And so, all good things come to an end.
Every other day, rain or shine, for nearly nine years: personally writing some 1,900 posts in the process. Queuing them up; editing and tinkering with them; moderating lovely comments; dealing with the occasional troll. I’d guess, more original, free ‘literary spanking erotica’ than just about any other non-professional writer out there.
Recording wonderful scenes. Capturing my fantasies as I’ve merrily ‘perverted reality’. Processing my thoughts about kink, and tracking my kinky life and the evolution of my kinky tastes. Observing the wider world’s often disparaging view of those of us who indulge, for real or purely mentally, in these interests that fascinate us so. Believing, now, that society is slightly less kink-unfriendly than it was the best part of a decade ago .
In the early days, I merely wanted – needed – an outlet for the ideas that preoccupied (and threatened to overwhelm) me. A side-effect of publishing my stories, and then this blog, was that it led me to connect online with like-minded folks – and, then, to meet so many very wonderful people. Many of those closest to me met me via this site – indeed, met or bonded with one another via its comments pages in the early, pre-Twitter, pre-smartphone days when ‘SW’ became something of a forum for a growing circle of friends to keep in touch. And most of those friendships are now founded so deeply that our initial kinky connection feels almost incidental.
And it’s the people that, deep down, have kept me going. The thought of a post bringing a smile to a friend’s face – or, even, turning a lass on at perhaps the most distracting of moments. The thought that someone, somewhere might take comfort from knowing that others share their fantasies, or variations thereof; that being kinky isn’t (as I believed when I was growing up and starting to realise the extent to which this fascinated me) something shameful or wrong. That was especially true when the blog became a solo effort a few years ago – when writing here helped me maintain a degree of continuity and confidence in my life, in the face of such adversity. And, despite blogging being something of a dying art, over 600 of you each day still come here to read the site, in addition to those who follow it via RSS. It’s had some 4.7 million hits in all; you’ve contributed some 14,000 comments.
But life moves on, real-world responsibilities (including the demands of running an ever-growing business) consume more and more of my time, and the blog has started to feel like a struggle. Although I’d always aimed to reach the ten-year milestone, I’ve been finding it ever-harder to summon up the energy and creativity needed to maintain the routine. I’ve not even, for example, been able to find a way to capture one of the most magical scenes ever, played a few weeks ago with two maids being punished and, rather delightfully, abused – or of the latest of the wonderful Regency house party weekends, which we were so privileged to attend. The magic, for me, of writing here has waned – even though kink and sexuality are so intrinsic to my being that they remain hugely important to me: necessary and essential, even if meeting new play partners isn’t now the priority it once was for me.
And so the time has come to draw a delicate (black, sexy, lace?) veil over the pages of The Spanking Writers blog, and for me to move on. I’ll keep writing – less blogging might, actually, free me up to write more longer pieces for my Abel’s Spanking Stories site (which is fast approaching its fifteenth birthday). And I’ll keep adding to the now 13,000+ images on my Tumblr, too: after all, I need something to distract me during my coffee breaks when I’m working from home! (And as a friend commented recently: “I don’t need to search for porn online any more: I just look at what’s on your Tumblr!”). I just won’t be posting again here, after today – although I will leave my writing here online indefinitely, along with “No Mercy”, the free eBook containing my favourite posts, published here yesterday.
But the decision regarding the blog feels right; feels liberating. Even if it feels like it’ll leave something of a gap, and if the change from “Abel writes the Spanking Writers blog” to “wrote” takes some processing. There’s a sense of loss, too. Not a choice taken lightly.
Thank you, dear readers. It’s been great, and you’ve been a huge part of that. I hope you’ll remember the SW blog with fondness, and occasionally look back and re-read and remember. I certainly will – and with a degree of pride, too.
Over and out…