Author name: DahliaDW

The public eye can be a very scary place.  Just ask actors, musicians, singers and authors, just to name a few. Criticisms run rampant.  You’re too fat, too tall, too boring, too skinny, too nasty, too quirky, too eccentric , too inaccessible.  Yes, yes, poor us, right? But remember that even as a person who is not in the public eye, you are still subject to critique, from bosses, family, friends and media.  Every commercial is designed to sell something, and in order to get you to purchase the product, they first have to let you know that you have a problem that only their product can solve.  It’s subtle, but it’s there.  Too fat?  Get a weight loss pill.  Eyelashes too short?  Get this mascara.  Pores too large?  Buy this facial toner.  Too wrinkly?  Buy this makeup, plus this cream, plus this treatment masque.  Don’t you feel and look

You can always count on me to be the liquor to your parties.  That was me with the Long Island Iced Tea  and the Vampire Sangria.  So, I’m back with hard mulled cider.  Plain cider is nice, but adding a kick is even nicer.  Prepare to enjoy. Ingredients 2 quarts apple cider Dried apple slices Thinly sliced orange 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/8 tsp nutmeg (pinch) 1 cup dark rum cinnamon sticks for stirrin’ In a large pot, combine all ingredients except the rum and bring to a simmer over low heat.  Allow mixture to remain for about ten minutes. Remove from the heat, add the rum. Serve in mugs with a cinnamon stick and enjoy. If you want to make ahead, put the mixture in a slow-cooker on “keep warm” and add the rum just before serving.

Please join me in welcoming  Bellamy Black, author of Goal!  A Love Story, published with Entranced Publishing.  Bellamy was kind enough to take the time and answer a few questions for us: 1. What books have most influenced your life most? Two spring immediately to mind Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. On the surface they don’t seem to have much in common, one is about Victorian era governess and the other about is about a young Black-American girl in a dystopian future, but they both featured women who believed in themselves and knew themselves and wouldn’t betray themselves and I really liked that. Plus, they both went on amazing journeys in their lives. 2. Do you see writing as a career or as merely a hobby? How about a vocation? Writing has always definitely been more than a hobby for me. Even