New Writing Assignments, Ideas?

[Pastor]

On top of the journal she writes in every night, my sub is required to complete writing assignments that consist of a question, a deadline, and a word count. Its pretty straight forward. But I am having a hard time finding subjects specific enough for the assignment.

My first assignment was 1000 words. I asked her to describe herself, what she liked/disliked about herself, and what she wanted for herself. But after a catastrophic failure, I found that I was not being specific enough. she worries about answering the question properly and that thought process limits her capacity to succeed. she stresses out really fast. Stress destroys her clarity of thought.

So here is a short list of things I have thought of. Please give me any advice from what you have done and what worked. Add to the list for me! I am really struggling here!
The list:
-What is pain and why is it necessary?
-What is your greatest flaw?
-What is it for you to please Master?
-What makes you feel weak?
-What do you truly objectify?
-What is it to truly hate someone?

I have not asked her any of these. After the first debacle, I am back in the planning stages and think that I need to rethink the perspective I am using to write these questions. I need help.

-Pastor

[cadence]

I guess it all really depends on what you would like her to write about.
I find that things I struggle with such as tasks, limits, self esteem issues and my basic understandings of a D/s relationship are those that I am asked to write about.
I procrastinate so I have to write about that, why I do it and why I shouldn't.
I was also asked to write about the things I enjoy. My cello playing for example, I write about how I feel when I play, what I do, and what I study, etc.....


If she is interested in something specific, that she has little knowledge of, have her research it and write a few short paragraphs about it.

If she is struggling with her thoughts and stressing out from writing them down, maybe try and ease up on the assigment. Don't give her a wordcount, if she wishes to write a paragraph or three, let her use her own discretion.
Tell her that she doesn't have to write out a well formulated essay, maybe have her do it in point form. Tell her to write down thoughts as they come up. I know I stress out quite a bit because I cannot write or formulate my thoughts as well as everyone else can. I in fact hate posting because of that.
When she becomes more comfortable with writing out her thoughts, you will notice it will become easier to her in time. To me writing is a practiced thing, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Even have her take an online writing course, there are some free ones out there, and it does help.

For more ideas try this link, it is related to all things D/s but there are a few good writing assignments there.

http://www.sensual-service.com/category/journal-prompts/

[Pastor]

Thanks for the link!

[almostsubmissive]

Pastor,

I agree about the word count. If you limit her; you may be leaving information on the table. How about...What rules has she broken today? My master gets to read that...if I'm very good I post daily...if I'm bad I guess not, but that is also up to me. Sometimes I journal more than one time per day...he loves it, and he reads it at His leisure, not mine...if there is something that he especially likes, then I am required to assume the position and read it to him again...

[In2kink]

As I read your post I observed two separate issues. First, you mentioned the journal and I didn’t understand you to say you required any word limit for that which I think is good. Journaling should focus in my opinion on thoughts, feelings, what she is experiencing, etc. and she should feel free to write as little or as much as she finds needful.

With respect to the writing assignments however, I think a word count is useful. It promotes efficiency and self-discipline in the writer. It prevents someone from writing too little and not adequately addressing the assignment and also forces them to focus and write what is important rather than rambling. Most writing courses do employ a word or page count for those reasons.

As far as subjects to write about, I think you must first decide on what it is you wish to accomplish through giving writing assignments. Giving a writing assignment just for the sake of giving an assignment I think is not very useful. Do you want to expand her knowledge on a particular lifestyle related subject? Do you want her express to you how she feels about something in particular? Do you want her to reveal to you her nature, likes, needs, fears? Once you have an objective firmly in mind, I think it will be much easier to think of suitable topics.

As an example I might ask a submissive to write for me a favorite fantasy so that I can gain insight into what her preferences and needs are. As an alternative, I might provide her a fantasy setting and require her to complete the story which would give me similar feedback. If I wish her to expand her general knowledge of the lifestyle then I might give her specific assignments on topics to research and then report on. (e.g. Discuss Erotic Humiliation) I would try and make these type of assignments as open ended as possible because as you move towards more focused specifics, I can see how she would find that more stressful. You could also refer her to a BDSM glossary and have her choose a topic that she isn’t familiar with to research and write about.

Limits I think are always fertile fields for writing assignments. Have her write about one of her limits and why she feels that it is an activity she isn’t willing to explore. This kind of assignment not only helps you to learn about her but allows her to learn more about herself.

[Shwenn]

Oh, wow, I have some ideas for you. Right now, the point of her writing assignments is to get her confident about writing.

Until she gets comfortable with these assignments, you should have her write things where there is no real need for her own opinion. Descriptive stuff. She can add her opinions but they are not required. This will help her find her voice.

1. "Caress the detail, the divine detail." Vladimir Nabokov

Have her sit down with a mirror and really look at her vagina. She has to describe every detail of it to you. I think this would be wonderful because I think a lot of women don't ever really look at themselves there. Men have such amazing relationships with their penises that we don't usually have with our vaginas. A minimum word count would probably help with this.

2. Show her a picture, some erotic picture and have her write about it. She can write anything she wants but she has to do it with her left hand (unless she is left handed in which case she has to use her right hand). Disregard if she is ambidexterous.

3. She has to write something erotic. But, she has to walk through the alphabet as she does it. "As Bob careened down Elgin freeway, gulls hovered in....." Like that. She won't have the energy to think about what she is writing, it's so difficult to follow the rules.

These are the sorts of assignments that demolish the kind of obsessive self-criticism that paralyzes you as a writer. Get her out of that habit and you can give her more meaningful assignments.