Dana Sitar's Blog

This Week in Words: Next

Did you miss this week’s newsletter? After sharing the story of how I got my unexpected dream job, I’ve received such a wonderful response!

I’m losing the urge to publish every fleeting thought, revelation, or bit of advice. So this blog is probably going to stay a little quiet but for brief news updates. If you want to stay in touch and keep up with what I’m writing and doing, subscribe to the newsletter.

It’s free. No spam. Infrequent emails. You’ll love it.

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5 Ways to Break Through and Actually Start Writing

by Jerry Jenkins

If you’re like I was at the beginning of my career, you have huge dreams.

But sadly, the bigger the dream, the greater the frustration when day after day passes without success.

The cause — not starting — looks simple. But the fix — starting — has you stymied.

You just know you can succeed if you could only get going. Yet all the willpower, resolve, and turning over of new leaves only exasperates you that much more as the days pass with nothing done.

Something about simply be...

Dick Jokes and Dirty Puns (featured in Hippocampus Magazine)

Hey! Someone accepted a thing I submitted for publication! Acreative thing :)

Hippocampus Magazine, an online publication of creative nonfiction, published my essay “Dick Jokes and Dirty Puns” this month in their Guilty Pleasures and Vices theme issue. In the essay I talk about my crazy, inexplicable addiction to stand-up comedy – my greatest vice and mylife filled with guilty pleasures.

Here’s an excerpt – go to the magazine’s website to read the full essay and those from other writers.

It s...

5 Things to Consider When Crowdfunding Your Book

by Sam Rennie of Readership

Crowdfunding has received quite a buzz about it in recent years. It’s become a viable way for creators to get their work both approved and funded. In the publishing industry, especially, it is an exciting and worthwhile alternative for writers.

One of the biggest appeals to this model is that we don’t have to concern ourselves with the following questions:

Is this commercial? Does the author have a huge following already? Does this fit in with any current trends?...

Celebrations and Lamentations of One Year in Polyamory

This shit happens so fast. I’m going to write it down here, and the story is so convoluted I guarantee this can’t make sense in one writing. But this is what’s been going on in my life and my head for the past twelve months, and I want you to carry the burden for a few minutes –yousort this shit out for a while.

The Open Relationship

Stefan and I had been together for four years, I wanted to date girls, I told him, and we decided to have an open relationship. My expression of independence and...

Introducing A Writer’s Bucket List Blog Network

For four years I’ve been trying to do blogging right for me, and I’ve tried it in many wrong ways. It’s because, as with everything, I want both extremes in this space: I want the independence to spew my thoughts and stories uninhibited by the demands of others, andI want the security, solidarity, and support of a community of colleagues.

It seemed reasonable to believe I couldn’t have it all, so for years I’ve been trying to find which one worked for me. I started a personal blog, then turne...

10 Spectacular Disasters Happening Right Now

In the vein of Coach Jennie’s “10 Spectacular Things” prompt, I’ve got some life updates. A bloggy blog post that is driven by neither insomnia nor anxiety nor fear nor any kind of pain or insanity.

A post driven just by my need to write and my attempt at a commitment to this blog.

The prompt asks bloggers to list “ten spectacular things happening right now” – an opportunity to brag, celebrate, and remind yourself of great things about you.

My life lately, however, has been a spectacular disa...

Literary Geniuses Who Were Also Alcoholics

Alcoholics come from all walks of life, and no one is excluded from the possibility falling victim to alcoholism, including those who live life in the public eye. One group of people, however, have almost become synonymous with alcohol addiction. While they may write masterful and beautiful literature, writers have been notoriously known for alcoholism.

Ernest Hemingway

The beautifully written prose from the author of A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway is just on...

Two Workshops for Writers Coming in June

I’ve added several sessions of two workshops for writers to the schedule for June. Both workshops have been popular, fun, and successful in the past, and I’m looking forward to connecting with more writers by switching up the format and adding some weekday sessions to accommodate various schedules.

Learn all about the workshops and register here.

Here’s a quick overview:

WRITE YOUR MANIFESTO

Define your audience, clarify your message, outline your ebook, and begin drafting your manifes...

Nice Things about This Guy I Love

He thinks I never have anything nice to write about him. I told him my blog isn’t an autobiography; it’s a collection of the writing I like best. And that usually comes out in my most lonely, anxious, unhappy moments.

Lately most of those moments are precipitated by something to do with him. Not necessarily his fault, I’ll cede, but often with him at the center. So he doesn’t shine too brightly in my blog posts.

That’s unfair.

To even the score a little, I don’t think I shine too brightly in...