I hope everyone is working from home or sheltering in place. Foxy and I are lying low, like most people, and trying to ride this out. Our social life has ground to a complete halt, but at least we are not sick yet. If you’re thinking about publishing a story, now is the time as everyone has time to jerk off.
Las Vegas, a.k.a. Sin City is a ghost town, which is really weird. The governor of Nevada jumped on this like a duck on a June Bug and closed the entire town, except essential services. Casinos, restaurants, and most businesses are closed. At least the price of gasoline is close to breaking two bucks. Average prices in Nevada are about seventy-five cents above any other place, except for California. It’s too bad, we can’t go anywhere.
Even the strip clubs are closed, but Little Darlings hasn’t lost their sense of humor. Their sign says, “We’re Clothed.”
I often opine on urging people to write smut and stop talking about doing it. Shoulda, woulda, coulda!
Since next month is National Masturbation Month, I’ve been practicing every day and sometimes more often. I’ll be ready in a week or so to do justice with self-abuse. At least nowadays, most vibrators are rechargeable, which keeps me from having to go to the 7-11 at 2 A.M.
During those times, when I’m resting my hand, I’ve been working with InkScape, which is an open-source graphics design program like CorelDraw. I use CorelDraw to create my story covers as well as Instagram, Twitter, and other advertising images.
Certainly, I realize that you can do the same thing with PhotoShop or GIMP but the “right tool for the right job,” as my auto shop teacher always told me. CorelDraw is not cheap, and if an open-source program can do what I want and is free, that sounds like a winner.
InkScape works well except that the export process to create a JPG for posting has some size issues that require a little post-processing to fix but not too bad. Someone else I know is trying the CorelDraw Home version, which is $60 at Amazon, and getting good results with it. I’m going to stick with CorelDraw, at least for now, as I know it and have been using it for years. It costs me one-hundred bucks a year, and they send me all the new versions, which is not too bad.
I still have a day job, and writing smut is just a fun exercise. My goal is to make enough money to keep me in computers and camera gear. That’s been working pretty well, but my sights are set on a new Canon R5 system, which is going to blow my savings in one fail swoop.
My other long time hobby is photography, and I shoot a lot of models in town. It’s incredible the number of girls who will take their clothes off for pictures. Everybody wants to be a star, and Las Vegas is almost like LA. I trade pictures for modeling, and everyone is happy. The girls are all looking to have photos to post on Instagram. With digital cameras, you don’t have to spend hours in the darkroom and just have to pop the SD card into the computer and, voila, there are pictures.
I got started when I was in high school, and things are so easy today. The new generation of cameras is capable of outstanding results. I used to use a Hasselblad when I shot film, and my Canon digital is so much easier.
Now I’m shooting mostly landscapes, flowers, inanimate objects, Wifey as social distancing makes it more challenging to work with people you don’t know. When COVID-19 is finally behind us, I can go back to shooting girls. Of course, I still shoot tons of shots of Foxy. She was a model when we met, and I’ve got tens of thousands of pictures of her, but variety is the spice of life. She’s my best critic and always helps me edit the photos I take.
Hunker down and stay safe. Read a dirty book and get ready for next month. Foxy and I hope that you stay safe. We’ll get through this!
Hi Larry – I’m glad to hear that everything’s in hand ready for Masturbation Month 🙂 Hopefully we’ll all get through this without contracting Covid-19 or too many blisters.
Cover-wise, I’m a GIMPer, but I’m jealous of your opportunities to get models to pose in exactly the right way to fit your covers. There’s nothing worse that trawling through stock photos.
Do you mean Say Safe, or should the title be ‘Stay Safe, Jerk Off’ ?
Del – But that’s what I typed! Or, that’s what I thought I typed? Why don’t computers do what you want them to rather than what you tell them to? Thanks for the heads up!
Computers get viruses too
True, but I’m usually my own worst enemy!
Hey, Larry!
Love the Little Darlings sign!
I was just reading about Inkscape in a tech blog. I might give it a try. I use a very old version of Corel (like, from 1995…) and it works pretty well, but it does have some issues, like not handling PNGs with transparency.
I’m just about to go work on the next Erotic Lure, which will of course have a masturbation theme.
Del – But that’s what I typed! Or, that’s what I thought I typed? Why don’t computers do what you want them to rather than what you tell them to? Thanks for the heads up!
Well, I’m 0 for 2! Somehow I posted Del’s response twice. I guess this is what happens when you start typing before coffee.
For an open-source program, it’s actually pretty good. I’m using 1.0rc1 which is the prerelease of version 1.0. It’s a lot like CorelDraw and is pretty good, especially for free. I’ve used Corel for a long time and since I’ve already paid for it a long time ago, I only have to fork over the maintenance fee.
Good luck on your next story.
New York State has issued a series of health guidelines for people to follow in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19, specifically relating to how they can stay safe while having sex during the pandemic. The number one takeaway? You’re best off getting off all by yourself .
I would expect that having safe sex with PPE would be kind of difficult. Especially having to spray your dick with Lysol! LOL
Thanks for the health note.