If I Do It Three Times, Does That Make It a Pattern?

So, I will be the first to admit that I haven't been around much lately. Mondays have been a bit hit-or-miss lately, and I haven't really gotten posts put together on other days until lunch time or so. Weekends? Yeah, I keep dropping the ball there, too.

And visiting your blogs? I'm falling behind. Way behind. If you're a new reader, I'm sorry, I just haven't gotten around to checking you out and returning the favor. I suck like that. Also, truth be told, if you posted this week, chances are I didn't read it. Sorry. Do you want me to make it up to you? Fine. Hand jobs for all! Take a number and bring a sponge!

Okay, but, seriously, when it comes to this writing thing, I've got a problem. I'm not afraid to admit it...but how about I just whisper it in your ear? Come closer. It's okay, I won't lick. Much. Ready?

I'm writing again.

Yes, and by "writing" and "again", I mean not blog writing. Except, you know, I am actually doing that now. But for the past couple of weeks? Yeah, notsomuch.

Kind of ironic, innit, that I'm not writing because I'm writing?

Well, the reason why I wasn't blog writing as faithfully as before is because I was researching. Egad. It's true. I've actually done research. Lots of it. I've been reading myths and legends and looking at pictures of women in "Greek goddess" costumes images of ancient Greek costumes. Apparently, according to some websites, ancient Greek women dressed sluttily...when they decided to get dressed at all. *stretches out fingers and muscles in right hand*

Anyway, this is all relevant to my...new writing project. I'm not completely comfortable telling you about it yet...which is rather strange, considering I have no qualms telling you about the first time I jerked off and all that fun stuff. Huh. Maybe I should try riding that Wellbutrin train more often...

We can compare and contrast my autoerotic exercises as they relate to my writing projects later. I'm here to tell you about it. I'm about 1100 words in already. The first chapter is nearly done. I'm shooting for somewhere between 90,000 and 110,000 words, so there we go. I just need to do this past week 100 more times! That's only two years, right?

While I'm not comfortable telling you specifics about the project, I'll tell you that it's a historical fantasy, so again, there won't be dragons and hobbits and elves and shit like that. But, there are monsters and heroes and gods and fighting, so it is a fantasy story at it's core. There is a significant historical sense to the story, as well.

I'm also doing that re-read thing for the magnum opus. So, I'm bouncing back and forth between two projects right now. However, I do plan on keeping the blog writing coming. I refuse to be one of those jackasses who says "Well, I'm writing now, which means I don't really have any time for blogging, because I'm self-important like that!" No, I'll be sticking around and I'm going to give it the old college try to post every day. Every. Fucking. Day. Yeah, I just heard a bunch of you puke. Sponge it up and light a candle, okay? We don't want to smell the partially-digested remains of your last meal mixed with a healthy slab of pepsin, alright?

Anyway...the crux of my "problem", as it were. I had to write a rape scene this week. It's integral to the story. I tried to do it as non-erotically as possible, and I think I did alright. However, in the first chapter of my magnum opus, I introduce a character that has been recently raped. In my completed novel, I wrote an attempted rape.

Um...does anyone sense a problem here, or am I just a little oversensitive to my characters?

But, here's the thing: it's not like I'm glorifying it. I'm using it as a means to an end, usually by casting the rapist in a bad light. A lot of times, I try to pick the action up in the first chapter. I do some introduction, set a few characters on the board and then--BAM!--there's a battle or there's immediate conflict or there is a huge plot-driving mechanism put into place. And, let's face it: guys are dicks. In order to put a certain amount of realism into my characters, I have to make them do things that are rather unsavory, but are true to the time frame AND the characters themselves. Therefore, if there's a battle, and women get captured or in the way or anything...well, there's going to be unpleasantness--especially for the female characters.

And the scene I had to write this week for the new project, like I said, is critical to the story. Without it, well, the story doesn't really go.

Do you like what I did there? I admitted to the problem, and then tried to explain away the problem by justifying it. Still, I think the next time I start a book, I'm going to work really hard NOT to let any of my characters get raped.

I'll try to keep these little updates to the weekends only, when readership slows, that way I don't get bogged down in word counts and shit like that for my other posts. Also, once I figure out how to work the nice little Word Count Wildfire Whiz-Bangs I downloaded, I'll have a nice graphical way to display how far along on the books I've gotten.

And with that, it's time to get back to the raping...er...I mean...typing!