Running HOT and COLD

Image by Jonny Lindner from Pixabay

Submerge.

Can you feel it?

Does the tingle flush heat tickle thousands of teases along your flesh?

Yes?

Good.

Now come up for air. Face to the sky, breathe and hold space until warmth becomes hot, so hot. The heat inside rises above your usual climate.

Time to get cold.

The frigid air startles when you come out of the hot soak.

You know that’s nothing as you rush to the plunge that makes you shriek.

You force yourself to go under.

Only your face comes free.

This plunge is cold, so cold.

Your breath comes in short gasps and the freeze holds you hostage.

You count quickly and hope time will pass swiftly.

Then something shifts.

You stop fighting it.

You stop hating it.

Cold becomes comfortable.

The chill is now a thrill.

Your mind floats to the ethers and expands to infinity.

You could stay there in stillness forever, you think.

Then the chill hints of kill, well not really kill, but the cold has penetrated you.

It’s time to get warm.

The air affects you not as you run back to the hot.

Submerge again.

So the tingle flush heat tickles thousands of teases along your skin, more vivid, more intense.

You savor that warmth flooding your bones through your flesh.

You breathe slowly and wait for the heat to become hot, so hot…

Doesn’t that sound fabulous?

Soaking hot and plunging cold is even better when you actually do it.

I learned about this incredible practice at Hippie Hot Springs, one of my favorite places in the whole wide world.

At Hippie Hot Springs, all your needs are met through no exertion on your part. There are 3 meals a day served at the same time every day. Food is served buffet style. When you’re finished, you drop your dirty utensils in the appropriate bins after dumping your leftovers in the compost.

And that’s it. Besides keeping your cabin tidy, there are no chores, leaving you free to soak, sauna, and show up on time to eat.

But the quartet of pools with increasing temperatures, with a cold plunge at the end of the deck are high on my priorities. The hottest pool can get up to 112°F or as low as 106°F. Most of the time, the HOT pool hovers between 108°-110°F.

The cold plunge is a small wooden tub and the temperature varies. The water is not freezing, but after heating up in the HOT pool, it sure feels like it.

This is not for the faint of heart. But if you want to clear your lymph and purge the ICK of life out of you, go at least 7 rounds between the HOT and COLD.

The recommended times vary, but it comes down to 2:1 ratio of hot to cold, or half the time you spend in the hot, spend in the cold.

It sounds insane to deliberately mess with your body temperature like that, doesn’t it? But this is incredibly good for you.

Dilating and constricting your blood vessels is amazing for the circulation of your blood and your lymphatic fluid.

Our lymphatic system, which removes bacteria and other foreign invaders our bodies don’t need, plays a vital role in our immunity. Yet lymph doesn’t have the strength of the heart behind it, thus moves at a slug’s pace on its own. Exercise moves lymphatic fluid to the nodes.

And so does running hot and cold.

Even though I know how healthy and euphoric this is, this practice never ceases to daunt me. I cringe every time.

I’ve been known to do a couple of partial rounds to warm up before going into the official 7 rounds. You can break down the time however you like, but I’m fond of 2 minutes of hot to 1 minute of cold.

This is approximate, because I’m hardly working with a timer. I’m counting in my head. But the bottom line is to stay in each temperature as long as you can until you feel uncomfortable.

It’s hard to believe.

But once I get used to it, I find myself CRAVING the COLD.

I even move my limbs so that there isn’t a part of me that isn’t chilled. The bliss of that moment when the freeze becomes pleasurable is impossible to truly describe.

Sometimes I stay longer than the allotted time until the cold starts to hurt.

Then it’s time to get back in the HOT. Every time the heat rushes in, my skin comes alive in a whole new way.

By the way, don’t forget to stay hydrated. That is really, really important.

Then it’s back to the COLD.

If you want to go more than 7 rounds, go for it. Cautiously, of course.

This isn’t just good for the body. You are also creating an altered state of consciousness with this practice.

It is an ultimate natural high. The more rounds you take on, the deeper the dive. I’ve reached the edge of delirium more than once.

Then the bell rang and it was time to eat.

Don’t ignore that call. Eating and drinking is good after doing something like this.

But can you imagine feeling depressed, angry, anxious, hopeless, sad, or lonely after a practice of running HOT and COLD?

For me, that isn’t possible.

Physically, I feel so alive every time I do this. And mentally, I’m so deep in the peace, there’s no room for anything else.

This also works with sauna and steam.

So give HOT and COLD a try. You’ll feel incredible.

Tapestry of Life - On the Road #3

Hey y’all,

Every time I'm on the road, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly friendships are bonded and easily untied - especially as the need arises.  There's something about traveling - being suspended from the day to day life of jobs, rent, bills, social obligations, community service, and established groups - that suspends the usual rules of how people interact with each other. Boundaries are lifted, discretion is almost an insult when making friends and forming temporary community from town to town.

I met Ann at the Amped Cafe in Homer, the day after I arrived in town. She's torn between career and more school, and which way to turn. There was an immediate bond that forged itself when she mentioned living in her truck, with a dog, and a Holly Golightly-style best friend that was halibut fishing with a new fling who "wore his mullet well," and thus, was currently unavailable.

What a coincidence! I'm also living in my truck.  

Ann talked me into doing a reading at the open mike that night to get warmed up for the Concert on the Lawn that first weekend. The next morning, she met me at 8:30 to help me set up my booth and was in and out every so often, as the need arose.

Hey, she got into the concert for free. After the weekend, she felt comfortable enough to let me stay in a tent outside the mullet-fisherman's house and I had a place to reorganize my truck and make coffee in the morning.

