Category: Lifestyle
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Adventures of a Northern Author: August
Personal Adventures When you live as far north as I do, August symbolizes one thing…winter’s coming. And while August was an exceptionally hot month, the urge to start preparing for winter is strong. We cleared land, picked berries, went out on some adventures to hidden lakes, and I found a large stash of mason jars…
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Adventures of a Northern Author: July
Summer in the north is gorgeous but exhausting. And for those who aren’t familiar, I live in the actual north—right on the 60th parallel in a small mountain town that sleeps beneath a blanket of snow for nine months of the year and then is a busy, bustling little tourist hot spot the other three.…
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Magical memory loss and PTSD
Trigger: Discussion of PTSD from multiple Sexual Assaults (non-graphic). These are my experiences and I recognize that symptom severity, healing timelines, and experiences are all unique to those who live through them. I do not, and will not ever, speak about mental health in a prescriptive way, only through my own lens. Fantasy and magic…
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Get Sweaty, Get Creative
Almost all my ‘writer’s block’ (in quotes because I don’t believe in it) is cured by one thing. Movement. Every plot problem and character snag comes to me when my heart rate is elevated, my face is pouring sweat, and I’m usually on top of a mountain somewhere with no notebook or pen (of course).…
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Writing romance as a form of therapy
Trigger Warning: non-descriptive mentions of trauma, PTSD & SA When you feel fundamentally unlovable, creating characters with similar questions is a safe way to explore the answers. Without getting into gory details, this is an ode to writing romance novels as an act of therapy. Making sense of the trauma When I began writing, I…
ALLISON MARTIN 