True Confessions: Playlists (part 2)

Hey everyone!!!!

So, yesterday I went and started my little True Confessions segments. I said that I would come back to this subject when I finished a playlist or soundtrack for One for Sorrow, and that I’d share it with you…

Before I share it, just remember, I’m 35 (about to be 36) so not everything up here is brand spanking new

My Soundtrack for One for Sorrow.

Perfume	Britney Spears
Gorilla	Bruno Mars
Just a Fool (with Blake Shelton)	Christina Aguilera
Laying Me Low	David Cook
The Phoenix	Fall Out Boy
Alone Together	Fall Out Boy
The Mighty Fall (feat. Big Sean)	Fall Out Boy
Rat a Tat (feat. Courtney Love)	Fall Out Boy
Try	P!nk
Glitter In the Air	P!nk
F**kin’ Perfect	P!nk
Pretty Handsome Awkward	The Used
Thank You For The Venom	My Chemical Romance
Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)	My Chemical Romance
The Sharpest Lives	My Chemical Romance
Just Feel Better         (Feat. Steven Tyler)	Santana
Into The Night (Feat. Chad Kroeger)	Santana
I Caught Myself	Paramore
Ladies and Gentlemen	Saliva
Downfall	Trust Company
You’re Going Down (Radio Edit)	Sick Puppies

There are things for quiet times, love scenes, fight scenes (arguments and epic) and just background noise. For me, this is one of the best ways to focus. And it’s a lot better than writing about a vampire ripping out someone’s throat and “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid is on the TV LOL.

Give it a try on your own, or if you feel the need, share some songs of your own that you enjoy.

See you on the Flip Side!!!!
Dawn 🙂

True Confessions: Playlists (part 1)

Hey everyone!!!

For Christmas, my Mini-Me got a microphone and an iTunes card from her Godmother. Most parents would cringe at this, but, my daughter has a pretty good voice, we like mostly the same music, and I take the mic myself in random moments (That Taylor Swift number will NEVER see the light of day LMAO).

So, after spending most of the card (we’re still debating on starting a karaoke playlist), I was looking through my stuff and saw that I have playlist after playlist of music for couples and full soundtracks to my novels!!!

I don’t have a full soundtrack for One for Sorrow yet… but it’ll be coming. I already have one for Auspicious Affairs. While I didn’t have one for Precarious Possessions, I DO have one for Dangerous Dalliances.

I just wanted to drop in and share my thoughts. Sometimes writing to music helps set the scene. The right song can get you in the mood for a killer fight scene, or a love scene that can melt your clothes off. The wrong songs can completely throw you off of your game (I’m looking at you “Call Me Maybe”). So if you take anything from this post, know that Mood Music can be extremely helpful when it comes to writing. Sometimes you have to just ignore the world around you and just go with the flow. Let the beat consume you… all that other really questionable stuff 80’s music suggested be done to you (Pour sugar on me, we’re GOING to fight… that stuff’s itchy…)

So, I’ll revisit this when I get that playlist for One for Sorrow made up.

See you all later!!!!
Dawn 🙂

True Confessions….

Hi Everyone!!!!

I was sitting here at my computer and while my mind was wandering, I saw the tagline for this blog. The Ramblings of a Self-Published author. I find myself kinda ashamed of myself. Normally I post when I have something to say, or just a rant that I need to get off of my chest. But I haven’t really rambled.

That being said… I think I’m going to start little segments called “True Confessions” things that are a small part of being a writer. I have a thing for music (my first confession is going to be about playlists.), art and stories. I’m not going to tell all of my secrets, but then at least you’ll know something about the inner workings of my mind.

So, stay tuned!!!!
Dawn 🙂

The Day After The Day After Tomorrow….

Hey everyone!!!

I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy this wonderful winter morning. I, personally, couldn’t be happier. IT’S SNOWING!!!!!

I’m one of the few people in my circle of friends that like the snow. And since my mother is always watching the movie The Day After Tomorrow, I just wanted to play around with what I think the title for the sequel would have been.

Otherwise, I’ve been going through some motions. If you follow me on Facebook, you would know that a dear friend of mine passed away. I don’t really want to get into that right now. I only mentioned it so you all know why I’ve been off my game for the past week or so. Well, no more.

This week promises to be busy for me. As you all know, I help TB out with her novels. When she finishes one, I read through it for content edits. She just finished the third book in her Love, Sex and Magic series, so I’m going to go through that for her.