At the Concert on the Lawn, a volunteer named Lia offered to let me park my truck and sleep in her van with a double bed if I needed a place to stay. She was widowed from the love of her life two years before, and she had done her fair share of adventuring in her youth. She was also letting a young man stay on her property that was on a spiritual path of Buddhism and daily meditation, so it was really no big deal. But she felt the need to assure me that she wasn't coming on to me and that the young man was not her lover. 

When Ann moved on to Seward to look into a possible dream job, I gave Lia a call and after it took her a moment to remember me...

"Oh yes, the Scheherazade..." she said. (I totally dug that compliment) before giving me directions to her house. 

She got a little reluctant about using her van, but I had a place to park, and a kitchen to make my coffee, and an outhouse to do my business, and my body was scrunched again into my truck's proportions.

She told me her story, and it turns we have much in common.

"We are all interconnected," she said. 

If she ever comes to Juneau, of course she'll have a place to stay.

Ann's sweet dog was hit by a car on Saturday night and killed, so she left Seward by the time I got there and the Holly Golightly-style best friend met her in Anchorage. I doubt I'll see her much from here on out, but I have a couple of pieces of mail and her PO box key. I'm sure we'll keep in touch and all, but I suspect that Ann was my Homer friend.

So here I am in Seward to do table to table storytelling at the Resurrect Art Coffee House in Seward. I'm staying at the hostel and it feels like high luxury accommodation to be able to stretch out in sleep and have a place to put food.

This morning I was looking forward to coffee in the communal kitchen and writing in my journal when a born-again Christian wrecked the peace of my morning today when she had to tell me her story of giving her life to the Lord and how happy she was that she didn't have to be good enough to get into heaven, because God sent his Son to die on a cross for her. It's incredible that Christians never stop to think how sadistic and cruel that is... 

I felt my energy being sucked dry...dammit, I knew I should have kept my distance.

When I couldn't take anymore of her being saved speeches, I got up and told her abruptly that I had gotten screwed by the same system that had done so much for her, and would she please stop. She said, yes of course and we made banal chit chat and wished each other a good day.

I'm only one thread on the tapestry of life, and these intersections are only a moment and some are a part of beautiful patterns and others...are not.  

But then my thread runs on, as does theirs.

As Lia said, we are all connected.

Peace,

Montgomery

PS: This is the 3rd email from my DIY booktour roadtrip that started in the summer of 2005. Ann was the first friend I made on the road, and her sweet dog, Wiley, snuggled against me one night when I was feeling lonely and sad, and maybe a touch of anguish. As amazing an adventure as this was, there were some things that were going on in my personal life that weighed heavy on my heart. I realized Wiley could feel my pain and was trying to comfort me. Later, it hurt so badly to hear that that sweet dog had been killed (frankly, from Ann's carelessness), that I couldn't bring myself to include that moment in this email at the time I wrote it. I regret that. So better late than never that Wiley was remembered as the awesome being that she was. I hope that dog reincarnated to a more responsible owner. Wiley also proved the point of how all of us are interconnected.

PPS: I never saw Ann again, and we didn't keep in touch.

How to Grow as a Writer (and Get Outside Your Comfort Zone)

No matter how hard you try, you can't stay in the same place. The thing is, you can either choose to let life's whims direct you, or you can grab the bull by the horns and see how you are at steering.

If you want to choose your own adventures as a writer that will help you learn more, grow more, and write more (and more better), you should be thinking about ways to push out of your comfort zone and give your creativity more room to wiggle.

I once heard someone talking about growth. He used an interesting metaphor: the lobster. When a lobster grows, he begins to push against his shell. It becomes uncomfortable.

Once the discomfort becomes too great, the lobster retreats to a safe place and sheds his shell, so he can regrow a newer, more roomy shell.

The process repeats.

Growth comes from doing things outside your comfort zone.

This post is all about how to break out of rut of familiarity and routine and into new realms of creativity, growth, and progress.

Routine is good. Routine is bad.

Routine, that thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, has you eat three regular meals a day (or six, like me), and has you brush your teeth before bed.

But routine, when it breeds familiarity and comfort, can be bad.

Creativity benefits from outside perspectives. If you go to the same cafés to write, or hole up in your writing space, you'll suffer from a lack of "fresh air" that can really blow your abilities up.

The fix?

Do | Learn | Discover new things.

You can change up the location of your writing space and see what new influences you can find to stimulate your story.

You can invest in a community college course that will inform you of new ideas, perspectives, and challenge old assumptions.

Make a list of all the things you'd love to do but don't have time for, and DO one of them.

Experiment with a hobby one of your characters has.

Dress like the opposite gender for a day.

Take a day trip to a town you've never been before.

Practice silence. Dedicate a day to complete silence. Even texting.

Read outside your genre. Love mystery and hate romance? Give a top rated romance novel a whirl!

You can come up with your own ideas for how to break out of your comfort zone. And when you do, interesting things will happen.

Leave a comment below with your own suggestion for pushing past your comfort zone!

How to Keep Motivation High While Working Alone

The writer's life is a lonely one.

Especially as a self-published author, you are your own boss, responsible for your own deadlines and schedule.

When you've got a new idea for a book, it's easy to get fired up and spend hours on end writing your heart out. But I've often found that many authors experience a slump in the middle of writing a novel. When all that brand new excitement has drained out into thousands of black marks on a page.

When difficulty sets in.

When you really have to start figuring out plot devices and how to reconcile issues, or even realizing that the tense is wrong for what you're about to undertake.

Or maybe life rears its complicated hydra-heads and you cut back on your writer hours in favor of focusing on your family, your work, or anything else.

For whatever reason, if you've found motivation and passion for writing isn't at the level you'd like it to be, here are a few ways to keep your motivation revving, even when you're feeling overwhelmed.

