Shipping Fictional Characters Isn’t Representative Of Your Moral Values. It’s Representative Of Your

physically go to your local library at least once. seriously.

look around. find a random book with a cover that catches your attention. read the description. read the first page. if you like the sounds of it, borrow it and take it home to read. borrow a handful of books even.

if a book loses your interest, drop it. if a book grips onto you, ride that wave.

i've struggled to read recreationally for years despite having read so much as a kid. a lot of us are frozen by the seemingly infinite choices. even when we buy books to take home, we don't read them because which book is worth reading first? we don't have to decide, we have it right here in our bookshelves, we have an eternity of never deciding.

in this past month, i have read five books, most of them i've never heard of when i spotted their cover at the library. most of them, i've ended up loving. the due date of library books maintains the ability to read a book so i can return them to the library and leave the library with more books. an even better incentive than borrowing ebooks, because i actually have to leave the house and not be a hermit.

so if you used to enjoy reading but struggle with it now, ignore the book recs you hear. go to the library, come across a book that piques your interest, and read one page after another until you either lose interest or finish the book.

then it's onto the next one.

Anaïs Nin, Fire: From “A Journal of Love”: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1934–1937

I can't stress enough how much I miss StumbleUpon

no offense but if i exit out of a program that program should close. none of that running in the background shit.

A sea of purple heather and cloud capped mountains, my perfect piece of wilderness. Rhinogydd, Eryri National Park

Pirate Terms and Phrases

-> Pirate Lingo

-> A Pirate's Glossary

Batten Down The Hatches - tie everything down and put stuff away for a coming storm.

Brig - a prison on a ship.

Bring a Spring Upon 'er - turn the ship in a different direction

Broadside - the most vulnerable angle of a ship that runs the length of the boat.

Cutlass - a thick, heavy and rather short sword blade.

Dance with Jack Ketch - to hang; death at the hands of the law (Jack Ketch was a famed English executioner).

Davy Jones's Locker - a mythical place at the bottom of the ocean where drowned sailors are said to go.

Dead Men Tell No Tales - the reason given for leaving no survivors.

Flogging - severe beating of a person.

Gangplank - removable ramp between the pier and ship.

Give No Quarter - show no mercy.

Jack - flag flown at the front of the ship to show nationality.

Jolly Roger - black pirate flag with a white skull and crossbones.

Keelhaul - a punishment where someone is dragged under the ship. They are cut by the planks and barnacles on the bottom of the ship.

Landlubber - an inexperienced or clumsy person who doesn't have any sailing skills.

Letters of Marque - government-issued letters allowing privateers the right to piracy of another ship during wartime.

Man-O-War - a pirate ship that is decked out and prepared for battle.

Maroon - to leave someone stranded on a. deserted island with no supplies, typically a punishment for any crew members who disrespected the captain.

Mutiny - a situation in which the crew chooses a new captain, sometimes by forcibly removing the old one.

No Prey, No Pay - a common pirate law that meant crew members were not paid, but rather received a share of whatever loot was taken.

Old Salt - experienced pirate or sailor.

Pillage - to steal/rob a place using violence.

Powder Monkeys - men that performed the most dangerous work on the ship. They were treated harshly, rarely paid, and were expendable.

Privateer - government-appointed pirates.

Run A Shot Across the Bow - fire a warning shot at another boat's Captain.

Scurvy - a disease caused by Vitamin C Deficiency.

Sea Legs - when a sailor adjusts his balance from riding on a boat for a long time.

Strike Colors - lower a ship's flag to indicate surrender.

Weigh Anchor and Hoist the Mizzen - an order to the crew to pull up the anchor and get the ship sailing.

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Yeah now we've entered the back pain stage

World-Building Tools and Resources List

If a link has a ⭐ beside it, it means that it is a resource that I personally use regularly, or have used in the past. Most often, this will be links to programs or other like resources.

If a link has a 💖 next to it, that means that I really like the content of the link. Most often, this will be for links to media, such as videos.

Please note that I have not tried everything on this list.

APPS AND PROGRAMS

⭐Fantasia Archive (Free)

Tennessine Flag Maker (Free)

Fantasy Calendar (Free limited version, subscription full version)

Bubisco (Free limited version, paid full version)

Campfire (Free limited version, subscription full version)

World Anvil (Free limited version, subscription full version)

Legend Keeper (Free trial, subscription full version)

One Stop for Writers (Free trial, subscription full version)

Inkarnate (Free limited version, subscription full version) - suggested by @trager-bombs

WORLD BUILDING QUESTIONS

Reedsy

Ellen Brock Editing

SFWA

GENERATORS:

World Maps:

Donjon’s Fantasy Map Generator

Mewo2’s Fantasy Map Generator

💖Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator

City/Village Maps:

💖Watabou’s City Map Generator

💖Watabou’s Village Generator

Eigengrau’s Town Generator

💖Probabletrain’s Modern City Map Generator

Street/Neighborhood Maps:

💖Watabou’s Neighborhood Generator

Location Details Generator:

Rangen’s Country Generator

Rangen’s City Generator

Donjon’s Fantasy Calendar Generator

Rangen’s Laws Generator

Springhole’s Random Holiday Generator

Springhole’s Landmarks Generator

Arkimedz’s Star Map Generator

Donjon’s Demographic Generator

Springhole’s Plant Generator

Languages:

Vulgar Language Generator

Madequa’s Glyph Generator

Money:

RanGen Currency Generator

Springhole Currency Generator

MAP MAKING

Cartographers Guild (Map Tutorials)

⭐Wonderdraft (Map Maker. Paid )

MISC

Dan Koboldt (a blog about getting the science right in Fantasy and Sci-Fi)

💖Food Timeline (shows what what people ate in history)

💖Orbis: helps estimate travel time based on distance and travel type

YOUTUBE

Ask a Mortician: Has videos about historical death customs

English Heritage: The Victorian Way: A series all about Victorian life

💖Modern History TV: Medieval Life

Tasting History: Historical Recipes

Hands on History: Viking history mixed with advertisements for their tours

Grimfrost: Viking history mixed with product advertisements

The Welsh Viking: Viking history

The British Museum: History told through artifacts