Author Dana Lockhart

National Novel Writing Month. It is both the bane of writers and the savior. Write the rough draft of a novel in one month, they said. It’s 100% possible, they said. It will be fun, they said. I don’t know who they are, but they’re a totally different type of person than I am. After four years of participating, I’ve never won a single year of NaNoWriMo yet. And I’m perfectly okay with that. Sure, NaNo might have all these rules and expectations, but in the end, it’s your goals that matter, not theirs. When Is the Best Time to Write? Write now! My goal for NaNoWriMo has always just been to write. Almost always, NaNo has been my excuse to either finish a story I was already working on, or at least make a big dent in it. If I’d been unable to get a word down for months, November became the dedicated month to get over that. Sure, I kept that 50k finish line in mind, too, but it was never my actual goal. NaNo and me, we don’t mix very well. The arguably biggest rule of NaNoWriMo is to neve...

-My Second and Final Gateway Con- It is with a heavy heart that I write this, because the wonderful convention known as Gateway Con has officially been cancelled, probably forever. The three-day writing retreat I’d recommend first above all other writing conventions is being replaced with a one-day writing retreat, "Writers in the Park." The situation is disappointing to say the least. Supposedly, it wasn’t making enough money to sustain itself. I’d argue that money isn’t the point, it’s inspiring and educating prospective writers, that the friendships we made along the way were worth more, but unfortunately it’s not my call. Goodbye, Gateway Con. I will miss you. You helped me become the writer I am today. Hopefully Writers in the Park will be half as fun. But with bad news comes good, and here’s my trip back in time to Gateway Con 2019 and the events that transpired. -Meeting Old Friends and Making New- This year was different in so many ways. Gateway Con 2018, my first co...

-My Second Year at Gateway to Publishing- I had an amazing time last year at Gateway Con. I met some amazing people and also made a good friend (looking at you, android ). I learned a lot and came home with pages of notes on how to improve my writing and my brand. After such an awesome experience, I couldn't wait for the next one to come around. Though I pitched The Un-Life of William Moore to agents there, ultimately I decided to self-publish it. It's my first story, and as such it has the most of my heart and soul in it. While the changes some agents recommended weren't unreasonable, I wanted to remain as true as I could to what The Un-Life was to me. Still, I applied what I had learned to the story. I connected with people that helped me improve it even further. I still came out of Gateway Con successful, in my mind. This year I will also be having an author table/book signing , so if you're going to the Con, too, come see me! I'll be selling my paperback novel...

I'm going to go ahead and call it because there's no way I'm hitting 50k by Saturday.  I'm currently sitting on 17,500.  I gave up on November 12th. And I'll tell you why. -I'm Not a Word Vomiter- Never have been, never will. I hate vomiting out words without going through and editing as I go along.  It slows things down by the time you start reaching 10k words. But I did manage to push through that because I was excited to write.  I wanted to just crank out the story and go back and edit later.  I wanted to.  But when I tripped and failed to make the daily word count my dislike for word vomiting returned.  I realized I was about 5k words away from reaching the end of what I had planned for my novel and suddenly wouldn't know where to go from there. -I Didn't Quit, I Just Shifted My Focus- At that point, I decided to change my goals for NaNoWriMo.  What I had wanted from NaNo all along was just to finish book one of my novel, Blood Knights . ...

I’m writing now about trying to get through writer’s block because I’m currently in a writer’s block, but I don’t even really have any business writing about getting over writer’s block because I’m not very good at it myself. So let’s dive right in! -Write Something Else- First off, even when I’m in a writer’s block, I still try and exercise my ability to write – like doing this blog!   I journal daily and can easily punch out 3-5k words per day just talking about what I did the day before.   It’s probably needlessly detailed so that if I ever re-read my journal when I’m 60 I’m going to wonder why I thought it was important to mention how I bought this brand of milk at this specific store after work that one day 40 years ago to make this certain kind of dessert.   So if something can be learned from that – even if you have no creative spark to write a story, try and write something that you can word vomit.   If not journaling your own life, write about what you thoug...

