Dahlia DeWinters - Author

Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Blogtoberfest – 31 blog posts

OCTOBER….OCTOBER…OCTOBER!!
Hang with me for …..

Blogtoberfest!

 

Terrible, isn’t it? But fun, right?

The month of October is special to me. It’s not because of Halloween, although that’s part of it. October marks the month in which I had my first e-book published with Evernight Publishing.

In honor of this occasion as well as a personal challenge, I will be posting something Halloween related every single day of the month. In addition, I will be posting snippets of “Kitty Wishes”, that aforementioned published book.

I certainly hope that you will join me for Blogtoberfest – keep me honest with these posts!

Dahlia

Five Fun Facts about Halloween

Nope, I’m not rushing it.  You know we’ve all seen the candy corn in the stores since August.  During back –to-school shopping, my son asked me if Halloween City (a seasonal store that stocks nothing but Halloween stuff) had its own zip code. But I know it’s a shock.  You’ve just gotten over the back to school rush and bang, Halloween is in your face.

Have no fear.  I’m going to ease you ever so slowly into the season of masquerades, harvest festivals, hay rides and apple picking.

Halloween is a holiday that has grown in proportion year after year.  But did you know, and you would, if you watched the History Channel like I do. J

Five Fun Facts about Halloween that I learned from the History Channel.

  • One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.
  • The heaviest pumpkin weighed 1,810 lb 8 oz and was presented by Chris Stevens at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Stillwater, Minnesota, in October 2010.
  • Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead in Mexico) festivities often feature breads, candies and other foods in the shape of skulls and skeletons.
  • The colors orange and black, normally associated with Halloween, represent the harvest (orange) and the approaching winter (black).
  • In Ireland, a traditional food eaten on Halloween is barnbrack, a type of fruitcake. A muslin-wrapped treat is baked inside the cake that, they say, can foretell the eater’s future.

Halloween is a holiday that is steeped in traditions that come to us from different countries and cultures.  Its rich history and entertaining details add a dimension to the holiday that goes beyond costumes and candy.

Or you can stick with the costumes and candy and just have fun!! 🙂

Move like Jagger? How about Write like Peyton?

Those who follow my blog regularly will know that I’m a big football person.  I play fantasy football (and get cursed out by guys who don’t know that I’m a gal, or know and don’t care) and I watch the games on television and online.  I’ve been known to watch three games at once, following the scores and the sacks and the bad calls by the replacement refs.

Last year, football was boring.  Why?  No Peyton Manning calling plays at the line.

Say what you will about Peyton,  from his commercial hustle to his pouts and tantrums during the game, (search on YouTube for Peyton Manning/Jeff Saturday and you’ll see him cursing out the former Colts’ center to the point where one of the O-line dudes told him to ‘go sit down’) but he knows what he wants from the game and goes after it.  Mind you, football is not a one-man show, as much as we would like to think it is.  If he throws the ball and no one catches it (I’m looking at you Eric Decker and Jacob Tamme), then he really has no recourse.   Peyton is a perfectionist and you can see it on his face every time something goes wrong.

On the other hand, writing IS a one man show. No matter how you slice it, at the core of the craft, it’s you, your pencils and notebook, or you and the computer screen.

It’s. Just. You.

There’s no Eric Decker to blame if you don’t make your word count.  Didn’t finish the story before the deadline and want to blame someone?  Look in the mirror.  Don’t garner excuses for your lack of performance on the playing field of being an author.  Catch the balls.  Run your routes correctly.

How do you do that?

Be determined.  Get off of Facebook.  Get off of Wikipedia. Yes, we know you need to “research” but don’t let that cut into your writing time.   Set writing goals and MEET THEM.  If Manning can come back from four neck surgeries and throw that ball across the field at thirty-six years old, you can get down a couple of words a day in your notebook or in that Word file.