How to Keep Motivation High While Working Alone

Work Out Your Passion Muscles

Stephen King famously said that waiting around for your muse to show up isn't the job a writer. The job a writer is to write. If you show up every day, on time, and get down to work, you're doing the writer's job. But let's be honest, not every day is going to be filled with the same level of motivation and excitement. The key here is to not fall into a slump where you've been so unmotivated for so long that writing begins to feel like a drag.

Fact: your mood is made up largely by your physiology.

Imagine this: you're sitting at your desk, slumped down in your chair, neck forming double, triple chins where there weren't any before. Your fingers smack the keyboard sloppily. How are you feeling about your writing? How can you possibly feel anything but unmotivated, tired, and bored?

Now imagine this: you're sitting at your desk, feet planted solidly on the floor, your back erect and your chin jutting out as if you're a Royal espousing a new decree. Your fingers hit each key with confidence and vigor. How are you feeling about your writing? Even if your head is saying, "this sucks, I suck" you won't be stuck there for long. You can't be.

Harvard social psychologist Amy Cuddy has revealed that the way you carry your posture actually affects the amount of hormones in your body. You're not simply tricking your body to be more motivated, alert, and powerful when you adopt a particular body posture, you're changing your physical and mental landscape.

So the next time you're feeling lackluster about writing, try changing your posture to one that's brimming with power, energy, and excitement.

Practice this daily. As often as you can. Someone once said if you think you can go around your day feeling 80% unmotivated and disinterested, it's ridiculous to expect you can turn on passion and drive for the 20% when you really need it.

Bring passion and excitement into everything you do and it will spill naturally over to those more difficult tasks, like writing.

Enlist a Buddy

If you're finding writing alone is a lonely pursuit, and you'd rather not be stuck at home alone or in a noisy café anonymously plugging away at the keyboard, enlist a writing buddy or join a writers group. You may thinking of this as a non-option because working with a friend or in a group would mean you're too distracted, but if you establish a few ground rules at the beginning, like using the first 5-10 minutes to chat and catch up, and then 20-30 of uninterrupted writing time, you've successfully navigated that problem.

Writing buddies or groups can help you hold yourself accountable. You don't even need a physical buddy to do this. You can have a writer friend that you've met online hold you accountable by requiring you to send them x pages or chapters by a specific deadline.

Having someone else holding you accountable helps you not slack off, and can be a productive way to reinvigorate your motivation if you find it slipping.

Use Novelty

If your motivation is really flagging, change something! Your passion for writing has always been there, you know that. So when you're feeling unmotivated to write, just think: it's not me. Your environment can go a long way in affecting your motivation. Maybe you've been writing in your home office for the past few months and the routine environment is hacking away at your excitement.

To fix this, try switching things up, like working from a coffee shop, college library, or hotel lobby. I used to have a few specific places I could rotate through so that novelty stayed fresh and I wouldn't fall into boredom simply because I was too used to the locations I was writing from.

Novelty can work in other ways too. If you always write in the morning, try switching to writing at night. If you write on the computer, try switching to a notebook for a little while. These hacks can boost creativity and inspire you when you find yourself flagging.

Track Accomplishments

There's no better way to keep your motivation high than to acknowledge you're doing good work and making progress. After all, one you've written the book your ultimate goal is over. That moment of true completion is so brief, so your motivation better not be coming from the idea of having a book finished or you're doomed. 99% of your time is spent on writing, so your achievements are coming not by finishing the book, but by making progress.

Log your accomplishments at the end of each day and you'll be inspired to continue every day. After a while, those achievements are going to add up: 30 pages, 50 pages, 100 pages...so give yourself a boost of happiness by celebrating certain milestones you set for yourself.

Stay inspired. Stay writing.

Please share any other motivation tips you've used in the comments below!

Replyerotica

Are you ready to play?

The rules:

1) use one of the following prompts to begin your erotic tale. You can write as much or as little as you like.

2) send what you've written to info@freeflyingpress.com

3) We'll post your [attributed or anonymous] below the appropriate prompt.

4) Anyone can continue writing where you left off! Just browse the stories, write some more, and we'll keep adding!

It's collaborative erotica and it's a blast to play!

We can't wait to read & share what you've come up with!

The Prompts:

The continuation....

Author: Nonbinary Me

...he knew what I really wanted and I could see it in his eyes! I took flogger out and I could see he was excited. Lay down I tell him, NOW! Roll over! I start softly running the flogger up and down his bare back, then one flog on his firm ass, two flogs.... I know he was loving every minute of it .....

Send your contribution, short or long (size doesn't matter here) to info@freeflyingpress.com or using the form below!

How to Write a Book Review

Book reviews are not all created equally. As a reviewer, you can gain raving fans who hang on your every word...if you know what kind of details to give them, that is. Want to know how to write better book reviews and earn followers?

Take Notes

When you're reading, keep a pencil handy. If you hate marking up the pages of your book, or if you're on a kindle, use a separate notebook. I like to highlight quotes I found particularly delicious, and make a general outline of the character relationships and plot. This will help you when you move onto step 2, which is creating a brief summary.

Often we read a book and then want to talk about it -- but can't remember the details. By taking notes you'll make it so much easier to jump into writing your review so that it's compelling, clear, and spot-on.

Offer a concise summary - but leave out the important details.

The best way I've found to do this is write the review as if it were a long-form blurb on the back of the book. You want to leave tension and mystery so that the reader will want to pick up the book and read it herself.

Look at the backs of other books and get inspiration for what kinds of information you could include and what you should leave out.

