S. A. Crawford
Bio
Writer, reader, life-long student - being brave and finally taking the plunge by publishing some articles and fiction pieces.
Achievements (14)
Stories (211)
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Queen Maidhe's Gift
The Age of Progress dawned with smoke and fire. Things were changing in the cities and fields of the world; men and women toiled in hell-hot workshops filled with molten metal and flying cotton. Arabella Luton watched the changes with untrained eyes, but at the age of eight, she already understood that there was more than one world. There was the world of liquid metal where grey-faced men and women in drab clothes were free to do what they wanted, but lacked the money to do it... and the world she lived in, where money was no problem but freedom was in short supply. She lived like a doll, dressed and coiffed and plucked by her mother until she chafed, patted and petted by her father when it was suitable and ignored when it was not.
By S. A. Crawford3 years ago in Fiction
Overcoming Mid-NaNoWriMo Stagnation
So, the 15th of November is approaching like a runaway train and you realize you've hit a block. For days you've been staring at the last sentence of your work in progress, wondering how you got here, what went wrong - where did your ideas and passion go? Don't worry, mid-NaNo fatigue is a phenomenon I'm familiar with, even if you won't find it mentioned in the average psychological journal. Of course, writer's block is a well-recognized problem and it's my humble opinion that the dead end most of us reach mid-NaNoWriMo is a supercharged version of that issue.
By S. A. Crawford3 years ago in Journal
The Last Song
Under a bruised sky, ruptured by lightning, in the smoke and haze of the clearance zone, three hundred figures in green and yellow clashed. They fought in a no-man’s land, kicking up ash onto logging machinery while the old forest, bent and weary, shivered. Its canopy was greyish, not green; it stood alone on the barren face of its world, holding memories and desperate animals in equal measure.
By S. A. Crawford3 years ago in Fiction
Why You Should Carve a Halloween Turnip This Year
The traditions surrounding Halloween are truly ancient; dating back to the pre-Christian era and the Celtic festival of Samhain, traditions such as dressing up (known as Guising in Scotland) are widespread. There is one tradition, however, that is arguably more iconic than any other: carving Jack O'Lanterns.
By S. A. Crawford3 years ago in FYI
Hiding from Devils: 'Guising' on Halloween
Born in Scotland in the '90s, I always knew this tradition as guising - it wasn't until the Americanization of our culture began in earnest that I heard it called "trick or treating". Less than 500 miles from the Artic Circle (with certain parts of the country closer to the Arctic than London), Scotland is dark and cold October. The nights draw in quickly and seem to hold intent, the air is cold and wet, biting at times, and the smell of decaying leaves and foliage is one I associate with this time of year thanks to the semi-rural nature of the town I grew up in.
By S. A. Crawford3 years ago in FYI
NaNoWriMo Prep
The National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) is an authorial institution, of sorts. Founded by Chris Baty in 1999 with a word count goal set by finding the shortest book on his shelf (Aldous Huxley's Brave New World), NaNoWriMo has always been about the glorious spirit of "let's fuck around and see what happens", but that doesn't mean it's easy. Writing an average of 1,667 words per day isn't as easy as it sounds, after all.
By S. A. Crawford3 years ago in Journal
What I Learned From Self-Harm
This is an uncomfortable topic for most people, but the truth is that it never has been for me. Self-harm was always the best alternative to suicide, always the choice I made rather than breaking down... and I got very good at it very quickly. If you're starting to get angry, feeling that this is a glamourization of something seriously twisted now might be the time to dip out.
By S. A. Crawford3 years ago in Psyche
