Where the hell have I been? Well, among other things, I’ve spent the last couple of months of refocusing and redirecting my efforts on the book.

The Book… I’m calling it, “the book project.” It is most definitely a project and a half.

I was really excited at the prospect of writing the whole thing this year. Well, masturbation fans, that ain’t gonna happen… I really do want to do this right, and not just fast. The hard truth is, I’m a working stiff like all of you (I assume) and I have to work a day job to pay the mortgage, the bills, the IRS (oh, don’t get me started there) and to eat of course. I also have no disposable income to speak of.

And it turns out that writing a book costs money. At least, writing this book costs money. I had a rude awakening after coming home from my very first research trip to San Francisco last month. I went down for four days to interview the “Floundering Fathers” of SF Jacks, and attend one of their events. It was a great and successful trip in a dozen different ways.

But it was also something else. Something decisive and project-changing. It was a total drain on my meager finances.

So, I have gone back to the drawing board and spent the past month adjusting my battle plan. Here’s your own sneak preview:

1. Budget! I met with a good friend who is a financial advisor and project manager. He set me on the path toward actual responsibility with this project. He showed me how to draft a budget, how to make it better, and how to create a genuine project plan from it.

2. Fundraising! I began working with another friend who produces video and started work on a book trailer. I’ll be deploying a major fundraising push before the first day of Summer to raise at least half of my needed funds before the last day of Summer (and hopefully, all the money I will need to write the book)

3. Research! Not all of the research I want to do will come from face-to-face interviews and circle-jerks with new friends in far-flung places. There is actually a lot I can do right here at home. I’m working with a research assistant to help me create the definitive Jacks survey. That should come out this Summer as well.

4. Practice Interviews! I have started meeting with a select group of respected friends, people not already involved with JO clubs, to interview me on the subject. What this is doing is honing my message, sharpening my pitch and preparing me to be the spokesperson for social masturbators everywhere.

5. Writing! This is actually the number 1 priority, but I put it last for impact. I could have just gone back and reversed the numbering to go from 5 to 1, but to hell with it. I’m on a roll…

Writing needs to happen every day. It needs to be practice. I may even dare to call it “sacred” practice, although I am as irreligious a heathen as you’re likely to find.

So there are lots of “next steps” but the most crucial next step is writing today. Whatever day it is, regardless of how I feel, it is a day to write. About anything. I must set fingers to keys every day and put words together. So it’s a big dose of back to basics.

And I look forward to posting some of my dirtiest work right here. You may hold me to that. 

Thanks for your patience these past weeks. There is plenty to come.