It's especially helpful to find a book blurb for inspiration that's in the same genre as the book you're reviewing. Each genre has its own way of appealing to an audience. Ie. a mystery is going to sound different than fantasy or sci-fi.

Putting a summary first lets the reader decide if they're interested in the book depending on the book's own merit, which is why I suggest leaving your personal opinion for after the summary.

If you start off saying "I liked it," or "I found it really dull," you cloud the reader's ability to decide for themselves whether a) they trust your opinion or not, and b) if the book's summary suggests the same.

Once you've laid out the landscape of the book, the reader can then seek your opinion. After hearing about the plot, what you thought about will make a lot more sense than if it came before.

Include personal details by explaining how the book as a whole affected you.

Was it fast or slow? Was the writing on point? Readers want to hear how you felt when you read the book. Once you've established credibility by writing a solid summary, you can offer your own thoughts about the fluidity of the writing or the stilted dialogue.

Be sure to temper your opinions and back them up with the contents of the summary -- you don't want to undermine your credibility by slamming the author when the summary seemed like everything was pretty good.

Go deep.

For a stand out review, go deeper than just stating the plot and how you felt about the book. Give the reader some tantalizing information by answering the question, "What really stood out?"

Character development? Plot twists?

Make sure your language is up to snuff. Readers judge reviews based on how well they read, so please please edit your review and make sure your grammar and spelling are on point.

Wrap it up with a strong call to action.

End by telling the readers what you want them to do. Kirkus review has a rubric their critics like to use:

Buy It = this is a can't-miss, fabulous book; Borrow It = not perfect, but we think you'll enjoy it; Skip It = critical miss

Follow this recipe for a review and you'll build up a stockhouse of raving fans in no time!

Interview with Author Erica Dakin - The Theft and Sorcery Trilogy

Erica Dakin has been writing for as long as she can remember. “I've always had characters in my head, and thought up stories for them. It's not something I consciously started doing, it was just something to pass the time." Although writing just started out as something for her to do for fun, she soon realized that her hobby might actually be something people want to read when her friend ended up really liking her very first story, A Shire Romance. This was her first effort as a writer, and the story is still near and dear to her heart. She still has it available for free on her blog- you can read it here.

However, fantasy has always been her favorite genre. She would write stories for her characters in her play-by-mail role-playing game, and her current trilogy even started from a Dungeons and Dragon's campaign.

“I've never been a fan of heavy, gloomy literature - I prefer stories of magic and heroism, of dragons, elves and the triumph of good over evil. Some of the earliest things I read as a teenager, aside from The Lord of the Rings, were books like The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, and The Deathgate Cycle by Weiss and Hickman.”

Considering all this, she believes that it would be impossible for her to write anything but fantasy.

Speaking of Fantasy and Dungeons and Dragons, half-elves are often the main characters. The reason for this comes from her DnD background as well, although she admits that part of is has is because she likes pretty people “Because romance is as important in my books as the fantasy part, I want my protagonists to be good-looking. I could have chosen for them to simply be elves, but that's where my tabletop role playing background kicks in: elves are too fragile. In Dungeons and Dragons I always played half-elves, because they were prettier than humans, but sturdier than elves.”

In addition to that, she is also a big fan of the graphic novel series Elfquest, and she says that her half-elves have been heavily influenced by the author Wendy Pini's artwork.

When it comes to writing, she doesn’t have a standard writing process. For her, the key is to go with the flow, and not try to force anything. - In general, she can spend anywhere from zero to several hours writing at a time. She typically writes in the afternoon or evening, and isn’t much of a morning writer.

However, it all depends on how much the story itself prompts her to get it down on to paper. Even at her full-time job, she sometimes secretly has a word document up on her computer and will stealthy write some of her book in-between assignments. “I'd print it out without saving (no evidence!) and then work it out when I got home.” and then once she’s home, she barely has time to do anything else like cooking or cleaning to devote every spare moment to writing.

Nowadays, she’s slowed down her writing, but her favorite part about being a writer is the writing process itself.

“It's immensely satisfying when you've had a scene or a plot in your head for a long time to finally see it written down, even if that version has ended up quite different from how you had it in your head. It's also really great when your characters start leading their own lives and start dictating their actions to you. You know your characters are alive and working when you try to write down a scene and have to stop halfway through because one of your protagonists is shouting in your head that they'd never do something like that.”

Unfortunately, her least favorite part is everything else that comes along with that, especially the amount of effort it takes to try and get your story out there and make it stand out from everything else that’s being published. “So far I've not been very successful at it. It's also hard to see negative reviews, even if I understand their value and (if they're constructively written) I can take advice away from them. In the end it's someone bashing your baby, and you can't stop yourself from shouting 'but you don't understand!' while you're reading a bad review.”

But despite all that, she has this advice to give to aspiring authors:

First, understand the value of second, third and maybe even fourth drafts.  “The first draft of your story should never be the one you put out to publish. Sit down and manually rewrite your first draft rather than tinkering with it, because often even if you end up writing the same scene, you'll find a better way of wording it.

“Secondly, get good beta-readers and a good editor. They will point out the plot holes you missed, the spelling errors you never saw, and they'll tell you the bits that worked and didn't work for them. You don't always have to listen to them, but always get those other opinions.”

Lastly, she recommends that you take the time to really correct and polish your work if you decided to self-publish: “If you know your own spelling is mediocre, invest in a good proof-reader. Don't let your book be of a lesser standard than those from established publishers. Also, don't use words unless you know exactly what they mean. I once read a book where the author clearly really liked the word 'moue', and knew it had something to do with mouths, but never bothered checking exactly what it meant, so kept misusing it.

