Grateful April in the A-Z Blogging Challenge I am not one of those people who write their posts beforehand. In my inaugural attempt at completing this blog challenge, I understand that some writers have their 26 stories completed ahead of time. Really?? I didn’t do any pre-thinking before joining this challenge, much less pre-writing. So when you read one of my blogs during the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge, you’re reading words inspired just moments before typing them, after my two cups of liquid sunshine. This post is different. We …read more

Grateful April in the A-Z Blogging Challenge My coffee loving Tracey just posted this! Day three of the A-Z Blogging Challenge, and I’m sitting here enjoying that for which I am grateful that begins with C. It’s warm. It’s caffeinated. It’s sweet, vanilla, coveted. Coveted Coffee. I love it so much I give it two Cs today. And it doesn’t escape me that on the day I’m singing coffee’s praises, I’m blogging much earlier. My coffee journey went something like this: Twenty years ago, a friend said, “Hey, have you …read more

Grateful April in the A-Z Blogging Challenge Unlike yesterday, the letter “B” presents many options for which I am grateful, most of them pretty obvious for a Book-loving Baseball fan who enjoys the Beach. And, once again, I’m plagued by my Pacific Time zone creating a delay in posting. By the time I am on my second cup of coffee and ready to write, I’m already behind (especially behind those who posted their “B” before going to bed last night, you adorable little cheaters). The sense of belonging is sort …read more

Grateful April in the A-Z Blogging Challenge Being on the West Coast of the United States, I’d better get faster at posting my letter blog for the day during this Blogging from A-Z April Challenge because my writing comrades in the other time zones are already out of the gate. I’ve already had hits on my blog, and I’m barely on my second cup of coffee. I promise I’ll get better tomorrow. Scarlett O’Hara and me. I’ve chosen the theme of gratitude, and what better way to begin my day than thinking …read more

One month, 26 posts. Sundays off for good behavior As a relief to some of you whose eyes have been overtaxed by my lengthy Chicken Soup for the Soul-ish posts lately, for the next 26 days I will be writing shorter blogs during the A-Z Blogging Challenge.  In order to organize my thoughts and, hopefully, stir the creative juices in a more pointed and efficient manner, I will be blogging with the theme of gratitude. For 26 days, we will blog using the letter of the alphabet for that day.  The …read more

I’m not a big jewelry gal, but one sparkly bauble I never go without           In the fifth grade, I begged my mom to let me get my ears pierced. I wasn’t a tomboy, but you wouldn’t have known it by my Dorothy Hamill bowl haircut or my plain t-shirts and jeans. I had an overbite, a gap in my two front teeth, and an older brother who let me tag along with him. Even though I loved sparkly things and baby dolls, my outward appearance …read more

Finally, a description of my little dark secret Many have asked me how (in the world) I got started in the haunted attraction industry, especially those in my high school class who could not get me to even drop them off at the local “Scream in the Dark” for fear they would drag me like an asphalt plow through the parking lot and do the unthinkable: pay someone to scare me. For the record: I do not need to PAY someone for that. I have two attractions full of unrepentant …read more

Learn the craft of interview and techniques to get the story on paper This Saturday, March 16, I will be speaking at our own Writers of Kern meeting in Bakersfield. The Writers of Kern, a non-profit local chapter of the California Writers Club, is one of the only professional writing associations in the Central Valley of California. Guests are welcome. Here’s the info: Dana Martin is a professional writer, editor and social media consultant, who is frequently published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Woman’s World Magazine and Bakersfield Life. …read more

It was an ordinary day, except that it wasn’t No one else was in the car with me on the day it happened. Well, almost no one. I feel the need…  Speeding on the freeway isn’t new to me. If I have the need for speed, blame it on either the most popular Tom Cruise movie of the 1980s or my parents. My dad brought home a shiny red Delorean in 1983, and I fell in love with the aerodynamics, the compact, two-seat design, and the idea that it just …read more

What I learned from the shoreline As I previously admitted, I recently hit the bottom of the writing well and found it dry. But that’s OK. Some people find inspiration in sadness and turmoil; I am not one of those people. My desire to write comes from happiness. And opening this blog today to write is a very good sign that there might be water in the well yet. For roughly two handfuls of people, this is welcome news. My natural habitat is happiness; my innate disposition is joy, and …read more