writing – Page 2 – Dahlia DeWinters

#MotivationMonday – 5 Ways to Kickstart Your Muse

We all have those days where we’d rather be writing, but nothing is flowing. Instead we putter around, catch up on programs or simply sit and stare at a blank page. Believe me, you’re not alone. It happens to everyone. I don’t like wasted time, because you never get it back. I try not to dither away time on social media either, because that’s a hole you can get sucked down and not emerge until three hours later. While I do love the cat vids and the cool memes, there’s a time for work and a time for play. This brings me to the point of my post. Sometimes inspiration doesn’t sit waiting for you, you have to run it down and beat it into submission. Inspiration is wonderful. Inspiration can get you writing 5k a day. However, when inspiration decides to take a little break, what do you do?… 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

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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

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Movie Quotes of the Seventies – My Picks

You all know that I go on kicks, and right now is the movie quote kick. So, in order not to leave you out of my musings, here’s some seventies movie quotes that are near and dear to me. Of course, feel free to use them, share them, tweet them or simply read them and laugh, then go find the movie they’re from, cuz some of those movies were pretty good. Either way, enjoy! The Godfather – The best thing about this line is not only was it practical, it was also improvised. Why go through all the trouble of buy cannoli, then leave it in the car with a dead man? Superman – Christopher Reeve, the one, the only Superman. And when he catches Lois Lane? She’s not all calm, cool and collected…who would be? This man is ….flying!!! Anyone who has been following me the past

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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

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Blogtoberfest – Kitty Wishes

Given that it is Evernight’s two year anniversary, I wanted to take this time to pause, take a breath and reflect. My first book, Kitty Wishes was published a year ago this month. My first foray into the heady world of e-publishing. I’m not a prolific writer. Piecing together a cohesive narrative with fully fleshed out characters is a painstaking process for and often as not, I’m dissatisfied with the final output. But I’ve learned to live with it, know that it’s NEVER going to be as good as I want to to be. Heck, I could go on tweaking the same paragraph forever. But I don’t. I have to let the little stories out into the world where you, the reader, can enjoy them. And I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. I must admit, it IS fun. I wouldn’t endure the torture