NaNoWriMo is upon us, and I've elected to use my 50,000 words to make a dent in, and hopefully finish, my novel-in-progress called "Blood Knights." I've made a new NaNo account for my pen name projects and added information about the novel to my account, including the synopsis and an excerpt.  The excerpt takes place several chapters into the novel, but it's a relatively neutral piece that doesn't spoil anything and doesn't need much explaining if you read the synopsis, so it seemed like a good fit. To save you a click, here is the synopsis if you think it's something you'd like to read: The city of Danube is home to three separate vampire covens: the Tepes in the north, the Bathory in the west, and the de Rais in the south. These three clans have been at relatively peaceful odds for centuries, with themselves and the vampire hunters that also call Danube home. However, now tensions are beginning to escalate for control over the lawless east, war...

I've been holding back announcing this until one of my articles actually went live, but here it is!  I now have a writing gig with DVS Gaming as a game reviewer and other miscellaneous stuff.  I put "professional gamer" in quotes because it is mostly volunteer work, though I get to keep some of the games I review.  There is a possibility down the road for it being a paid-in-money gig, but I'm not expecting it anytime soon.  For me, this is just an amazing opportunity and resume builder, and I do love me some resume building almost as much as money.  Gotta earn me them XPs and achievements and level up IRL. Image courtesy of DVS Gaming -I Need the Experience- When I went to Gateway Con earlier this year, I knew that I wanted to be a speaker.  And it wasn't because I wanted to get paid or owed favors.  I just wanted to talk about the things I know and share that knowledge with other writers.  So far I've come up with a presentation on pen names, whi...

I have a lot and nothing at all going on at the same time. I got five agents that requested material while I was at Gateway Con. I didn't like one of them because he sounded like he came from a vanity publisher, and another one told me to submit it via their website but their website isn't accepting submissions?  So I sent varying requested lengths of The Un-Life to the remaining three and so far I've only gotten a brief response from one that didn't say yes or no.  So I'm not sure what's going on there. I suppose I'll see what the others say before I start digging in too deep. Gateway Con was amazing. I recommend it or any other writing conference if you are an aspiring author. I met several authors that have become acquaintance-friends.  Made some connections, I hope, with editors and agents.  Learned some.  The hotel was pretty and expensive but amazing.  I bought some signed books.  Conventions are a great way to boost confidence, meet people, and ...

-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...

I struggle with trying to create and maintain a writing style that screams me .  In general, I feel like the way I write isn’t unique by any means, and yet, I think I’ve finally stumbled upon a common theme in the way that I write that stretches across multiple stories of mine.  A part of my style.  It’s a weird one, and it’s kind of hard to explain.  But I’ll do my best. -Narrative vs. Perspective- It has to do with how I perceive narrative and perspective as two separate concepts.  Whether I’m writing in first or third person, there is a trend I keep returning to where I’m almost breaking the narrative, and yet, I don’t.  Not in my mind.  Perspective, in general, is just a way of identifying how you perceive the information given to you.  In first person, you’re limited by the thoughts and observations of one singular person.  In third person limited, you’re likewise limited.  In third person omnipresent, you get to see the world from ...

In Part I , I discussed the marketing methods that I recommend and ones that I almost recommend.  In this Part II, I have a list of marketing techniques I do not recommend, as well as a final note of what I wish I would have done better and how Kindle Scout appears to work.  Not Recommended: Books and the Bear – This is another company that baited me by following me on Twitter.  I was getting desperate to become hot and get views again before I had found the Fiverr marketing.  So I panicked and purchased their $10 one-time promo to their giant Twitter account before I realized this one-or-two times promotion stuff just doesn’t yield results.  Look at where you’re getting promoted!  Look, I beg you!  The Bear has a lot of followers, yes, but they also post umpteen times a day with their own advertisements for marketing and editing so that in no time your paid advertisement gets lost on their page.  Heck, since following them back they’ve been clog...

This is Part I, featuring recommended and maybe recommended marketing techniques for Kindle Scout.  Read Part II about what’s not recommended and a final overview of Kindle Scout. Before I even launched my Kindle Scout campaign, I was getting baited by marketing companies to try and buy their promotions.  Being pretty new at this marketing thing, I was looking for cheap, effective ways to promote, and I quickly learned that sometimes you get what you paid for and you better be a smart shopper. If you undergo a venture like Kindle Scout as a new author with little experience in marketing, I encourage you to really double check what you’re actually getting.  An ad of “reach 100k+ people on Twitter” sounds too good to be true because it is.  Sure, there might be 100k people following said Twitter account, but when you only pay for one post when they post over 30 times a day, you’re post is likely to never be seen. I have outlined some very specific methods that I imple...