And I refuse to give up on One for Sorrow. I’m seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. But there may be a few things that I have to go back and add. Otherwise it will seem very disjointed, which is something that I never want.

And for all of those that are waiting for Auspicious Affairs I will say this : IT IS COMING. I won’t leave Maxwell Investigations off at just 3 novels. But Victor and Leigh will go through their trials. The series is going to return to the humorous side while dealing with this next arc. There are going to be a lot of politics involved, so it’s bound to be interesting.

And that’s all from me for now. I’ll leave you with a picture of my deck in all of this wonderful snow… (Just between us, I think the Weatherwoman down here miscalculated the amount of snow we’re gonna get)

Yeah, this was what I woke up to… there’s more now…

I’ll check in with everyone in a few days!!!
Dawn 🙂

Scared & Hopeful…

Hello everyone!!!

I’m sitting here working on One For Sorrow and I am starting to become giddy. Not because I’m almost done with it, but because I’m making plans to go to 2 book festivals this year!!

The first one is in May. I believe at the last count, the Gaithersburg Book Festival is the largest literary festival in my area. The second is over the summer. The Frederick Book Festival is in its second year, and while I didn’t have a table (I wanted to see what it was about first) I still had a BLAST!!!

So now I’m in stockpiling mode. I’m crunching numbers and trying to see how many books I’m going to need. I have my book marks and business cards. I’m getting amped… I’m even debating on coloring my hair again.

While I’m doing all of this, I’m still working on my writing. I’m hoping that I can debut the Murder of Crows series over the summer. I’ll make sure to keep you all posted on what I’m doing!!! 🙂

Have a great day everyone!!!
Dawn 🙂

The Land of Confusion…

Hey everyone!

I am by no stretch of the imagination, a professional author. I don’t know when I’ll ever consider myself one, but at this moment, even with four books under my belt, I feel like a rookie.

So I’m sitting here trying to figure out what moves I should make next. I’ve been reading blog after blog on pointers of which ways to market myself. And after spending the past 3 days looking at this I’ve come to one conclusion.

I don’t know jack… and I’m not the only one!

People swear by Twitter. Others hate it. Some say go with this “FREE” service, but with free you only reach about 10 people, but if you pay a certain amount then you’ll reach 500. Most are just self-promotions for a book that someone wants to sell you. And no one wants to just tell their secrets just to tell them.

I’ve been trying to get back on my Tweet-ball. But with three small kids and taking care of normal home duties, I’m surprised that I’d even be able to write, let alone spend hours thinking about something I could randomly say that isn’t offensive, or could be taken the wrong way. And I have to mix that something catchy and buzz worthy that would make someone want to jump on my link and find out what it is I’m selling… yeah, that’s a lot.

I am navigating this new arena, and I’m stuck with another minor problem. Dangerous Dalliances has been out since Sept, and I’m not finished with One for Sorrow, so I can’t really start promoting that. I guess I’ll just have to keep trudging along. I’ll figure this all out some day. Hopefully soon, and without having to sell my next-born.

See all of you soon!!!
Dawn 🙂

Decisions & Changes

We are into 2014, and now going full speed ahead on all work!!!

After having a few heart-to-hearts, and thinking and re-thinking, there were a few changes that I have decided to make.

When I first came up with the concept of my Murder of Crows series, I wanted it to be like Once Upon A Time. Each book was a different modernized fairy tale. But the more I wrote, the further from the original concept I became. So, While I’m keeping general things that inspired different characters, I’m not going to browbeat people with “This is supposed to be Beauty and the Beast!!!” If you see it fine, if not, that’s fine too.

Then, you all know I’ve been calling book 1 Love’s Darkness. When I found the name for the series “A Murder of Crows” I fell in love with it. But since then, I was haunted by the concept of Counting Crows (Not just the music group… but they have a part to play in all of this too….). There’s a song out there called “Murder of One” by the Counting Crows and the bridge is taken from an old nursery rhyme. So that’s when my handy-dandy computer came in handy. We went looking for the rhyme and found it!!! The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of using the lines of the rhyme as titles.

What does all of this translate into??? Love’s Darkness is now going to be changed into One for Sorrow. And while I’m at it, I’ll remind everyone that the excerpt from the back of Dangerous Dalliances is NOT going to be in this book. I tried. I wanted to make it work, but I couldn’t. I’m sorry.

But the closer I get to finishing it, the more excited I am. I’ll keep everyone posted with updates.

I’ll see all of you soon!!!
Dawn 🙂