Writers, Readers. and the Balance of Power

Writers, Readers, and the Balance of Power

A spiritual-ish perspective

A little while back, my fourteen-year-old daughter told me I was a control monkey. It wasn't in jest and it wasn't speculation. It was a declaration of fact, the evidence beyond dispute, any argument on my part only serving to prove the point. 

Damn kids.

Now, I do have my quirks and yes, I do insist under penalty of death prefer towels be folded a certain way and I've been known to stand in front of my family, tapping my foot and ranting demanding to know who left the empty toilet paper roll on the hanger. But my daughter was talking about my writing, specifically the reason I write.

Her words: because I want to control everything.

My response? I squared my shoulders, raised my chin, looked her dead in the face and said, "Duh!"

 As a writer, especially a fiction write, I've heard this before  and I can't say I entirely disagree. After all, just look at    what I do: I create my own world, my own people and  species and make every single element do exactly what I  want, when I want, and how I want.

 On it's face, that sounds a little...not good. Those who do  this sort of thing in the real world are usually called dictators. Or felons. I don't have the balls or the lack of conscience to be either, so is it possible I write out of some twisted need for absolute pow-ah?

The jury's still out on that one.

In my stories, I decide who lives and who dies. I grant true love or devastating heartache with a few clicks of the keyboard. I create new civilizations, change laws and morality, even conjure up new planets. I parcel out abuse and reward on a whim. For a few hundred pages, I am the god of my own world. It's a damn fine gig - while it lasts.

And there's the catch. 

My reign - though very cool - is wonderfully and horribly finite. 

 When the last word is written, all that power  disappears. It's not taken; I surrender it and do so  freely. I send my world into the real world, knowing it  will be judged, loved or hated. 

It's an incredibly profound moment, the natural culmination of my work.

I'm not passing judgement on those who believe

otherwise, and I'm certainly not propping my opinion on a pedestal as though it's the only correct one.

But, for me, refusing to relinquish control would be to deny a fundamental part of the whole creative process; a part I'm not willing to sacrifice, even for the sake of a super-cute doggy tug-o-war gif. :)

 Readers create writers and writers create readers. It's a symbiotic circle,an  exchange of power that demands and deserves the deepest respect. That's  how I see it, anyway. 

 So, yes. I am a control monkey- for a little while. And I write for the days    when I can give it up.

 ~Dawn

Uprising Blog Tour - That's a Wrap, People!

All good things must come to an end...

*crickets*

Okay, the world isn't one of those things - not yet, anyway. The Uprising Blog Tour is another matter. *sniff*






I'd like to propose a toast to Mindy over at Forbidden Reviews, for hosting this shindig. A kick-ass chick and organizational Guru ~ 
Mindy, you ROCK! 

Another toast goes out to all the fantastic bloggers who allowed me to share their page for a while. It was a great experience, and I stand in awe of all the hard work put into those amazing sites.
BRAVO!

And BIG HUGS to Time and Tide Publishing, without whom this whole thing wouldn't have been possible!



Even in the midst of holiday insanity, this Blog Tour went off without a hitch! I had a blast, and my sincere thanks goes out to every, single one of you!
~ Dawn







                                                                                                  

Angels Among Us

Dominik walked the area, keeping a lookout for souls in turmoil, those vulnerable to spiritual attack. He found a few and offered assistance—nothing dramatic, or even angelic. Just gestures of kindness borne from keen observation and a willingness to act.

I can't tell you how many times I almost deleted that paragraph when I was writing Uprising. It's not essential to the story or character development, so standard operating procedure would deem those words unnecessary, doomed to the delete key. 

I kept those lines because they were important to me, to my development. I tend to forget or overlook the goodness in the world, the kindness in my fellow travelers on this remarkable journey.

I see an article  about something horrible or tragic and more often than not, I'll click. I wish I could say the same about reports of decency and selflessness, but I usually pass on such things. Maybe it's because I don't want to live in rose-colored glasses, or perhaps I need a constant stream of perspective so I remember my life is really, really not bad. I should probably balance that with some uplifting news.

I've decided to track down some angels. Not the ones with wings and a halo, but those living among us, quietly and humbly making the world a little better. This article and photo of the New York City police officer who purchased boots for a homeless gentleman has already gone viral - for good reason in my estimation - but I think it's worth repeating.

Larry DePrimo - you've earned the Angels Among Us Wings!

~ Dawn

My 16 new BFF's - Blog Tour event Schedule!

Here's the compete Blog Tour schedule for Uprising! These 16 bloggers were crazy gracious enough to allow my book a spot on their pages. Check them out - I'll bet at least one ends up in your bookmarks!

When If you stop by, make sure you enter the give-a-way contest. Lots of prizes and lots of winners - this bracelet is one of several up for grabs.