Of all her books, her third was the hardest to right. She suspects that this is because she had the least idea of what was going to happen in it, just the beginning, end, and a few events in the middle. She ended up making up most of it as she went along, which is what made it so difficult. Despite that, most people consider her third book to be the best.

One essential element she see reoccurring in her books is Dark-haired, dark-eyed men. “Can't live without them. You'll never see me have a male protagonist who's blond.”

As for the covers of her books, she says that she’ll be the first to admit that they don’t quite reflect the content. She was inspired by the Game of Thrones book covers, and was reading A Song of Ice and Fire when she was about to self-publish and admired the simple design of one main color and one main symbol. For her protagonists, she chose a dagger for her thief, a rose for her courtier and a set of flaming torches for her juggler.

An advantage of this to her was that she didn’t have to find an artist to draw the art for the cover because she has a very clear idea of what her characters look like, and wouldn’t have been happy with any artist’s rendition. The only disadvantage of this is that the book covers look more plain and don’t reflect that the story inside is just as much about romance as they are about fantasy.

All in all, her books are a success and are definitely worth a read! Here is her website where you can check out her books:

 https://theftandsorcery.wordpress.com/

How to Name Your Fantasy Characters Like the Best of Them

We all know that characters are the life blood of any story, no matter what the genre. Here's a brief guide designed to help you find the best names for your fantasy novel's characters. Even if you have a concrete character design with a fully-fledged backstory, realistic strengths and weaknesses and you can write beautifully from their point of view, they are still going to fall short if they don’t have the right name. You know how important your characters are, and they need to be named accordingly.

Names can serve many purposes in your story. Your characters names can be used to set the theme, foreshadowing, or even irony. Take Buffy the Vampire Slayer for instance. In case you haven't seen it, it's a TV show about a teenage girl who slays vampires and deals with other forces of darkness and evil. Although “Buffy” seems like a silly name for such a dark theme, it really brings out the show’s ironic and joking element. Since it's actually a comedy show at heart, the name is very fitting. In popular teen novel Divergent, we are introduced to a character named Four. Although no initial explanation is given for this seemingly strange name, it’s later revealed that this is because this character only has 4 total fears in a society where bravery is praised and having only four fears is legendary.

Be sure to take your book’s setting and time period into consideration when naming your character. Be aware of when certain names where first used and gained popularity. If your novel is set in the 1700’s, a modern name like Tiffany of Jessica would be out of place. Do research into your setting and see what some believable names are for that era.

If your setting is purely fictional with no direct correlation to human civilization, you can get away with any kind of name that you want. After you’ve decided what kind of a society you want your fantasy setting to have, then you can begin to brainstorm some good names that might be given to its members. A good way to do this is to think about what is valued in this society. Is it religion? You can base many character names on the figures on your universe’s religion, just like many names in our society have biblical roots.

If your fantasy setting is based on water, like an ocean or river, then more aquatic themed names can work. If they have their own language, like an alien society, then their names can literally translate to things like “deep water” or “gentle current” or “skilled fisherman”. Depending on what sort of a feel you want your society, you can choose names that give off a certain feeling. Like if you wanted to have your society to give of an unsettling vibe, use more macabre names that variations of the words dusk, skull, shadow- even regular names that just sound creepy or are associated with that theme, like "Poe".

A less blunt way to do this is to look up synonyms for words like “shadow” or “black”, or even the translation of those words in other languages.

Once you’ve decided on a name, say it out loud. See how it sounds. Try different pronunciations. What are all the ways a reader could pronounce it in their mind? Consider a child seeing this name. would they have trouble with it?

Google search the name and see what comes up. If you’re writing a happy and uplifting story and your name search comes back with a serial killer, then maybe reconsider.

It’s important to have a name that fits your character. A hardened bounty hunter rouge would need a tough and sturdy name, or at least an alias to go by if they need to be taken seriously by your readers. An affectionate or childish name like “Timmy” may not be fitting. Of course there are exceptions like Davey Crockett or Billy the Kid, etc. Just keep your character's nature in mind, and how you want the audience to view him or her.

This isn’t to say that you can’t use an inaccurate name to describe a character. “Little John” from Robin for instance, was a larger character, making his name ironic, like mentioned above.

Fantasy writers have a lot more freedom when it comes to naming characters than other fiction writers. While some fiction is grounded in reality and meant to take place in our human society, past present or future, fantasy doesn’t have to follow this rule at all. In a fantasy novel, all of the characters can be named after a color in a certain society, or a race of aliens can have their own unique and complex naming system of your choosing. Fantasy writers also don’t have to be restricted by time period either. Even if your story does take place when the pyramids were being built on earth, if you’re writing about a different reality than you make up your own rules for how things work in your novel. Just one of the many perks of writing fantasy. Anything is possible.

While it’s true that you can get away with so much more, you still have to keep in mind how much readers are willing to believe or go along with. Everyone has their limits for suspending their disbelief, so in general just try to keep it coherent enough for people to follow along.

But since you since you have this freedom, why not have fun with it? Some readers might even expect you to use outside-of-the-box names. All in all, just do what feels right for your book.

Creative Fantasy Writing Prompts Online

In one of my earlier blog posts, My Top 10 Tricks for Writing Inspiration, I mentioned that a good way to quickly become inspired is to look at writing prompts online. I linked my Pinterest account where I already have a collection of inspiring writing prompts (which you can find here), but in reality, there are so many more quality Fantasy writing prompts out there online. That's why I wanted to make this post showcasing some of the better ones to make it easier for you. (Just like I did with my recent post: Need a Laugh? Here’s a List of Some Good Jokes) Plus, this long list will help ensure that you won't run out of new prompts once you've gone through all of the ones one website has to offer: (I put my favorite one first!)

