addicted
I've just lost two hours of this evening to reading through back-entries in the Lowewood Academy blog. I've been aware of this blog's existence since it was created in 2006, but, knowing how immersive and addictive my friends in the blogosphere was finding it, I decided early on that I didn't have time to get involved.
Since I picked up this blog again I've been getting increasingly addicted to reading spanking blogs. My feeds list at Bloglines (which I highly recommend, by the way) numbers 40 these days, with most of them posting an entry a day, and I keep finding more and more blogs that are worthy of my attention, most of which are listed in the links section in the sidebar. Now, I keep few other blogs scattered around the internet, mostly personal ones for my friends who aren't in the CP scene. Recently I decided that I was losing far too much of my allocated work time to blogging, and cut back on the number of non-spanking journals I was reading in the hope of regaining some discipline. But apparently, the habit is too entrenched to shift so easily. An ever-growing number of spanking blogs have bubbled up to fill the gap in my day that was created by slimming down my personal reading list.
As if that wasn't bad enough, I've just stumbled and fallen into the booklined rabbit-hole that is Lowewood. I can't possibly hope to find time to read the complete archive, and the plots are complex enough that I feel out of my depth. But it's compelling nonetheless: the writing is excellent, the characters engaging, and the stories utterly plausible. I'm not sure I've ever read such convincing, realistic school CP writing, and the range of writers and voices only adds to the richness of the Lowewood universe.
I know that I should be setting a good example. After all, you probably don't have time to spend a week getting lost in the heady library of Lowewood's archived entries either. It's highly irresponsible of me to encourage my readers to fall from grace and spend hours and days that they should be working reading spanking stories. But I suspect that most of you will be doing this whether or not I advise otherwise, and if so you may as well be reading the best there is. And it would be hypocritical of me to preach abstention when I'm apparently completely incapable of practicing it.
I have retained one tiny scrap of self-discipline, however. I'm virtuously refraining from finding out how one applies to become a pupil at Lowewood. Tempted as I am - and oh, I really am - I know full well I don't have time to take on another writing commitment, even if I was invited to do so. I'll stick to reading for now: I'm in way over my head as it is.
I've even started to wonder if I should ask one or both of my doms to start disciplining me for spending time surfing spanking blogs when I should be working. But it seems a bit circular to me, because then I'll just have more tasty punishment scenes to write about and fuel my enthusiasm for reading about CP. I think this might be an occasion where self-discipline is the only solution. Now, if only I could remember where I left mine...
Ah, but Lowewood is such a pleasant rabbit hole in which to stumble! And once you get caught up, it doesn't take that much time-- ten minutes or so a day, almost every day.
ReplyDeleteThey were recently advertising for a new writer-- just e-mail "Jessica" at the address on the web page. :-)
OK, don't listen to me-- I've been an addict since the very beginning!
I hear you, I spend too much time reading blogs about spanking (and other subjects), too.
ReplyDeleteThere are many kinky blogs out there which aren't all that interesting (they mostly post pictures and basically serve as an advertising affiliate for paysites). But there is also a large number of high quality blogs written by some very intriguing people (yours, for instance).
I've resigned myself to the fact that, even though I spend too much time on the internet as it is, I won't be able to keep up with all the interesting ones.
That said, what is even more important than keeping up is the fact that there is a real world out there, and you should go out and mingle. Oh, and work, of course. Maybe it's not a bad idea to ask your doms for discipline if the blogs are this addictive!
Glad you're enjoying it!
ReplyDeleteI came into it last summer and had to do the "read the archive from the beginning" thing to get a true grasp of the storylines, characters etc. - there *is* a lot, and even more now, but it's worth it, I promise :-)
Indiana - I'm sure I would love writing for Lowewood, but I definitely don't have time! At the moment I'm working as a designer and model/filmmaker fulltime, and trying to squeeze two relationships into my weekends and evenings as well as seeng my girlfriends and
ReplyDeletemaintianing an active social life. If I get any spare time I spend it catching up with my non-spanking blogs or working on my art, which has been neglected of late as my other work has picked up. I have a long list of other things I'd
like to commit to if I ever get time, and tempting as it is I'm afraid Lowewood is quite far down that list! thanks for the encouragement though, but I think one spanking blog is more than enough to take on at the moment!
Ludwig - it is addictive, isn't it? I don't really have many real-life friends I can talk to about CP. A lot of them are kinky, but they tend to be BDSMers and not so interested in long discussions about the minutiae of spanking. I think there's an intellectual addiction - the idea that by thinking and writing about one's kink one is working towards a valuable sort of self-awareness, and validating this part of one's identity by being able to
understand and think coherently about it. There's also the physical addiction - arousal is very addictive, and one you get used to a regular hormonal jolt from catching up on well-written kinky blogs, it's hard to give up!
I guess porn in general is addictive for that reason, and those of us whose sexuality is more mental are naturally drawn to blogs, where we can be drawn into discussion and analysis as well as sharing hot stories and fantasies.
Pippa - maybe on a rainy day one summer holiday, I'll allow myself the same indulgence :) All this will be much easier once I can afford a laptop of my own - I'll be able to read the Lowewood archives on the train on the way to shoots, for instance, rather than having to try and gouge time out of social events or my working day!