Nov 29    Forbidden Reviews

Nov 30    Tina Carreiro

Dec 03    I Read Indie 

Dec 04    Tich Brewster

Dec 05    Dark Obsession Chronicles

Dec 06    Tamara's One Stop Indie Shop

Dec 07    Kristina’s Books & More

Dec 10    Intoxicated by Books 

Dec 11    Delphina Reads Too Much

Dec 12    Tsk Tsk What to Read

Dec 13    Forbidden Reviews

Dec 14    Ever and Ever Sight

Dec 17    Insane about Books

Dec 18    Sassy Book Lovers

Dec 19    RoadTo Hell Series 

Dec 20    Kristina’s Books & More

Dec 21    Dawn Jayne

The Angels Fly Again!

I'd like to interrupt the (totally awesome) Breaking Dawn festivities to present the cover for Uprising! I'm unbelievably thrilled, and all credit goes to Time and Tide Publishing.

Also in the realm of great news, the release date is set for November 29, 2012. There's a full moon and penumbral eclipse the night before. 

Talk about a tough act to follow. :) 

~ Dawn Jayne

Watching Others Burn

It has been said by others with far more eloquence that I will ever possess, that we sometimes don't see things until we are ready to see them. I absolutely believe this is true.

It might be a person in our office, one we pass every day but never notice, only to discover he or she has the loveliest smile we've ever seen. It might be a song on the radio that we never really listen to, but then one day the lyrics seem to speak to us and it becomes our favorite. A painting on a wall, one we've only glanced at a few times, and then one day we see it with new eyes and it's the most beautiful thing in the world. I love those moments, because usually it is a sign of an internal change, of growth.

There is also a downside to these moments, and those come when we finally see something in a new light and it's not pretty. Perhaps it's a partner we always trusted, a friend we thought had our back, a situation we believed was right and it turns out to be horribly wrong.

We can run, disengage from people or situations that we realize no longer have our best interests at heart. There is a sense of freedom in this, but also humiliation. We wonder how we could have been so blind to not see these things before. We question our intelligence, spend a lot of time licking our wounds and trying to piece together the shattered remains of our ego.

Worse, once we can see with new eyes, we want to tell it to the world, to others still entangled in the situations we've escaped. But we know they won't listen. They are still looking through a veil that won't be lifted until it's ready, the same way it lifted for us. That's a hard place to be, a frustrating place. It sucks.

For me, I sometimes feel like a person that has escaped a burning building but couldn't warn anyone else. I feel like I'm standing back, watching in horror as people are consumed by a fire they don't even see. It's heart-breaking, maddening, and painful.

Sometimes all we can do is keep our hearts and arms wide open, and pray for the day we can embrace other refugees as they see the light. We can help stifle the flames and help them to start rebuilding, just as we did.

Peace ~
Dawn

Lead us not into Stupidity

I've been following with perverse fascination the story of a woman who tossed a one-million dollar winning scratch off ticket in the trash. Said ticket was then picked up by another woman who proceeded to turn it in and claim the money.

For reasons only lawyers can understand, a court has determined the winnings should be returned to the original ticket holder. That ruling is being appealed and this is my shocked face. Oo

I really don't care about the legal part of this mess that includes furious discussion over the difference between a trashcan and a ticket bin, or a machine that may or may not have been working properly, or what constitutes found property. The thing that amazes me is the woman who tossed away her millions said she did so because...drum roll...the scanning machine told her the ticket wasn't a winner.

I've played the lottery more than a few times, including those scratch off tickets. There is nothing difficult in the process of determining what is or is not a winning ticket. Like most others, the ticket in question was a simple match-the-numbers game. If your number at the top matches a number at the bottom, you win. Most of us have been doing variations on this game since preschool, so I am astounded that a person who had just chucked over ten or twenty bucks on the possibility of winning one million dollars chose to rely on a machine to give her the thumbs-up or down.

Oh! She insisted that she even scanned that ticket two or three times - like she always does - just to make sure it wasn't a winner before she threw it away. I can't decide if that makes the situation better or worse.

Dependence on technology is not a new phenomenon; just ask the people that follow their GPS over hills and streams and into the wilderness where they sit for days trying to get a cell signal so they can call someone to save them before they starve to death. It's insane that we are a society of people that continue to allow machines and computers to run our life. It's lack of personal accountability in all it's glory. We've gone beyond blaming another person for our losses and now we can point fingers at things that don't even have a pulse.

I don't care one way or another which of these women end up with that million dollars. God bless both of them for reminding me of how far we've all gone on the path of stupidity.

I guess that's about all I have to say on this. Before I post I'm going to hit spell-check so I have an excuse if anything is wrong, then I'm going to hop in my car and head down the road to pick up my daughter at a friend's house. I'm going to set my cruise control at 60 so if I get pulled over for speeding I can blame it on the car.

Peace ~ Dawn