Jumpstart Your Journaling 31-Day Challenge, Day 7 (Art of Manliness)

Here is the day 7 writing prompt:

Day 7: You’ve made it one week! Reflect on what this newfound practice has been like. Getting through the first seven consecutive days is truly the hardest part. Have you enjoyed it? Has it been difficult? Has it been what you expected?

Jumpstart Your Journaling 31-Day Challenge, Day 6 (Art of Manliness)

Here is the writing prompt for day 6:

Day 6: Pick a quote from our 80 or so quotes on manliness and manhood and reflect on why it stands out to you. Does it reflect a man that you aren’t yet, but hope to be? Does one of them remind you of a great man in your life who you’ve tried to model? If you can’t seem to reflect on a single quote, just take the time to write out a few of them that you like. Doing so will keep them top-of-mind and perhaps lead to some thoughts later down the road.

Jumpstart Your Journaling 31-Day Challenge, Day 5 (Art of Manliness)

Here is the day 5 writing prompt:

Day 5: Write a letter to a loved one. Chances are high that there is someone in your life that you’d like to say something important to. Maybe it’s a wife, a parent, a grandparent you never really got to say goodbye to…take the time today to write that out. It can be positive, negative, or anywhere in between. The beauty of this letter is that you aren’t sending it in the mail, you’re simply “voicing” something that needs to be said. Should you choose to share it later, that’s okay, but you don’t have to. Doing this can be a great way to heal anger that’s been pent up inside, or to release a pressure valve of sadness we may have been harboring over something lost.

Jumpstart Your Journaling 31-Day Challenge, Day 4 (Art of Manliness)

     Here is the writing prompt for Day 4, on breaking bad habits:

Day 4: Via negativa; today, pick a habit that you’d like to eliminate from your life. Bad habits are like armpits, we all have ‘em and they all stink. Whether cutting soda out of your life, or putting a stop to your porn addiction; either way, as with yesterday, think about the steps you’ll take in order to put the kibosh on that negative habit. And again, also think about how you’ll keep yourself accountable to that goal.

Sign of the Labrys (Margaret St. Clair) - Appendix N and Beyond!

Title: Sign of the Labrys
Author: Margaret St. Clair
Appendix N Status: Part of the original Appenix N list by Gary Gygax

     One of the books that was part of Gary Gygax's (in)famous "Apppendix N" in the original Dungeon Master's Guide, this book is more what they call "weird fiction" than anything else. It is unfortunately not nearly so good as The Shadow People, the other Margaret St. Clair book mentioned in the appendix. 

     Set after a biological apocalypse (caused by "yeasts" that wiped out more than 90% of the population), this book follows a character named Sam Sewell as he quests through an underground world (partly natural caverns and part bunkers built for the nuclear war that never came) in search of a witch named Despoina, and slowly realizes that he is himself a hereditary witch of a sort. There is a weird mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and both Wiccan imagery (St. Clair was, in fact, connected to the early Wicca movement, and was apparently an initiated Gardnerian witch) and ancient Minoan and Greek imagery (hence the name "Despoina," Greek for "Lady," and the title's reference to the sign of the "labrys" (the double-bladed axe of Minoan iconography). 

     Some of the D&D elements I found in the book were:

* Dungeons and Dungeon Levels - The "dungeons" are part of a bunker complex built for a nuclear war, and most of the "monsters" in it are either experiments gone wrong, human enemies, or hallucinations, but still, the elements are there, as well as strange portals and traps and such. There is even something particularly D&D-like about the way each dungeon level has its own unique flavor, and they talk about the way things are on one level or another. This theme of exploring a weird underground world was also strongly present in The Shadow People. 
* Mythological elements connected to Minoan/Cretan myth and Greek mythology
* Magic is present, and strange, the adventurers possessing unique magic through the power of Wicca, though their enemies possess adaptations of "some of [their] techniques."
* There is a sort of rugged survivalist element to the tale, the heroes forced to endure the strange elements of its underground Otherworld, which seems to be a pretty common element in D&D campaigns. 

     All-in-all, it was fairly enjoyable, but not nearly so much so as The Shadow People. Still, a good read for fans of Appendix-N-type literature. 

Jumpstart Your Journaling 31-Day Challenge - Day 3 (Art of Manliness)

     Here is the day 3 writing prompt from the 31-day challenge from The Art of Manliness:

Day 3: Decide on one positive habit you’d like to implement in your life. Whether seemingly mundane (like flossing) or perhaps life-altering (exercising every day), think of something you’d like to add to your life that will be beneficial. Then, think about the steps you’ll take to get there, and how you’ll keep yourself accountable.

Jumpstart Your Journaling 31-Day Challenge - Days 1 & 2 (Art of Manliness)

     I am undertaking the 31-day "jumpstart your journaling" challenge from The Art of Manliness. I'll be writing in my private journal, so I shan't necessarily be posting my journaling to this blog, but I figured I would share the writing prompts from the challenge. I started yesterday, but didn't get around to posting to the blog until today, so here are the first two writing prompts:

Day 1: Start with answering the question of why you want to journal, and beyond that, why you decided to embark on this 31-day experience. Write out what you’d like to get from journaling.

Day 2: Continuing to work within that idea of constraints, try to write a six-word memoir of your life so far. This idea is rumored to have originated from Papa Hemingway. The benefit is that with only six words, you really have to filter your life to what you deem most important. It may take you many iterations, but you’ll end up with something that speaks largely to who you are, if notin toto, then at least in this moment in time.