David Allen's Blog: Another Dave's Blog

So, full disclosure, I'm a October baby. I was born of the night and the horror. Also, I was born in Utah as a surprise baby well after my family thought it was a complete unit. They were only there for two years and for me being conceived, my Dad would tell people the well, there was nothing better to do.
Anyways, since day one, the Spooky season has always had a special place in my heart. A connection that has always and will always be with me. It culminated with the writing of my debut novel, a horror take of a famous tale.
Some personal context, the people that know me were incredibly surprised I could write a horror novel full a murder, gore and bloodshed. They know me as a chill, fun, slightly dopey friend. Which makes the fact that the story came so natural to me even more surprising to them.
I bring this up because I joined the bookish community about a year and a half ago, and narurally gravitated to other horror authors and fans of the genre. The bookish committee is wonderful, and the horror section of it even more so. I felt RIGHT at home.
The funny thing is, now, its basically spooky season all year for me. Ghosts, goblins, demons, death, hell and horror and a daily theme for me. Something I look forward to and talk to other enthusiasts. By the time Halloween comes around, its like the rest of the world joining in on our party.
I find it fun and fascinating. I've always had a more the merrier type of personality, and I just love seeing people enjoy themselves. Of course, the holiday season will get here and the rest of the world will move on and Mariah Carey will have her annual domination. But for me and the rest of my fellow fans of the darkness, we'll still be chilling in Halloweentown, enjoying ourselves.

Hello everyone! Hope life has been treating you well! So, I recently had to take off my writer hat and put on my tech hat. (At first I was going to say artist but there are plenty of tech people who are wonderful artists) So here's the thing, I'm not a tech person. At all. Its funny, in a reversal of roles, my Mom is tech savvy and my Dad was ALWAYS into the newest technology. He made sure to stay up on the latest news and upgrades. Even my sisters have shown a great proficiency towards electronics.
Me? Not so much. But, I did write a novel!
Anyways, with all of that being said, I decided to start a newsletter because A. I was told it helps and B. It does sounds fun. Reader, edition one was not fun.
Rewind to the release of my novel. A day of GREAT anticipation. I had everything worked out. Had a great meal, some wine, took the day off from work to celebrate. All I needed to do was upload it to publish.
That is when the nightmare begin.
Turns out it needed to be formatted a certain way. FYI, I got into writing to write, not format. It took me 6 hours of formatting into the early morning until it was accepted. Turns out I should have paid more attention in my computer classes in high school. Also my foreign language courses.
Anyways, I sent out my newsletter in a site that was recommended to me from story origin. It took me hours to make the email, format it properly, and abide by their guidelines. After I was done, I happily hit send and sent my official newsletter out to the masses.
Except I didn't. It went to 0 people.
Somehow the list didn't list. I figured my bad, just needed to correct it. I tried to find where to do that I couldn't find it. Then I tried to find customer service and learned it wasn't really possible to contact them. Thats when I learned it was an experimental site.
So! That was something. Anyway, I went to a different site and my newsletter is officially out to all 18 subscribers! I hope. Anyways, you learn something new everyday. Whether you want to or not 😅

Hello everyone! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, its about to get better! In honor of my one year anniversary as an author and my birthday coming up, I am doing a giveaway of my book Fury: A Cinderella Story right in time for spooky season!

