I recently made a Twitter thread that I threatened to turn into a blog post—a thread threat if you will—and here it is. And ironically, it’s about Twitter itself. And Instagram. And Tik-Tok. And any of the other social media tools we use, or in some cases avoid, these days. It all started with a…
Category: Journaralities
When Self-Promotion Becomes Self-Distraction
I recently debuted new branding and a redesigned website for my online author platform. Not to brag (okay, totally to brag), but I think it looks great. It captures the genre and spirit of my writing. The “glow-up” has been a long time coming, as I’ve never been completely happy with the elegant but boring…
How to Pick Your Next WIP
I’m done. Finished. Finito. It’s a wrap on “final” edits to my middle grade novel. I’m now a query critique-and-revision cycle away from sending it back out to agent slush piles. I can’t do much more to get this book noticed, represented and published, so short of edits requested by an acquiring editor, I’m calling…
Breaking the Shelfie Optic
I have a confession: I wince when fellow authors post their shelfies—photos of their glorious bookshelves, filled top to bottom with volumes of literary treasures. Not because I hate seeing them but because my own shelfie would be appallingly, even embarrassingly, lacking. I love books. I love buying them. I love reading them. I especially…
The Gifts We Cherish Most
When looking back through the years, can you recall any one specific Valentine’s Day gift? Does one stand out above the others in your memory as singularly special? Of all the Valentine’s gifts I’ve received over the years, only one in particular comes to mind, and it’s not what you might expect. It was a…
A Shameful Tale of Book Disparagement
Today, I’d like to share a story with you of a time when I committed an egregious faux pas for a writer and self-proclaimed bibliophile. A time when I disparaged the gift of a book. Let me set the scene. It was Christmas, 1980—something. I can’t recall exactly, but I was maybe ten or…
Well, That was an…Experience
Some experiences in life are worth having. Or at least, they’re worth wishing for. I’m here to tell you that COVID-19 is NOT one such experience.
Creating in the Time of Corona
This is my fourth attempt at a post for this week’s blog entry. Let’s see if I actually get anywhere with this one. I had several topics I wanted to write about, but after getting a few sentences into each one, I ran out of steam. Or more precisely, I hated the way the words…
Social Media: Taking a Break or Breaking Away?
Lately, I’ve been toying with the idea of deleting my Twitter account. My philosophy on social media is that it should earn its space in our lives. We should be getting something positive from it, whether its financial, social, or emotional in nature. If I’m being honest with myself, I’m not getting what I need…
My Season of Non-Fiction Creativity: Hands-On Projects
Once upon a time (back in May of this year, to be precise), a fledgling writer proclaimed that she was taking a break from her blog for the summer in order to concentrate on finishing edits to her book. Then, an evil temptress known as Procrastination cast a spell, causing the writer to do practically…
D.M. Domosea 