You Can't Rush Art (At Least, Not Too Much)

I know, I know, I've dropped off the face of the earth. My articles on DVS dropped from four a week to maybe one if I'm lucky, and my blogging here has suffered, too. But I promise it's for a good reason.


-The Un-Life Coming June 2019-

The big reason that I've stopped my side-writing gigs is because I've gotten back my mini-edit of The Un-Life of William Moore. Applying the critiques is my number one priority right now. I'm in a rush to get everything done in time for Gateway Con to have my grand first book release there. And I'm a little behind schedule. I'm still on target for the June release, but I'm feeling the pressure.

Big thank you to Ryan P. Freeman for providing way more feedback than I anticipated. I ordered story editing and he still pointed out several copy-editing suggestions he didn't need to do. On one hand I'm glad he did more than I was looking for, and on the other I'm exhausted at the thought of all these things I should tweak. A bigger project than anticipated, but it will be worth it. I highly recommend Ryan's author services, so if you need something done, check out his website. He does marketing, editing, formatting, and more. The guy knows his stuff, listen to him.

I've talked to my cover designer and she's ready to take on making the back cover when I say "go." She's also going to do some other little things for me like designing The Un-Life-themed bookmarks. The rest will have to be a surprise. Partially because I'm not sure what all extras I'm going to cook up, but as many as the budget allows, I guarantee!



-Another Giant Step Forward-

I know I said it in my book cover release post over a year ago, but I'll say it again, and this time the feeling is even more intensified. This is happening. I put my foot down and am making it happen. I'm doing this author thing. My words will have a chance to live forever.

Knowing that this life-long dream is coming to fruition, I'm most excited about little things. The first thing I want to do after Gateway Con is to sign some copies of my book and donate them to the places that helped me along the way, starting with my high school library. My graduating class had 36 people in it. The nearest Walmart was a 45 minute drive away. My hometown had only one gas station. In a small town, you feel small. If you manage to leave, the world seems so big that it will swallow you whole. You feel even smaller.

But you don't have to be small forever. You can chase your dream, no matter how humble your beginnings were. In my valedictorian speech at my high school graduation, I said, "Don't wait for good things to come to you. Don't wait for your dreams to come true. Go out there and make it happen."

And that's just what I did.

And so can you.


-Dana Lockhart

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