Elizabeth Sullivan was 104 years old, long since reaching the age when every birthday is a massive accomplishment. As I'm approaching 40 I'm steeply in the existential panic years. When someone reaches a hundred years old, they are full of stories, wisdom, and reflection. Of course, the big question everyone has is the obvious one. How does one live to be 104? Miss Sullivan, in all her years of living, gave the best advice for a long and healthy life.
3 Dr. Peppers a day.
While you may scoff, she brought up an excellent point. Doctors throughout her life told her Dr. Peppers were not healthy for her. They all ended up dying while she lived on. She had the last laugh.
Now, there are plenty of people who drink Dr. Pepper religiously. They do not live anywhere close to 100. Most of us won't. In fact, a lot will develop health problems from soda intake.
The point it, when Centenarians are interviewed about tips for a long life, they usually give a tip that won't exactly work for a majority of the population. Except for the one who said to stay away from men, that is actually solid.
I bring this up because I recently saw a post from an independent writer detailing how they made thousands of dollars in just a few weeks after their book launch. Reading through it, there was some generic information but one thing was buried that put it all in perspective.
They managed to have two social media posts go viral and bring a ton of visits to their book. What they posted wasn't out of the ordinary but what made me laugh was how they nonchalantly explained this was part of the process.
Yes, just go viral. That easy. Promoting your book.
That is the dragon every independent author is chasing, along with countless others. It is another version of hitting the jackpot.
The truth is its hard word and persistence that pays off, along with luck. Its the luck part many people do not want to acknowledge. I hope my fellow indie writers all get lucky. Its a wonderful community. May we all live to be 100. Till then, just keep drinking Dr. Pepper.

Today, September 1st 2023, marks the one year anniversary of my debut novel, Fury: A Cinderella Story, and the anniversary of becoming a published author. Its a big day for me. It took me most of my 30s to write Fury, and I went through ALL of the emotions releasing it into the wild. Anticipation, fear, joy, anxiety, everything. Of course, many writers go through the same experience, no matter what their publishing status is.
In the year since I have met so many wonderful people who encouraged and aided me. The book community is great and I would not change it for the world. One thing I learned is that promoting is far different from writing and it is a beast among itself.
But back to that day. I was not just the culmination of the first words on the page, but of a spark in me that I had since childhood. An ambition that I was afraid to acknowledge.
Of course, there were challenges along the way. Finding time to write. Creating a new world and characters. The editing. My goodness the editing. Also, a fun fact: when I was 60 percent done, I lost my flash drive containing my work and had to start over. I had a LOT of wine that day. The good news is that I crafted a better story. At least that's my opinion.
The thing that hits home the most is that through my writing, I can be my most authentic self. I can finally express my whole being, and having a community that accepts it had been wonderful and fulfilling.
I remember staying up till 3 in the morning trying to properly format it 🙃 so that it could be accepted. I learned a lot about formatting that day. But I wouldn't change a thing.
I don't know what the next year will bring, but I am excited for it. May it be the best one yet!

Hello everyone, welcome to my new blog! First and foremost, thank you for stopping by, more than anything I hope to make it enjoyable and entertaining. I've been a part of the online bookish community for about a year now and it has been nothing short of wonderful. I wondered what my first post should be and it just seems natural to make it about my writer origin story.
Back in 6th grade I had a extra notebook in class that I used to write stories in. My first was an unfinished tale of kids who travel through time to solve crimes. I still believe it would have been The Next Great American Novel. I even had a pen name, Irish Joe. Being African American, many of my classmates and even adults scoffed at that name and told me how ridiculous and even offensive it was. Decades later I found out my Mother's maiden name was Irish, and I had a great relative from Ireland who married Interracially before it was legal. So hah, they can all kiss my my and my ancestors Black and Irish backsides.
The point is, my teacher told to keep writing in my downtime and that I had a creative spirit. At that point, I thought being a writer was a true future for me. Then for the next 20 years, I dealt with people telling me how stupid the idea of being a writer was. So I buried it and stopped even bringing it up.
One night, while working my night job, I was listening to John Tesh and his radio show, Intelligence For Your Life. Great show, even before that I listened to it for years. I still believe he helped me get my current job with his interview tips. (I found out later one of the bosses thought I was high in the interview)
Anyways, he mentioned the biggest regrets the elderly and dying have about their lives, and in the particular study he brought up, the number one answer was not going after their passions and not living the life the wanted. They did what others wanted them to do.
There's a quote I read. Vaguely it goes that they are so many people who know they are writers, feel they are writers, have stories that need to be told and know that is their true path. The only problem, they end up never writing a thing. I didn't want to be one of those people, so I decided on the spot to change my life direction.
After work I went to the store and bought 3 notebooks. I now have a self-published novel, a screenplay, a pilot, short stories, and now a blog. So a big thanks to John Tesh, and my old teacher. Irish Joe lives on.