Fantasy Writing Prompts - The Grimmoire

25 Fantasy Writing Prompts - Justin McLachlan

Free Creative Writing Prompts: Fantasy - Build Creative Writing Ideas.com

Creative Writing Prompts for Sci-Fi & Fantasy Lovers - Writing Forward

Science Fiction Story Ideas - Write Pop

And just in case that's not enough for you, here are some Fantasy Prompt Generators:

Seventh Sanctum Generator

Genre, Plot, & Story Prompt Generators - Spring Hole

Create a blurb for a fantasy - Plot Generator

Whether you're struggling from writer's block or just looking for something fun to pass the time, writing prompts can be a terrific resource. I hope you found this list helpful!

7 EASY Ways to Improve Your Writing

No matter how long you write, it can be hard to see improvements- especially quick improvement after trying a new technique or style. But here are a few proven ways to improve your skill quickly and noticeably.

• Set aside time to WRITE more every day

Most writers already try to write everyday, but this is different- actually plan to block out a specific time to JUST write. This time will be reserved to write and do nothing else. Make this time as uniform as possible from day to day and it will be much easier to form into a habit. Don’t make appointments during this time, and make your family and friends aware that you will not be available during this time of day, and etc.

Make sure you are as distraction free as possible, turning of or silencing cell phones, tablets, email browsers, ANYTHING. Make sure you have everything you need around you, water, tissues, a snack, etc. Try to avoid leaving your writing as little as possible. If you have difficulty concentrating at home, I recommend that you go out to a café or library to get some work done.

• Set aside time to READ more every day

All writers know that reading a lot is JUST as important as writing a lot. So just like you will set aside time just for writing, make sure to clear a large block in your schedule everyday for reading as well. Just merely planning to 'read for two hours' at any old time of the day is too easy to put off or not do at all, but if everyday your plan to write from 3:00pm-5:00pm then you’ll be able to develop a routine and stick to it much easier.

• When watching TV shows, plays and movies consciously think about the writing.

Every production you see, no matter how small was written by someone. Think about how they chose to write it and  how you would change it. Would you make it better or is it flawless? Which ever way you feel, try to find out why. What speaks to you? What do you enjoy? These are the things you can incorporate into your own writing. After reading a short story or essay, a good exercise is to try and write in the author’s same style, like you have to write a bonus chapter in the novel but no one can know it wasn’t written by the author. This gives good literary perspective and will greatly help you improve.

• Switch Genres

What ever genre of writing you identify the most with, try to write the polar opposite. Or try to write a piece in ALL of the other genres. Write a research paper, a sci-fi piece, explore fantasy or fable, write a persuasive argument, or a poem. Get out of your comfort zone and try something new.

• Have others read your work

Sometimes you actually are improving, but it’s impossible to see it for yourself. That’s why it’s good to get an outsider’s perspective and ask someone you trust to read some of your drafts. They can give you much needed insight to how your work is without the bias of being the author.

But like you would with any advice, make sure you take what they have to say with a grain of salt. It is your work after all, you will make the final call. But try to be open to constructive criticism, even though your story can feel like your baby.

• Keep your mind sharp

Whether this means doing the daily crossword, reviewing your old algebra notes, or reciting the alphabet backwards, try to find some way to keep your brain active and focused. There are a multitude of memory aids and games that help you stay savvy. Something I like to do is write down every question that I have during the day (for example: "How DOES my air conditioner work?"), and I try to make sure I answer at least one of my questions everyday. This will help you learn so much more about the world around you, which by default helps widen the scope of your writing.

• Lastly, explore all the internet has to offer

We all know that just about any question can be answered by the internet. (Like how you found this blog post for example!) There are too many websites to count that can help you improve as a writer, from Merrian Webster to Urban Dictionary- and don't forget Blog posts like this one!

Thank you for reading, I hope it can be of some use to you!

How I Organize My Writing Process

As a writer, I’m always coming up with new ideas for my stories, but these ideas don’t always come up at the right time. When I’m standing in line at the grocery store is a less than ideal time to have a revelation about one of my characters, and I can’t just sit down in the middle of checkout lane #2 and write it out. That is why it has become essential for me to find ways to organize my many ideas and writing. So without further ado, here are helpful ways to organize your writing and ideas in a more effective way:

• The first thing you can do to help organize your writing is to write down every idea that you have AS SOON as you can! I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a story-changing idea and was too confident that I’d be able to remember it. Well now those ideas are lost no more, and all because I started using my cell phone's notepad app to quickly type out an idea to remember later. If your cell phone doesn’t have a notepad app, or you don’t want to use your cell phone, I recommend that you carry around a tiny note pad and pencil in your pocket or purse. Most book stores or stationary stores have small pocket sized notebooks, some of which even come with their own pen/pencil attached! I’ve recently started carrying around both a notepad AS WELL as my cell phone just in case I ever forget my phone at home or it has low battery. I still tend to use my cellphone more though because I’m less likely to forget it at home, unlike the notepad. The only thing you have to think about with the notepad is making sure you have enough pocket space and a usable writing utensil at all times.

-Once you have all of your ideas written down, you can then decide whether or not you want to use them later. The most important thing is that they are recorded at all so you have the option of using them at the very least.

-After you've complied your list of ideas/concepts from your phone or notepad, the next step is to prioritize them. Prioritize them as you see fit- maybe by which ones need to be cleared up first in order to move on with your story, or maybe just which ones you feel like doing first. You can even break them up further in to categories if needed. Then work through each idea and then cross it off the list. This will give you an accomplished feeling and motivate you to cross more of them off.

*Bonus Organization Tip*: If you know you get distracted by clutter, open a new word document for each new part of your writing so you can have a fresh start without distractions from what you’ve already written.

