Author Dana Lockhart

I didn’t talk about it a lot because I was honestly terrified - but this year I lost my job at no fault of my own and was unemployed for 6 months. At the same time, I was investing in my book, which was also scary. Like, what if I dump too much money into the book and then never see it turn around? As the days drug on without a steady income, I tried to stay positive and kept grinding no matter how dismal things looked. And eventually I came out of the other side. -A New Job - A New Start- As of mid-September, I am an administrative assistant at a not-for-profit that helps my local community. While the organization does many, many things (including but not limited to bill assistance and low-cost healthcare), I am based out of the weatherization department. What is weatherization? I thought to myself when I saw the job opening. Basically it amounts to repairing homes so that they are more heating/cooling efficient. We also do things like replacing siding and roofing and ma...

Allow me to show you around!  I’m Dana Lockhart, an aspiring author entering the publishing world.  I typically write urban fantasy novels with a little coming-of-age realism.  My first novel The Un-Life of William Moore has had over 300 hours hot and trending during its Kindle Scout campaign and is on its way to publication. My website is primarily set up as a blog where I talk about writing and anything else that comes to mind.  I blog approximately once or twice a week.  Only about 10 blog posts show on the main page.  You can view older posts to the left under “archive.”  Also to the left you will find all sorts of information from how to buy one of my books to a little bit about me.  “Home” will take you back to the main page. If you can't wait for more blog updates, you can check out my gaming articles on DVS Gaming , in which I post at least 4 a week ranging from new game press releases to editorials and reviews.  You might have noti...

I came to realization that I finally feel like myself again.  Considering I just turned 25 and the last time I felt like myself was 5th grade, that's really saying something. -The Point of Impact- Right around 6th grade a terrible rumor started spreading about me that turned everyone against me.  The rumor being that I was a lesbian, which, fun fact, I'm not in the slightest.  I'm so straight I don't even like being a woman, let alone touching another one (though it should also be noted that I do identify as a girl even if I don't like being one). So this was like 2006, and back then being different, being a "lesbian," was a high crime and not nearly as tolerated as it is today.  It was basically a death sentence for you socially.  But did anyone ask me if it was true?  Would anyone bother to believe me if they would have?  No.  My peers turned on me without question. The rest of my school life up until 12th grade graduation was mostly a living he...

Even though a lot of my author life has been put on hold as I travel back and forth from the hospital to take care of my dad, there are still some things coming out of the woodwork. -Writers Guild Updates- I became vice president of the Hannibal Writers Guild!  Heck yeah, man.  I was originally nominated for secretary, but VP is what I wanted.  Of course I would have loved president but I took the step back from it to let the founder of the guild be president (I probably wouldn't have won the majority anyway). I am almost geared up to go to the  Big River Steampunk Festival .  I will be helping to man the guild booth, but I'm as of yet unsure which days I will be there for it.  I was thinking Saturday and the first half or so of Sunday (I'd stay longer, but I don't want to leave my dad all alone in the hospital all weekend but I also don't want to have to drive back and forth every day when it's such a long drive).  I'll be dressed up in a steampunk co...

It's hard to find time to blog right now, and I apologize for that.  So here's an explanation for my absence and some updates for the future. Long story short, my dad is in critical condition at the hospital and I've been spending most of my free time with him. It's been hard. I don't have much to update on the pitching situation either.  One agent I still haven't heard from and the other that seemed interested hasn't replied to my follow up. I am slowly working on a new series of blog posts that I hope to release soon.  A sort of review/recommendation of reading/watching.  When I find something I enjoy, I want to spread the word in hopes someone else will find joy in it, too. I'm gearing up for the Steampunk Festival in Hannibal, MO. My writers guild will have a booth there. In the spirit of things I'm putting together a costume that I'll try and have finished by then. It kind of all depends on the health of my dad at that point whether I'l...

-Where Have I Been?- Well, nowhere, really. I'm just in a wonderfully weird spot right now. I got a new job, which is great, but it did put me in this unsettling limbo as I waited to start my first day. As I discussed in my post announcing my resignation, when I quit I was sent home to finish my last two weeks as "vacation." This was upsetting due to not being able to say goodbye to anyone, among other reasons. It was also off-putting because I couldn't start my new job immediately despite my sudden availability. They were expecting me more towards May 1st, and here I was free on April 17th. Both bosses were away, one for almost a week, another for a week and a half.  Three days after I quit I got a hold of one, who said that the other one needed to be back before we could get started. Okay. I passed another week in this uncomfortable stand-still. I binge watched a lot of TV (Sherlock Holmes two times, two seasons of Supernatural, the Lost in Space first season, lots ...

-I Was That Kid- When I was still just in middle school I once caught myself with no less than ten novels in my back pack.  I devoured books like I was starving for literature.  I always checked out the maximum number of books from the school library and picked the biggest books I could so they would last longer.  But after I left high school, my time spent reading dropped drastically.  At school I burned through homework like a wildfire and often had spare time during class to read.  My bus commute was no less than two hours even though I lived 20 minutes from the school.  But once I graduated high school, I didn’t have the obviously free time anymore where reading or staring into space were the only options I had to occupy my time.  During college I’d bring my laptop with me and during my down time I leeched off the college’s wifi to play games and watch videos.  During this time I became a Netflix account parasite and binged seasons upon season...

It's honestly been a hard month. Full of stand-stills and unexpected pitfalls. I'm disappointed that most things I'm trying to achieve in my life right now just aren't going according to plan.  But that's fate for you.  Try as you might, the universe can off-set you at a whim. I'm also sad to announce that just three months after my campaign, Kindle Scout has thrown in the towel and will no longer be accepting submissions.  I had planned on continuing to submit my work to them in the future, but now that is no longer possible, unless by some miracle they reopen submissions.  But right now, I'm assuming they are just shutting down the program for good. But!  All is not lost.  I'm reconsidering my plans for The Un-Life of William Moore . I am wanting to get it out as soon as possible.  My plan had been to self publish.  However, I am strongly considering changing my mind and giving my novel a chance to be traditionally published. Normally the tradit...

