Dana Sitar's Blog, page 38

S2P | Stage Time – Savoring the Chance to Be Seen

This article is part of the Stage to Page series. One spring Nick Hart and Stefan Davis drove 27 hours back and forth between Madison, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota over 3 trips, and earned between them a total of 6 minutes of stage time at Acme Comedy Co. The club is a major name in the [...]

This Week in Words | Mind-mapping

Update Greetings, from a very burnt-out mind in a very empty pad. Read: a freelance writer dating a road comic. Stefan's got a gig in Kansas this weekend, and I am staying home to catch up on NaNo (and to spare us the expense of the plane ticket). Despite a very overwhelming past few weeks, [...]

Friday Flash | NaNoWriMo Week 3

Excerpt 3 from WIP. Read more of "The Mailee Stories" here. The four girls danced together through the end of the song, with the girls in black singing along enthusiastically with the indie band's songs. The one who hadn't spoken yet, a huskier blonde, stomped heavy black boots and clapped her hands to the drum beat. [...]

Where Authors Gather Online

The quickest lesson I'm learning as a new indie author and freelancer is the importance of networking, in "real life" and online. Every single interaction has immense value, and I have to learn how to assess and tap into the value of each one. Little things can make a big difference. I've made great connections [...]

NaNoWriMo Weekly Writing Prompt

this week's prompt: The last few days of an old and dying cat. Here's the deal: Friday Flash is a weekly writing exercise shared by thousands of writers worldwide. It's a great routine to strengthen your fiction writing skills, so I created this weekly prompt to encourage you to join in. November is National Novel Writing Month, [...]

S2P | Going it Alone or Finding Your Network

This article is part of the Stage to Page series. Regardless of your industry or niche, everyone needs someone to bounce ideas off of. And, regardless of your talent, everyone needs to be edited once in a while. I thought of writing as a solo activity for a long time. Like so many arts, it's [...]

This Week in Words | Recombobulation

Update Today — Sunday (sorry) — I am exhausted from traveling, keeping up with work, and comedy. It's  a fabulous lifestyle, one I'm glad to embark on, but it is exhausting. We drove from Indianapolis to Kansas City last night, and slept just a few hours in the rental car, brushed our teeth in the [...]

Friday Flash | NaNoWriMo Week 2

Excerpt 2 from WIP. Read more of "The Mailee Stories" here. "A friend from Wisconsin is coming here this weekend," Nathan told Mailee one night. "He's got a band up in Madison, and they're playing a show at some dive about an hour from here. You should come see them play; it's a really good [...]

While I'm on tour…

I thought it would be fun to take a look at my year: Where I've been this year: Where I am now:  Where I'm going:

Top 5 | Tips for Building an Author Platform

So, you've written a book. Now what? Whether traditional or self-publishing, you're going to need readers. Part of the purpose of self-publishing my first book, Welcome to the Shit Show, is to grow a platform along with marketing experience, to have tangible evidence of my readership to offer an editor or agent when I query [...]