• Sometimes the idea itself needs organizing. Often times I’ll be stuck between to different ideas, unsure of which one I want to use in my story, or I need to work through a particular idea or problem that arises from the idea before I can move forward. When this happens, I sit down at my computer and just type it all out. I basically type my stream of consciousness as I think about the issue, weighing the pros and cons of the issue and etc. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or punctuation-just get all of your thoughts down on the page. This is a great way to work through an idea or problem/conflict in your story, especially if you’re having doubts about it. Express your doubts and feelings and analyze them and fix them. Working through the problem by typing it all out makes your jumbled thoughts much clearer.

Since you are reading this blog post, presumably you are a writer. I think this particular method of working through an idea works best for writers in general, but there are variations of this same activity that may work better for you:

-if you’re more of a visual person, you can also draw it out.

-if you’re more of an auditory person, workshop it/talk it through with someone else.

Feel free to try it my way, but ultimately you know what’s best for you.

• If you’re on the computer doing research, bookmark every web page you find useful. In my internet browser I'm able to make folders for my bookmarks, so I always make one folder per story/project so everything I need will be in one place. Make sure you bookmark everything that you read, even if you think you won’t ultimately use the information. This is especially helpful if you do end up referencing or quoting something in your story that you weren’t originally planning on, but you don’t remember where you got it from. Now you’ll have all the websites you looked at in one place to make it easy.

• Speaking of folders, I recommend that you have all the documents you write for a certain project in the same folder on your computer as well. If you prefer to use a type writer or write by hand, consider buying physical folders or even use a file cabinet (if you don't have one already). But for those of you who write electronically, you can make a filing system that works best for you, but personally I make one folder per separate story / writing project and save everything I need in that folder. If your computer gives you the option, it can also be helpful to color code your folders for even more organization. This can help you identify folders at a glance and save you time. Organize your documents in a way that makes sense to you- but try to keep simple to minimize confusion.

*Bonus Organization Tip*: Make sure you name every document with something memorable so that you’ll be able to recall exactly what’s in it. Most people don't realize this but sentence-long titles are fine! I find that the more specific the title is, the better.

• My last tip is: use note cards! If I’m trying to figure out a plot line or the sequence of any given events, I find it helpful to write each event down on a note card or small piece of paper to arrange and re-arrange on a table until I’m happy with the order. This can also help me see if any events or ideas are unnecessary or redundant, where I might not have realized it before.If you’re having more trouble with the sequence of your story beyond that, sometimes it helps me to try to explain a common fairy tale to someone who hasn’t heard it before. That way, you have to think about which information to give first and how to say it to make the story the most interesting and coherent as possible. Make sure you choose a story with a loose plot that you have a general understanding of. Like Little Red Riding Hood- you know the basic plot points: going into the woods, meeting the wolf, arriving at grandmother’s house, etc. But this time think about how each part relates to each other and how to best tell the story so the other person understands. Telling kids stories works best for this, since they most likely haven't heard it and you'll need to simplify it to only necessary information for them, while keeping them interested.

So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed my tips for better organizing your writing.

My Top 10 Tricks for Writing Inspiration

  When inspiration strikes, it gives us a wonderful flow of power and motivation, and enables us to produce high quality work at a fast pace. But who has the time to sit around and wait for inspiration to spontaneously occur when we all have pressing matters and deadlines to meet?

This is exactly why I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 most effective things that inspire me to write instantly!

No one knows how to say anything better than Writers. Luckily, there are countless websites out there devoted to quoting authors and their knowledge. Authors offer many words of wisdom, comfort and humor, but their most valuable quotes by far are the advice they give to other writers. Whenever I read a quote, I find that my determination and enthusiasm are completely revitalized. So many quotes from famous authors have inspired me that I decided to tweet one a day on my twitter account. That way I can feel inspired to write every single day, and hopefully help inspire someone else in the process.

Have a look for yourself and follow me for your daily quote of inspiration: Montgomery Mahaffey @FreeFlyingPress

Like most writers, I’m a regular at every minor and major book store around. If I’m out running errands and a book store happens to be nearby, I can’t help myself from stopping in to browse the ‘New Arrivals’ section. Being surrounded by books is a wonderful feeling, and it always gives me encouragement that my very own book will someday be among them! Not to mention, that magical smell of new books is an instant anti-depressant. So stop by your closest book store (or Library- after all, it’s free!) and pick up some new books to read.

Thanks to the internet, sharing images is easier than ever. Just through one Google search alone, I can see into any number of people’s homes, cars, bed rooms and offices. People are posting pictures of themselves and their lives in abundance, and some of them really know how to make things look good. Seeing other author’s picturesque workspaces never fails to inspire me to clean off and organize my desk. Especially since working at a crowded desk makes my thoughts muddled. Once I clear everything off and put it back in order, it’s like whipping a dirty windshield clean. Give it a try for yourself, and who knows? Maybe all of the clutter you’ve gotten used to might actually be sabotaging your creative process.

I chose this image because I’m primarily a fantasy writer, and luckily for me, there are ENDLESS amounts of beautiful fantasy art for me to gaze upon. One of my very favorite websites for finding inspiring fantasy images is Pinterest. There are so many talented artists out there, and they make me feel like I’m looking right into the world I’m writing about. Then while I’m browsing, I often discover something new to put in my story. If you use the right key words, regardless of the genre you write- you can always find some inspiring images that relate to your story.

