A new beginning

Dear readers,

I have contemplated for a long time whether to hand my free time over to Miss Melanie again. And yesterday I finally did it. (by the way even she noted that I'm a contemplater ;-))

But what can I say. When you indulge into these mental games you need a clear head. And you need to make up your mind. And I needed to feel comfortable with the arrangement because I didn't want to risk having to give up again so quickly as I did last time.

I'm actually quite happy with the new arrangement (let's see for how long ;-)) because it irons out the weak spots of last year's arrangement. Back then, I told Miss Melanie at the beginning of each week how much free time I have every day. And then she could occupy this free time whenever she liked. The obvious downside (for me, not for her) was that I was never sure when I had to write for her. Now this may sound great in fantasy but it is not so great in reality because you can never really plan ahead or do something spontaneous - or just hit the sofa after a hard day's work. And let's face it, even a sub needs some downtime to re-energize.

I had to write out our
arrangement 20 times.
(I've blacked out my
personal free
time activities)

So this time it'll work like this: At the beginning of each week I'll tell her my free time for each day. In return she will tell me which days I will definitely have off. The other days may or may not be occupied by writing depending on her mood.
Twice per month I can spontaneously reduce my communicated free time for the specific day, allowing for unplanned personal activities that come up during the day.
Additionally I have the possibility to delay or suspend a task if I'm really not feeling well, however this will earn me a punishment point. After accumulating three points I will get a punishment (I haven't yet received a punishment task from Miss Melanie ... and I'd like it to stay this way). I can reduce the points tally by volunteering for an additional normal writing assignment.
Two of my regularly recurring free time activities are blocked, meaning that she can't take my free time away during these activities (though one of them can be axed if she feels that I need to be punished).

This is obviously more complicated than the simple arrangement from last year. However I think and hope that it will last longer this time. The inserted "emergency valves" make me confident.

And maybe it inspires those who think about agreeing to such a commitment but are still as hesitant as I was.

Cornelia

Coming up on Thursday: the lines I did for Miss Melanie a few weeks ago (I didn't want to cram everything in one post)