Lubrican: Blog

I recently got some kudos aimed at my support staff, whose names you see (or should see) in the end note of all my recent books and stories. By recent I mean books and stories I wrote in the last ten or so years. Michelle is my proofreader and "normal human" who does a 'reaction video' to each book I write, except it's not a video. Most people have seen those reaction videos, though and she does very much the same thing. Once she sends me her changes and thoughts back and I digest them, the book then goes to Andy, who is in Mensa and twice as smart as I'll ever be. His background is in strict grammar, so he keeps me honest (or tries to) when it comes to using the King's English, so to speak.
So I passed on the kudos to them, as I always do, and I thought the readers might like a peek into our little literary world, in which we all work very well together.

Here are their responses:
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Andy: I don't know that I've put it this way before, Bob, but anyone can follow known rules, which is what I and Michelle do (sorry, dear, but it's true). The creative spark is yours alone, and that is the end-all and be-all of art. It's you who keep us "in business", so to speak.

Michelle: It is true what you say Andy, but mostly I just make changes just so things flow better and look nicer. Knowing the rules is just what makes things easier to understand in my book. I'm not so anal to think I've got everything nailed down, but I understand what needs to go where to make things flow nicely. That said, I do leave all the harder edits to you Andy so take your bow.

As for your fan base, Bob, be sure to tell the kind fans that they are very much appreciated and that I hope their experiences with reading your works make for a relaxing and entertaining time as it does for me. I've said many times how much I enjoy reading your work and I'm always happy to hear that they do as well. It makes things on my end much more pleasant and I'm waaaayyy more willing to make sure to catch as much as I can so their reading experience sails smoothly. Be proud of your work first and foremost and let their praise come as a close second. You really do earn it. :)
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It isn't much, just some ordinary email exchanges, but they exemplify the process in which the product you read gets to your e-reader. I hope this was interesting.

I just wanted to thank you for the nice things you say.

So do Michelle and Andy.

By the way, I just got one back from Michelle and sent it on to Andy just before I posted this blog entry. He's a busy guy and it's a longer story, so it may be a while until it gets to your e-reader, but for those of you who think i might have died or had a stroke or fallen and couldn't get up, now you know there will be something... eventually.

Thanks for reading.
Bob

Well, we got moved and are settled in, though there are stacks of boxes yet to be unpacked. The computer is set up and I'm back to work.

Today I started posting a three chapter story that got written during the hiatus. The foreword says it isn't fine literature and it's not. Call it shaking the rust off of my fingers.

It's called Daddy, I Have a Question and I'll post a chapter a day. It's also available at Bookapy if you don't want to wait.
I also finally got the boxed set of the Bobby Dalton story The Making of a Gigolo published at Bookapy. A number of people asked for that and it took a while to figure out how to do it. The whole set is made up of four volumes, each having four books in them. It was edited in the process and is "cleaner" than what is at SOL. I like to think it's only a "little" cleaner because the original is in good shape. I'm a little vain that way. That is also why I like it when people write to me and tell me I made a mistake. I can't fix them if I don't know about them.

Anyway, I hope everybody has a happy and fruitful new year and that we can write and read some good stuff.

PS Michelle currently has a twenty-something chapter book that I worked on before, during and after the hiatus. I do not expect to post it until sometime in February or March, but it's out there getting spruced up.

I haven't posted anything in ahwile and that always brings out the "Are you still alive?" people. Not that those folks bother me. I'm flattered they think about me.
Here's the deal. My wife's health took a serious dive last spring because of allergies that almost hospitalized her. So we had to get out of Kansas and go somewhere more allergy friendly. That means we've been on the road here and there (mostly there) looking for a new place to hang our hats.
The good news is we found something and it's going to get all finalized between now and the end of the year.
At that point I might be able to spend more time writing. I've been working on something as time permits but I doubt it will come out until after the new year.
I just wanted you to know I'm still alive and have some of the same problems as many of you have.
Happy Holidays
Bob

I'm starting to get inquires again asking if I'm still alive. This has happened before and the situation is like I have described before, but I'll provide an update to answer all the questions.

First off, I'm fine and I'm writing. What has happened recently was that I was working on multiple books at the same time and finished them all around the same time as well. That means Michelle, my proofreader, has a stack of things to look at. She's got a family and a job and a life to live, so it takes time for her to get around to looking at my stuff.

Then, once she's done her thing, I send it to Andy for editing. He also has other things to do than pore over my stuff. Both of these folks contribute a really astonishing amount of quality to the finished product. That gets noticed and it's one of the things that makes people keep reading my books.

So, there are three or four new books in the pipeline that will come out sometime in 2023, One is an Alpha and Bravo set about a young man who gets hit by a car at age 15 and is in a coma until he's 18. When he wakes up he has epilepsy as a result of the accident and needs a live-in caregiver. Enter a young Asian woman with a brand new degree in physical therapy and... well, you know me. Version Alpha is just her and the boy. In version Bravo his mother helps take care of him.

Those two can't come out together, though, unless I hold Alpha until Bravo is finished. Alpha is almost ready now and there's another book in the lineup before Bravo.

So that's the deal. Things will get done when they get done. I value Michelle and Andy's contribution to much to abuse them.

Thanks for all the interest.
Bob

If you have been reading my stuff, over the years, then you know I write within a relatively defined genre. You might also know that I reach out, now and again, to try something different. I have done that again and this time I reached waaay out.

I'm posting my first BDSM story. Or maybe it's only domination/submission, since (in my opinion) there are no sadists involved. There might be a masochist in the story.

Basically, I have no freaking idea what this is, but I wanted to write it and I did and I never waste anything that came from my muse.

So here's the deal. This is an experiment. It might be good and it might be garbage. Only those who are legitimately in the BDSM community can make that judgement and since I'm not in that community, I'm just going to post it and let them tell me how I did. It's kind of like when I write from a woman's point of view. I'm not a woman but my female readers (who I try hard to understand) tell me I have done all right at that. I want to understand almost everybody in the world of erotica so that's also what this one is about.

The title is Spanking my Secretary and it's eleven chapters long. It does not (necessarily) have cliffhangers in it, which is also something new for me. I plan on posting a chapter a day.

I get mail fairly often from people who say something along the lines of "I'm not into [what this book is about] but I decided to try it because you wrote it and I'm glad I did." This is not an attempt to toot my own horn (or have them toot it) but rather is just a request that you read a few chapters before you decide it's not for you, especially if BDSM really isn't your thing. It's really not my thing, either, which might sound odd, since I wrote about it, but we should all try to understand each other if at all possible.

Stay safe and thanks for reading.
Bob