Here’s my board on Pinterest dedicated to Fantasy Inspiration: Fantasy Inspiration Board - Fantasy Fashion Board

No matter how much I love books and reading now, I never would have gotten this far if it weren’t for my favorite authors. I recently made a list of those special few writers who really made an impact on me with their work and vision. Once you have your own list, revisit every book you’ve read by them, and think about what you like most about it. If I don’t already know, I try to learn more about the lives my favorite authors led and how they got to be famous. Learning about great writers always inspires me. Here’s my list as an example:

• Jeanette Winterson: “Sexing the Cherry” and “The Passion”
• Isabelle Allende
• Tom Robbins
• John Irving
• Truman Capote
• Jane Austen
• Agatha Christie
• Florence King
• Hans Christian Anderson
• John Kennedy Toole

Of course it’s necessary to understand something well before writing about it, but I often find that research on its own is more than enough to inspire me to write a few pages.

Once I have a complete understanding of the way something in my story works, like alien technology or landscape, I feel unstoppable. This is especially true if something in my story is based on a real concept or item, then I can learn as much as I can about it and have lots of reference material to fall back on.

So take some good notes and make sure you really do understand a concept by explaining it to someone else.

For me, listening to the right kind of music is key for my writing process. If I really need to concentrate, I listen to music without lyrics, such as classical music or alternative lyric-less audio. If I’m writing a sad, dramatic, angry or exciting scene, often movie sound tracks provide excellent mood music, and Pandora has endless stations to choose from.

Music doesn’t even have to relate to your story, you can just put on your favorite song or any classic inspirational track like “Eye of the Tiger” or “Don’t Stop Believing” and dance around your house until you feel inspired enough to write!

Odds are that you already know what type of music you like and works best for you, so just think about how you can apply it better to your work. Maybe your favorite genre of music can be doing more for you than you realize!

When I’m really stuck, I always have this trick to fall back on. Pick up your laptop and writing supplies and get out of the house! Whether it’s just sitting to the neighborhood park for 5 minutes, or spending the afternoon in a warm coffee shop, getting up and moving around always gets my thoughts flowing. When I go somewhere else to write, like a café or library, then I have nothing to do but write. In this a way, I give myself no choice but to get things done. The same thing can’t be said when I’m writing at home, surrounded by distractions. Another great plus to being out in public is people watching. My stories always contain people, so observing real live humans is a great benefit for my writing.

While I was already on Pinterest looking at inspiring fantasy images, I also found a number of intriguing writing prompts, (as well as genius writing tips & tricks). So while you’re already on the internet from my last tip, open up a new tab to search for some Writing Prompts.

Pinterest is my favorite, and I’ve devoted an entire board to it, so you don’t even have to do any work: Writing Inspiration Board - Writing Tips & Tricks Board

It might seem strange to think that not writing at all will help inspire you, but putting too much pressure on yourself and forcing yourself to write is a no-go. If I concentrate too much on trying to write well and quickly, I often get less done and the quality of my writing suffers. Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself and your writing is to just back off and take a break. Go relax and have some fun. Watch a movie with friends or go on an outing, and do your best not to think about writing. You’ll find that as soon as you stop stressing over what to write, the answer becomes clear and comes to you naturally.

Well, that's my list! I hope it can be of service to you! What are some things that inspire you that I didn't mention?

How to Revamp a Fairy Tale

We all love them: the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, the new re-tellings of fabulous fairy tales by contemporary authors such as Aimee Bender or Kevin Brockmeier. Fairy and folk tales have a lot of allure. They touch on universal topics, they're strange, they captivate, transport, and feel real all at once. Fables are the inspiration for Ella Bandita and the Wanderer. They're easy to contemporize because they have such universal themes. This post is going to give you a few quick, easy applications for transforming your favorite story into a new, contemporary piece. Want to be inspired?

Download your free story of Scheherazade - my retelling.

How to Make an Old Story New

There are, of course, many ways to re-tell a story. You do it all the time when you're telling your friend what happened on the latest episode of New Girl, or when you're describing the jerk at work whose sour attitude always spoils your day (I hope you've more experience with the former, not the latter!). So that's your story telling backbone. Now, take a fairy tale you know a little something about -- it doesn't have to be well -- and try some of these exercises on it to see how you like the story you've created.

I'll start with my favorite:

• Write the story from the point of view of the "evil stepmother/brother/witch/sorcerer" and make the reader sympathetic to them. OR, and this is maybe even better, make the sympathetic character the evil one (ie, Cinderella's really a nasty, scheming gold-digger).
• Replicate the story exactly, but change the setting to a contemporary landscape. For example, Francesca Lia Block updated Cupid and Psyche by turning them into a couple who met on an online dating site. (It's a GREAT story! Read it!)
• Combine two fables. See where the original stories intersect and create your own based on that comingling. (like the little Mermaid meets Leda's swan)

• Ms Litterati recommends this, and it sounds like loads of fun: take away the magic. "A fairytale without magic sounds completely ludicrous at first but it’s a way to put a fresh twist on your story. Think about the movie A Cinderella Story: it follows the storyline of Cinderella without having an actual fairy godmother to wave her wand and help transform Sam, the “Cinderella” character."
• Copy the plot of a fairy tale, then put in characters from another book. Everyone handles situations differently. Just imagine if Hermione were in Harry Potter's place...

What are you ideas on how to revamp a fairy tale? Link to your story in the comments if you want to share one!

Ours is a highly individualized culture, with a great faith in the work of art as a unique one-off, and the artist as an original, a godlike and inspired creator of unique one-offs. But fairy tales are not like that, nor are their makers. Who first invented meatballs? In what country? Is there a definitive recipe for potato soup? Think in terms of the domestic arts. "This is how I make potato soup." --Angela Carter

Remember to sign up on our mailing list for actionable advice about self-publishing and fantasy writing. Plus, I'll send you a copy of Scheherazade for free!

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