Let me begin by saying that I did wash my hands this trip. First time readers may find this a disturbing way to begin a blog post, but my regular audience will understand that my cleanliness has never been called into question–just my travel planning and memory. I have a love/hate relationship with airports. I love them, as they represent adventure, but I also hate them because my presence at airports often scrambles the TSA security team like NFL players over a fumbled football. “Get her!” they might say. “It’s …read more

I am O-ficially dragging now in this challenge. Even coffee isn’t helping. But here’s why: I am editing two incredible novels, one of which has been requested by NINE (and my writing friends will understand how BIG this is) different agents. Most of us are delighted when just One agent wants to read more, but nine?? Her novel is a hot potato in my hands: I have to toss it back to her as fast as I can because we don’t want to keep the agents waiting. Isn’t that the …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

Looks like I’ll be flying up to Oregon for the inaugural West Coast Haunters Convention May 21-23 in Salem. I’ll be teaching a class on haunted backstory writing, which you can find examples I’ve done on my Web site by clicking here! Here’s the class description: Haunting Your Haunt: Backstories to add life to your living dead Dana Martin is a writer living in Bakersfield, Calif., who started creating haunted backstories as a favor for a friend. Though a feature writer by trade, Dana gained experience in the art of …read more