Peyton was so bad off that he couldn’t lift a tray of drinks at a Colts charity function last year.  Imagine how that affected him, a four time MVP.    And how much balls did it take to get on the field for the first time and take a hit after spine fusion surgery.  Certainly, all the best doctors said he would no problem, every thing is fine, but when it’s YOU out there getting hit…all the yakking of all the very best doctors in the world wouldn’t keep me from having some trepidations about getting sacked by a London Fletcher, Brian Urlacher or Ndomukong Suh.  That would be enough to keep me on the bench.

Love writing like Peyton Manning loves football.  He’s certainly can’t still be playing for the money!

Passionate Cooks!

I am so pleased to be included in this fabulous collection of recipes.  Just in time for the holiday cooking and baking season, this book contains over 150 recipes by the romance authors themselves.  Now you’ll find out what we’ve been cooking up in the kitchen when we’re writing up sweet and spicy stories for our readers.

 

The book is free and you can pre-order right now.  This great cookbook will be available for download starting October 1st.

I won’t tell you which recipe  I included.  Download it and discover for yourself.

Dahlia

Love and Lyrics

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Don’t they just go together?  Not quite like a horse and carriage, but humans have been writing love songs to each other since…forever, right? Love songs are the glue that keeps us connected to the love in our souls.

“I look at you all…see the love there that’s sleeping….” (George Harrison)  A good love song can bring that love to the surface, allow it to blossom and flow.

You see that one person and suddenly…”Zing! Went the strings of my heart!” (James F. Hanley)

Coming from a musical background, from piano lessons at five to playing in the high school band to singing lessons, I’ve heard a ton of varied music in my life.  Some of it was by choice, other times, not so much.  (Contrary to what my piano teacher wants me to believe, Bartok is just….ugh.  But I digress.)

Because of this background, I’ve heard a ton of Broadway show tunes and pieces from the American Songbook.    Some are good, some are….not so much.  What stands out most for me, however, is the lyrics.  It fascinates me how the lyricists were able to put together simple words to evoke such meaning and emotion in the listener.  Certainly, some of that is also inspired by the music, the melody to which it is set, but many of these songs are poetry in and of themselves.  I’m reaching back.  Not as far back as Mozart, but mid 20th century back. Come on with me, would you?

And of course, I’m going to give examples!!!

Tonight from West Side Story

Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
This song is the pronouncement of the true (but forbidden) love between Tony and Maria.

“Only you, you’re the only thing I’ll see forever
In my eyes, in my words and in everything I do…
Nothing else but you…..Ever….”

Further on in the song:

“Today, the world was just an address
A place for me to live in
No better than all right…
But here, you are
And what was just a world is a star….”

The word love is never, ever mentioned in this song until the very end.  But how powerful is their love that it can turn a world into a star? Indescribable.

And if the nebulous meaning of love escapes us, how about the power of a kiss?

How Little We Know
Songwriters:  Carolyn Lee, Phil Springer

How little we know! How much to discover…
What chemical forces flow from lover to lover!
How little we understand what touches off that tingle,
That sudden explosion when two tingles intermingle.

Who cares to define what chemistry this is?
Who cares, with your lips on mine, how ignorant bliss is?
So long as you kiss me, and the world around us shatters….
How little it matters, how little we know.

The last one, I promise, but this is a goodie:

All the Things You Are
Songwriters:  Kenny Gorelick, Walter Afanasieff

You are the promised kiss of springtime
That makes the lonely winter seem long…
You are the breathless hush of evening
That trembles on the brink of a lovely song

You are the angel glow that lights a star
The dearest things that I know are what you are
Someday my happy arms will hold you
And someday I’ll know that moment divine
When all the things you are, are mine

Look up the Frank Sinatra/Tommy Dorsey version from 1939-40.
It humbles me, as a mere writer of romance, to try my hand at describing love to you, the reader, when so many of these shining examples are already out there for the taking.  I’m not sure that I can do better than they have.

What are some of the songs you look to for inspiration, to evoke the gooey center feeling of love within you?