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How to Make a Good New Year Resolution

Andrew Michael Miller2 Comments

Here we are again, at the end of one year, hopeful and ready to greet a new one. It is no secret that this year was a hard one for a lot of people. More than three times as many people reported feeling depressed during the pandemic, when compared to prior to the start of it. Along with that, we saw an increase in the amount of binge drinking and other substance abuse during the year. Unsurprisingly, the obesity rate has also risen significantly during this very tough year. It was a very tough year for mental and physical and even spiritual health, and even though the new year is about to start, we're not out of the woods yet. Now that the new year is about to begin, have you already set a resolution for yourself? How can you ensure that this new year resolution will work? Are you ready to make the commitment to yourself? Here are some ideas on how to establish good habits and get the most out of the new you that you will make, one day at a time this new year.

The Gifted Wars – 32 Years of Bitter Feuds (Part II)

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As mentioned in Part I, the Gifted Wars was a period of time during the formative years of the settlements of the peninsula of Caelon during the early years of the Age of Kings. Before the conflicts started arising between the fledgling settlements and the Torian seat of power in the White Walled City, the country had seen a period of peaceful exploration and reclamation, thanks to the efforts of the First Son, his Ten Saints and the crusaders who vanquished the demons who prowled the land. Although the earliest conflict in the Gifted Wars happened as part of an uprising against the Torian command, many of the battles that were fought during these three bloody decades were not directly against the Torians at all. Perhaps one of the most famous cases involves a failed betrothal between two of the largest settlements of that time, known now as Ismar and Shalona.

In Honor of Christmas – Borrowing from Stories You Know and Love

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Christmas time has come again. As you wrap your gifts and prepare for a little Christmas of your own, you sip on some delicious egg nog and realize you want to commit to writing a book, script or short story. But where to begin? What story can you possibly write that hasn't been told before? How do you know if your story will be truly original, or if people will accuse you of stealing your idea from something else? The solution is simple. Don't stress about it. Go ahead and write your story and embrace the similarities with another story. Every story ever told is both a unique creation personal to the writer and a blend of elements found in other stories that the writer has consumed at some point in his or her life. You probably will not write a truly original story in your lifetime, but that doesn't mean you can't write many truly great stories.

The Gifted Wars – 32 Years of Bitter Feuds (Part I)

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Near the beginning of the Fourth Age, as much of the ancient settlements of Caelon were claimed by the earliest settlers of the post-demonic era, a problem of leadership arose. The men and women who set out to lay claim to the land were sent on expeditions chartered by the Prime Consul of the White Walled City, but at some point it became clear that the blood of the First Son would act as a chaos agent working against the order that the Torians sought. The plans to run a unified bureaucracy under Torian rule were met with the ambitions of men with unnatural powers who would fancy themselves kings, unbeholden to the command of the Torian leadership. The ensuing conflicts that came next would be remembered as the Gifted Wars.

The Dangers of Subverting Expectations

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Think about a book, movie or television show that has stuck with you over the years, but not for good reasons. What story left you speechless in a bad way when it was all told? Did the lighthearted book you picked up have a sudden graphic sex scene in it that made you uncomfortable? Did you go into the movie theater expecting Luke Skywalker to solve all of the main character's problems? Did your heroic dragon queen go insane and burn everyone alive at the end of the final season of your show? Let's talk about the modern trend of subverting expectations in storytelling, and why you, as a writer, should really consider the dangers of it before attempting to do so in your work.