Uncategorized – Page 48 – Dahlia DeWinters

Love in the Land of the Lakes

The Midwest Fiction Writers, a local chapter for the Romance Writers of America, pulled together 17 writers who each submitted a short story for a fundraiser. Roughing It or Luxury Jody Vitek Roadside Love, in the MFW anthology Love in the Land of Lakes, is a short story I wrote based on annual vacations I take with my family and in-laws to northern Minnesota. What’s there not to love but a cabin in the woods? Well that depends on who you ask. My husband does’nt like to rough it, so our cabin in the woods is at a resort. Our cabin is a three-story duplex house with running water, air-conditioning and heating, marble countertops, a television and all the other comforts of home. It’s far from roughing it—It’s a house. But it’s a vacation away from home. Our cabin is lakeside and nightly we receive the most beautiful sunsets.… Continued

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HerStory: Book Release and Giveaways!

Sister Suffragettes, my contribution to this awesome anthology is inspired by an incident in the life of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a Black journalist, newspaper editor and leader in both the women’s suffrage and the civil rights movements. Because of her outspokenness and refusal to “play nice”, Mrs. Wells-Barnett often found herself at odds with the women’s suffrage movement. As a result, the leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) insisted that she not march with the Illinois delegation at President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration, where they were demanding the right to vote. The reason? A black woman marching alongside whites would offend some Southern women. But Ida had other plans. On March 9, 1913, she watched the parade from the crowd until the Illinois delegation had passed then joined in, protected from angry Southerners by white women sympathetic to the plight of all women, regardless of race. Please read on

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Three True Life Love Stories

As February winds down, the chocolates are eaten, the roses are bowing their heads and the balloons are slowly settling toward the rug, let’s take a quick look at some true life love stories. Juan and Evita Peron Made world-famous by the musical and movie Evita, Evita Peron was the second wife of President Juan Peron and served famously at the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. Together they became a force that captured and charmed the people of Argentina, transforming the scope of Argentinian government. They remained together until Evita died of cancer in 1952. Tristan and Isolde Isolde was the daughter of the King of Ireland. Though betrothed to King Mark of Cornwall, she fell in love with Tristan, the nephew of the king and continued their secret affair even after she married. When King Mark eventually discovered the affair, his love for

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Now Available – Love Bytes

From Sugar and Spice Press: Software designer Violet Connelly prefers code to cuddling, but is unable to resist the occasional closed-door meeting with her business partner and fellow developer Francis Rushmore. They’re on the fast track to submitting their educational game to a competition that has the potential to reap a lucrative contract and pull their failing company out of its decline. But unexplainable glitches keep appearing in the program. A change in deadline means they have only two weeks to do four weeks’ worth of work. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, the lovers’ holiday as well as a potential rival for Violet’s affections forces them both to examine their true feelings for each other. Will the added personal and professional pressures bring them closer or tear them apart?

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Love and History

There are so many designations for each month that I can’t keep up anymore. So whatever February means to you…have a happy one. The topic today, as you can tell from the title, is Love and History. If you want a woman who can sing about love, about what it can make you do, what it makes you endure, then turn to the one and only Lady Day – Billie Holiday. For those of you who saw the movie and/or read her autobiography “Lady Sings the Blues”, you know her history. For the rest of you who remain ignorant of this icon of American music, then try throwing her name in a search engine; I don’t have the space to adequately describe the width and breadth of this woman’s life to you. Suffice to say, Lady Day re-interpreted the American Songbook as well as wrenched the gut out of many

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Learning Curves

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the craft of writing these past few weeks. There have been quite a few “freebies” on Amazon/Nook and I must admit I’m a sucker for “those who bought this book also bought…..”. Taking a break from the task of actual writing and examining the craft of writing is both a benefit and a curse. The benefit is that I can now begin creating patterns in my writing. No matter what we write, I’m finding out, there is an underlying structure that works its way through the storyline. In fact, we are all writing the same stories over and over again, simply with different characters and situations. It’s okay, though. People love familiar structure. For example, Jaws, Alien, Panic Room and Fatal Attraction are all the same movie. Not the same plot, characters, etc, but if you screen all those movies, you will