Blogging – Page 3 – Dahlia DeWinters

Why I Write and Other Shocking Revelations

“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic, and fear which is inherent in a human situation.” ― Graham Greene I’m not going to start off this article with a starry-eyed reminiscence of how I longed to write as a child and left little scribbles of unfinished genius yet to be found in my bedroom in my childhood home. Even though that may be true. No. My purpose of sitting down and writing this instead of tooling around on Toon Blast is to clarify for myself as to why I write. And you’re gonna listen. While you, as a reader (and all authors are readers) may think the answer is simple: I like to make up stories. Or you see the quotes bandied around social media about “the story within”… Continued

Blogging, Monday Motivation

Who’s in Your Tribe – Motivation Monday

Hello! Thank you for joining me today on the blog. Today, I’m naming names! If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Writing is a very lonely pursuit. I’m not speaking of the times spent on social media talking/posting about writing; I’m talking about those long stretches of time where you’re either pounding furiously at the keyboard, staring at a blank screen, or slowly but surely plugging away at your goal. It’s a solitary pursuit, to be sure. This is why, in those times where you need advice on a plot point, a pointer about advertising, or just a jump start to your creativity, you go to your tribe. If you don’t have a tribe, I highly recommend getting one. Every tribe is different. People play smaller or larger roles, but all your tribe members are important, because they are in YOUR tribe and they help you

Blogging

Behind the Curtain – Title Inspiration

There are a lot of books out there and all of these books have titles. Although I’ve been writing professionally since 2011, the most difficult part of writing is —besides choosing the name for your character—is picking a title for your story. The title has to serve so many functions: it has to draw the reader in, it has to be (usually) short enough to fit on the book cover and still be readable, and it has to give some sort of idea about the story. Unless I get hit by a bolt out of the blue, it’s a struggle for me to get a title for a story. Usually, I harass my writer friends (whom I’ve also harassed to read the book in the first place) to give me a title. Did I say harass? I meant ‘beg and plead’. I can write a passable blurb. I’m even getting

Blogging, Real Talk Thursdays, Writing

For Writers Only: Coping with Criticism

Writing is not a profession for the faint of heart. Sure, you wrote a paragraph or two about how the end of The Walking Dead should have been, or an alternate version of Breaking Bad’s nursing home scene (I’m still sick sick sick over that) , but when you REALLY take the plunge, you’ll know. The Degraded Life of a Writer Let’s look at the downward spiral you will take. First, you have to complete a story, a task in and of itself. Many different endings will present themselves to you, if you’re lucky to get that far. Otherwise, you’ll dilly dally around the middle, adding in a character, or three, perhaps a death or some kind of natural disaster to get you through the classic “center of story” slump. Or, you’ll shilly shally around the beginning, crafting that perfect first word, sentence, paragraph, chapter, over and over again. Whatever

Blogging, Tip Tuesdays, Tuesdays, Writing

Tip Tuesday – Make it Work with One Notebook

For those of you who’ve seen me flitting about on social media, especially Instagram, then you know how much I love my journals and notebooks. It is truly an affliction. I can’t resist the call of a beautiful looking journal, knowing I can fill its blank pages with my genius thoughts. Once I get the journal home, it’s another story. The pages are so pretty and pristine, I am reluctant to sully them with my less than important. So, I put the date on the journal and place it on the shelf. It still looks pretty, but it’s unused. What happens next? Well, I get into an organizing frenzy. Since I see so many journals on the shelf, I pick one for story ideas, one for daily to do lists and one for note taking. Since they’re so disparate, I do need the three journals, right? After about a week,

5 Favorites Friday, Blogging, Movies--Books--Music--Television, Music

5 Favorite Fun Christmas Songs

It’s getting closer! Our tree is up and I have most of the presents I need to give. Of course, I’ve got a ton of cooking to do, but, hey, I’ve got Saturday and Sunday. No cooking, except for the turkey, I think, will be done on Christmas. (Famous last words, right?) I wanted to take this time to wish everyone a happy holiday and a restful one, too. Having fun is part of the season, don’t let the mundane things drag you down. Oh, yes, my list of my fun Christmas songs. These are the songs that really pep me up – it’s not “officially” Christmas unless I can hear at least three out of these five songs. Let’s begin, shall we? If you missed my list of classic Christmas songs, do click here. 5. Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Bruce Springsteen I have to admit that