I’m back, baby!  I was down for about a week because my darling dearest, Divinity, was sick and had to be taken to the doctor. And no, I don’t have kids and I didn’t name my not-kids that.  Divinity is my desktop computer.  When I got my very first laptop, I was into angel mythology (not in the religious sense, but a fiction sense), and I named the laptop Nephilim.  Even though I’m not as into angel mythology as I was, I kept with the theme.  Between phones, tablets, and computers, I’ve named my devices Seraph, Grigori, and even just the plain Angel.  Divinity was having problems with abrupt crashes like the power suddenly being cut off, and yet, she rebooted after it happened, which told me it probably wasn’t a power issue (I’ve had plenty of power issues over the years with the way the electric at my house surges and flickers so much that it damages my power supply).  I dealt with it for about a month.  She shut down like that about twice every ...

Catch up on Part I of How Did I Get Here ? -A Shot in the Dark- Eragon wasn’t the only thing that guided me to where I am now.  There was another creative series that by happenstance had another big impact on me. It was only by chance that I got into it.  It was February 21, 2005 around 7pm, the time of night when my parents had usually sworn off watching cartoons on our single TV and started watching boring HGTV stuff.  But that night, there wasn’t anything particular they wanted to watch.  And me neither, to be frank.  But as I was scrolling through my cartoon channels on this rare night I had control of the TV, I came upon a new show I’d heard advertised before that I thought looked kind of stupid.  But there was nothing else good on, so I tuned in, and fell in love.  The show was Avatar: the Last Airbender .  It swept me up in its rich universe full of conflict and hope.  From that day on, I was irrevocably hooked on the magical world of ...

-My First Try- I actually tried querying The Un-Life of William Moore when I first finished it several years ago. I submitted my pitch to a dozen or so agents, and only got automated “Sorry, but no” emails in response (seriously, I think one even said “Dear [insert name]” on it and they didn’t bother to fill in the insert). And that was a time when anything with the word “vampire” seemed like it was getting sold. Remember “My Babysitter is a Vampire?” Shudder. I remember My Babysitter is a Vampire. It wasn’t exactly unexpected that I failed, but it was still disappointing. And at the time, my dreams of being a published author were a little dashed. I tried looking into self-publishing, but the only things I were finding were “vanity” publishers and hefty investments into printing and distributing your own book, which at the time was out of the realm of possibility for me. -A New Hope- But my hopes were reignited a couple years ago when I discovered how easy it was to self-pub...

-To Speak, or Not to Speak- I am a terribly anti-social introvert, even though I really like conversation. Spending a night at home doing nothing but watching Netflix and wasting my life away is about the best way to end my day that I can imagine. But while I like being alone, I don’t like being lonely. One of the things I’m most afraid of is feeling alone in a room crowded full of people. You might as well be invisible, or not exist. I tend to like to listen to a conversation as much as I like talking, and sometimes I feel like I’d be rude to try and get a word in when the conversation is flowing so well without me and I’m learning so much by just being silent. But I’m also an oxymoron when it comes to socializing. Sometimes I don’t talk; sometimes I don’t stop. One day I was in college talking to a classmate on one of the first days where the instructor insisted on everyone getting to know one another. At one point, my classmate stopped me and said, “You talk a ...

-Everyone Has to Start Somewhere- I suppose my start began with a love of books, as it probably does for a lot of authors. My love for books likely came from my mother, because it sure as sugar didn’t come from my dad. He adamantly stays away from books. I was pretty much an only child in a rural area so I spent a lot of time on my own, and before I had internet and satellite TV, books were my only company, and they were great companions. Whole worlds to explore in the relative comfort of my home. There was one book in particular that stood out to me, a book that had me hooked from the first sentence: “Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world.” In a way, it changed my world, too.   The book, Eragon , was an amazing adventure of magic and dragons and sword fights.   It swept me up and never did let me go.   I re-read it multiple times over the years, wearing out the edges of my paperback copy.   I put a tally mark in the corner ...

For those of you that don't know exactly what my plans are, I'm going to outline my new few months so you can perhaps anticipate when your support is needed and when you can get a book! As of right now, my 50k+ novel The Un-Life of William Moore is done.  I plan to submit it to Amazon Kindle Scout by the end of the month. Currently, it's being reviewed by an editor.  She anticipates she'll be able to meet my time frame goal. I ordered a book cover, and assuming I like what I get, that should be wrapped up in about 10 days from now, also meeting my goal. According to Kindle Scout FAQ , once I submit my story, it will take a couple days before it hits the website.  So, I'm aiming for the ballpark of the last week in December or the first week of January for The Un-Life being up and ready to be voted on.  An except of approximately the first 5k words are then available to read.  Once up, the book has 30 days to generate buzz.  In that time period, I wil...

As I come closer to self-publishing my first novel, the very important question came up: Should I use a pen name? -I Have a Weird Name- My given name isn’t easy for your average person. I’ve come to get used to it. I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that my name was misspelled no less and probably more than ten times during the process of buying my first home. You’d think with something that important that everyone involved would double check an odd name and make sure it was right before they printed out cashier checks, sale contracts, HUD statements, and insurance and remodeling estimates (yes, these are just a few examples of the documents that had my name spelled wrong). After that fiasco, it was very clear to me that if I published, I needed to use a pen name. I can’t have people not being able to find me because my given name is too hard. Do I want to use a pen name? Well, no. I’m not ashamed by my name, I don’t hate my name, and I really would like to see my...