Uncategorized – Page 57 – Dahlia DeWinters

I Met Toni Morrison

Let me tell you about the time I met Toni Morrison. It’s been a while, so my years may be a bit off, but she visited the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale, I believe in 1989 or early 1990. I helped to set up the luncheon and I remember the buzz of anticipation from everyone because TONI MORRISON was coming to have lunch with us. I don’t know what I was expecting. No, that’s a lie. As an impressionable twenty or twenty-one year old, I expected Ms. Morrison to come floating in about six inches above the floor, escorted by men in dark suits, sunglasses and earplugs. Because certainly, such a famous author needed bodyguards to avoid being mobbed in the street, right? To my surprise, Ms. Morrison peeked in, as if she wasn’t sure this was the right place to be. Then she came in smiling at everyone, her… Continued

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Getting out of the Box

When I first entered the wide world of writing, the first thing I discovered was, for such a creative medium, there were a ton of rules. Some of the rules contradicted each other, others made no sense in certain genres. I’m honest. I’m the dude in the movie “I, Robot” who yells out “What about the rules?”. Following this, I strove to follow each and every rule set out by the “learned writers” on the websites and books that I read to hone my craft. This isn’t going to be any big reveal to anyone, but I learned something very simple. There are no rules. Write what makes your story work, BUT, be willing to compromise. I’ve always read that a short story should have a conventional story structure, much like a novel. I tried to squish all the parts of a novel into a 5k story and failed miserably,

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Coming Soon – The Wisest Maiden

Writing is easy compared to the editing process. It’s difficult to take words that you’ve already written, that you’ve already determined that they say what you want them to say, then tweak them to make them more evocative. But I tell you, the hardest part of the process of getting a book into e-print is the blurb. So, here is the “work of art” that made me pull my hair out in the space of fifteen minutes: After she is forced into marriage with a powerful ruler who deflowers and kills his brides, Issalia is compelled to use her wits to avoid the executioner’s axe. But can she avoid having her heart captured by the deeply wounded king? You have no idea (or perhaps you do) how difficult that was to write! Without further ado, here is the cover reveal and longer blur for The Wisest Maiden: The Wisest

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Missing New Orleans

It’s barely ten a.m. and the temperature outside as I type this is already 82 degrees. Yep. It’s totally summer. I’m glad. The hot weather gives me an excuse to stay in and write. Strike that last. I’ll use any excuse to stay in and write, who am I fooling? Weather like this always reminds me of the time I spent in New Orleans, back in the early nineties, way before Hurricane Katrina and the casinos. When it was hot like this, and that was all the time during the summer, you could go out to the daiquiri drive thru and get a strawberry daquiri. That’s right. In New Orleans, there were shops in strip malls that sold at least 10 different flavors of ALCOHOLIC daiquiris. <—–Yes. Alcoholic slurpees. You’d go in (or drive up) and order the one you wanted. Then you would drive off home sipping at your

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Schools out!

After a year of having most days to myself, schools out and intense mommy time begins. The past week has been such a whirlwind of concerts, graduations and carnival days that I’m plum tuckered out. However, there is always, always good news on the horizon. My story: The Wisest Maiden has been contracted by Liquid Silver Books. How happy am I to be able to join that family! For your reading pleasure, here is the blurb: Betrayed by his first wife, King Toridesh gives his new brides no chance to deceive him. After he marries a virgin of his choosing and consummates the marriage, he has them killed. As an only child, Issalia has been sheltered by her parents in an attempt to shield her from their king’s murderous intent. When her mother falls ill, Issalia refuses to allow their market-stall be closed for the day, knowing that one day

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Tell Me, Touch Me, Feel Me – Kassanna

Kassanna, my fellow author-in-crime has a new release! Check out the hot, sexy cover and the blurb: Luther Lexington didn’t question why his brother sent for him, but knowing John, he was sure he had his reasons. What he didn’t expect was to find a mocha beauty, in the guise of security personnel that threw her fists first and asked questions later. From the moment she laid him low, he wanted to get her lower, as in under him. Tanya Babineaux did what she was supposed to do as a Club Lexx security guard. Make trespassers leave by any means necessary. How was she to know he was the owner’s little brother? Now he corners her every chance he gets, and she doesn’t have time to play. Tanya harbors a secret, and if Luther doesn’t stop chasing her…in the end she could lose it all. That is, of course, if