them no other outlet but in to your writing. This works well enough but has the same problem as a superstitious baseball player who is on a streak. As soon as you stop doing whatever it is that you think was causing the streak, you break it. So the moment you break down and have sex, no matter if it’s alone, with a partner or in a large group of strangers, you loose that deep well of drive and suddenly your erotica falls flat.
On the other hand, having lots and lots of sex can be useful to your writing too. Sex has the magic ability to replenish itself and the faster you turn the crank the faster it will recharge. When you are young it is easy to get right back up and have sex sessions back to back. But as you get out of your teens and early twenties you have to put a little effort in to it. If you do then you are rewarded with an extra measure of desire. Pour that back in to your partner(s) and you get even more back. In short, the more you do it, the more you want it. And that can provide another great source of writing energy. Well so long as you’re writing about sex.

So for now, my awesome wife is “sacrificing” herself to help me get my writing up to speed before November comes. And since we are both participating in NaNoWriMo this year (and neither of us are writing erotica for the event) this also may be some of the last nookie we get for a while.

Technorati Tags: erotica, on the web, Writing

A Rare Event

A rare event happened on Monday. I told a good friend of mine about my alter ego. There are only a few people out there who know about both halves of my persona and I'm very careful to not let Tonya bleed into my other life. But this person is someone I trust deeply and someone who had demonstrated to me that she would not freak out on me when she found out.

I think every cross dressers goes through that moment of terror (fear of rejection) when we open up and share our secret identity to someone new. Despite knowing on an intellectual level that she would not get all weird on me, some visceral part of me was still scared shitless. It's that same sick feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you're at the top of the roller coaster and are about to go screaming down the the track at 60 MPH. This is also why I don't ride roller coasters anymore.

Well, as it turns out I had nothing to worry about. She hardly flinched when I told her, going so far as to tell me that she'd dated a cross dresser for a while. It didn't work out but I got the impression that the CD might not have been the reason it ended. I'll have to ask her more about that sometime.

My point? While I'm not ready to just start telling everyone in my life that I like to slip in to a skirt on evenings and weekends, I do feel better for coming clean with a close friend who I think probably suspected something like tis anyway.

Is there someone in your life that you need to tell something to? Got a secret you need to share?

Eyeliner I like

These days I'm the sort of cross dresser who almost exclusively dresses at home for the fun and excitement of my wife and myself. I've not gone out in full drag in a long time. That's not to say that it's not an option, it's just not part of the current phase of my life. However there are a few things that I do daily to give little hints of my hedonistic hobby.

Obviously, like many cross dressers I like to replace my boring boxers with pretty panties under my guy clothes. Sometimes is just panties, other times I'll add a bra or camisole. Truly special occasions will also get a pair of stockings and garter belt.

Another trick I do is to use some simple makeup. Nothing too obvious, but enough to sort of finish the look. WIth the rise of the metrosexual male it's actually not that uncommon to see guys walking down the street who have taken the time to look better than if they've just rolled out of bed. So brushing on some light foundation and swiping a line of eyeliner, if done right. will hardly get noticed. Most women I know will tell you that daytime makeup should look like you're not wearing any makeup; it should go unnoticed. For me, even the ritual of putting on a little makeup (along with some frilly undies) before I get dressed is enough to keep a bit of thrill going all day long.

Now the real trick, like most makeup, if not only finding a brand and style you like but also in learning how to apply it correctly. I had been using one of those felt pen type eyeliners and was getting fairly good results. They are easy to apply and fairly easy to control. After a few practice sessions I was able to get something that didn't look like the drag queen I really am. The problem I had with those types of eyeliner is that by the end of the lunch hour I was starting to look a bit like a raccoon. The eyeliner had faded and spread to give me just some general darkness under my eyes.

That is when I discovered the bareMinerals powdered makeup. Specifically I've started using the eyeliner. I have a female friend who uses several other parts of the product line and loves it. I may have to try the foundation soon.

I like the bareMinerals eyeliner because it seems to last all day long. I usually don't have to touch it up unless I'm going out for the evening after having worn it all day long. The makeup itself is a powder and you apply it using a brush. You need to buy a brush separately and I recommend you find one that has a chisel shape. I was able to exercise more control than with a traditional eyeliner brush.

It took me some time to learn just how much powder to put on the brush and my first few attempts ended in me looking like a football player on game day with big dark stripes under my eyes. But with a steady hand and a box of makeup wipes near by I was able to develop a smooth two stroke method of getting a nice sharp line on my eyelid. The results are subtle enough to keep people from saying "Oh there goes another one of those guyliner freaks" yet pronounced enough for me to get many more compliments on eyes.

Now as a bonus, this stuff also has what I call an "After 5" look. If you want something more striking then try wetting your brush before putting on the eyeliner. When this powder gets wet it takes on a much more dramatic look. It goes on more like a traditional wet eyeliner and is much more pronounced. It's the sort of thing you'd do just before you slide in to that little black dress of a night out dancing.

If you want to give it a try I've provided a link below. Let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: eyeliner, makeup, crossdressing