black girl nerds – Page 3 – Dahlia DeWinters

Cleanse Your Headspace

Some writers take a break from writing and go on social media. I don’t find social media relaxing. In fact, it clutters up the mind and may even stunt creativity. The occasional peek into asocial media platform can turn into following conversations that more often than not ended with name-calling and pointing nasty fingers. The quick scan of another social media feed included more politics than I cared to consume on a daily basis. It was becoming more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff and my space, the area of my spirit I used for creativity, was suffering. I don’t go in for controversy, detailed celeb news or negative speak. I was always one to believe actions speak louder than words. See something wrong? Do what you can in the moment. I believe that peace can overcome war. I believe in protecting my headspace. Being an writer in… Continued

5 Ways of Self-Care for Writers

As an author, sitting is an unfortunate by-product of the profession. When I first began my writing career, I confess that I spent too much time at my desk, desperately typing, revising and editing, so much so that I ended up in the emergency room with a pinched nerve in my back. I’ve had three children and I have never experienced something so painful in my life. Even now, as I write about it, I cringe at the memory! Needless to say, after recovering from that ordeal, I made definite changes to my writing routine. By doing so, it has not only improved me physically, but also kicked up my mental processes, making writing that much easier. My muse is so much happier and she shows it by letting the ideas flow! There are five things that I worked into my writing routine that helped me improve the way I

Uncategorized

Horror Movie Review – Exhibit A

Title: Exhibit A Genre: Thriller/Horror – Found Footage Synopsis: The timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure, eventually driven to the unimaginable. We witness the terrifying events unfold through daughter Judith’s video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A. I watched this movie on the recommendation of Overthinking Horror Films. For some reason, I really enjoy “found footage” horror films and was looking for something that was found footage but wasn’t littered with profanity and super shaky cam. I mean, the jitter cam is fine, but when it’s 80 percent of the movie, it’s more annoying than atmospheric. I’d seen Exhibit A in my travels through the websites that listed found footage, but never really paused to examine it more closely. First of all, it’s a British film and either I didn’t want to fight with the accents, or the description didn’t grab me. However, since I trust

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,

Uncategorized

5 Gifts for Writers

It’s that time of year again. Shoppers are hitting the stores and the Internet to look for the perfect gift for that special someone. Some of you lucky dogs out there have some stellar writers in your lives. I’m going to tell you what writers REALLY want for Christmas. Well, at least me. Pens and Journals: Most writers love pens. Though we tend to dither between our beloved writing software, a writer almost always comes back to the pen and the paper, especially if experiencing a bout of writer’s block. Pens make us feel like REAL writers, with a cigarette clenched between our teeth and a glass of bourbon at hand. Debauchery aside, the physical aspect of forming letters and words often is a trigger for ideas. Often, we get more words flowing on paper than we do sitting in front of the screen. In addition, pen/paper keeps us from

Uncategorized

Blogtoberfest – Poor Fellas and Gals: Dog Halloween Costumes

I have a dog. I think she’s a rather judgy dog. She doesn’t like it when I dress her in her winter coat, even though as a pit bull, she has zero undercoat and needs the insulation in the colder weather. Still, the eyeballing she gives me as she stands there in her Land’s End insulated doggy coat. I mean, come on, what dog can’t look good in Land’s End outerwear? Not Athena. She hates it, and makes it clear she hates me for putting in on her. However, I won’t be a party to dog Halloween costumes. I find them unwieldy, a pain to put on and something that can really be only worn once a year. The dogs, themselves, seem so….pitiful yet revenge filled when you snap that picture. After one year of one of my dogs dressing as something or other (I really don’t remember), I’ve learned