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Welcome to My Website!

Allow me to show you around! 

I’m Dana Lockhart, an aspiring author entering the publishing world.  I typically write urban fantasy novels with a little coming-of-age realism.  My first novel The Un-Life of William Moore has had over 300 hours hot and trending during its Kindle Scout campaign and is on its way to publication.

My website is primarily set up as a blog where I talk about writing and anything else that comes to mind.  I blog approximately once or twice a week.  Only about 10 blog posts show on the main page.  You can view older posts to the left under “archive.” 

Also to the left you will find all sorts of information from how to buy one of my books to a little bit about me.  “Home” will take you back to the main page. If you can't wait for more blog updates, you can check out my gaming articles on DVS Gaming, in which I post at least 4 a week ranging from new game press releases to editorials and reviews. 

You might have noticed a pop-up in the lower right corner askin…
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Onward and Upward

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I didn’t talk about it a lot because I was honestly terrified - but this year I lost my job at no fault of my own and was unemployed for 6 months.

At the same time, I was investing in my book, which was also scary. Like, what if I dump too much money into the book and then never see it turn around? As the days drug on without a steady income, I tried to stay positive and kept grinding no matter how dismal things looked. And eventually I came out of the other side.

-A New Job - A New Start-

As of mid-September, I am an administrative assistant at a not-for-profit that helps my local community. While the organization does many, many things (including but not limited to bill assistance and low-cost healthcare), I am based out of the weatherization department.

What is weatherization? I thought to myself when I saw the job opening. Basically it amounts to repairing homes so that they are more heating/cooling efficient. We also do things like replacing siding and roofing and mak…
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Fun Facts About The Un-Life (Spoilers)

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It's been a while! Hi! I've been busy with leading CampNaNoWriMo workshops and lots of book signings. But here I am today, ready to tell you a little more about my novel, The Un-Life of William Moore.

I highly suggest reading the novel before reading these "fun facts," as there are spoilers ahead. You can purchase the book at most all places you buy books, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local book store.


-Fun Facts About The Un-Life of William Moore-
1)The novel is approximately 63k words.When I first “finished” the story, it only had 35k. Being so short and condensed, the story's pace was way too fast.The additional word count helped to slow things down, develop characters, and make it a more standard sized novel.
2)  My first working title was “Billy the Vampire.” This title made it too obvious what the story was about, even though it conveyed the corny tone I wanted at the time.Later, I wanted to make it more subtle.I chose the official title (The …
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Preparing for Gateway Con 2019

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-My Second Year at Gateway to Publishing-

I had an amazing time last year at Gateway Con. I met some amazing people and also made a good friend (looking at you, android). I learned a lot and came home with pages of notes on how to improve my writing and my brand. After such an awesome experience, I couldn't wait for the next one to come around.

Though I pitched The Un-Life of William Moore to agents there, ultimately I decided to self-publish it. It's my first story, and as such it has the most of my heart and soul in it. While the changes some agents recommended weren't unreasonable, I wanted to remain as true as I could to what The Un-Life was to me.

Still, I applied what I had learned to the story. I connected with people that helped me improve it even further. I still came out of Gateway Con successful, in my mind.

This year I will also be having an author table/book signing, so if you're going to the Con, too, come see me! I'll be selling my paperback novel of…
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Pre-Order or Get ARC Copies of "The Un-Life" Now!

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-Get An ARC Copy Now!-

I'm excited to announce that you can get a free review copy of The Un-Life of William Moore while supplies last. I only have 15 more copies to give away, so first come first serve.

A review copy is just that, for review. It's a bit of an "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine" sort of thing. You'll get a free copy of the ebook in exchange for your promise to review the book on Amazon and Smashwords. This copy is e-book only and can be redeemed on Booksprout. 

You'll have until June 13, 2019 to review the book, so about a month from this post date. If you happened to not be able to put it down and finish it by the release date, May 16, I would be eternally grateful for a review by that date. But that's entirely optional, as are reviewing it anywhere else (Barnes and Noble, BookBub, Kobo, etc, etc). If you finish your review early, just let me know and I'll make sure it gets up up.

To ask me for a review copy, mes…
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Matte or Glossy, That is the Question

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When I'm put in an unfavorable situation, I try to look on the bright side of things. More often than not, the bright side is always the same: a learning experience. Whether it's a bad breakup, a civil suit, or a risk like investing in my novel, there's always a learning experience. And I love learning.

I identify as a scholar, as a student, no matter if I'm enrolled in study or not. And this entire book adventure has been one heck of a learning experience. I always thought I was good at manipulating Microsoft Word, but I discovered new options and standards than what I knew before. Not to mention all the learning of how to write better to even get the book finished.



I received my first proof on April 16th for my novel The Un-Life of William Moore. Getting it proof-ready was a challenge in itself. I didn't embed fonts right the first time, had a bunch of hidden blank pages I had to deal with. But the first proof wasn't that bad. Needed some margin work, but oth…
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The Un-Life of William Moore Cover Reveal

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After over a year since I started this journey, The Un-Life of William Moore will soon be available to put on your bookshelf. I already had an e-book cover, but to be able to hold this book in your hands I went back and got a spine and back added to it. A week of waiting was well worth it! Here is the official book cover for The Un-Life of William Moore:


I am so ecstatic about this cover. Thank you, again, Zakaria Nada, for working with me on making this book come to life. I didn't have a single complaint on the background of the back cover and am still in awe of how amazing it looks. If you need a book cover done, I highly recommend Zak and her watercolor style book covers. She has great turn around time and great taste. She also designed the bookmark (coming soon) that will come with this book when you buy it at one of my book signings.

-Book Signing Times and Locations-

Speaking of signings, I already have three book signings on the schedule and a potential fourth in the works. …
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#PAD: Poem a Day 2019

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Life is crazy, but I've finally hit a little lull with The Un-Life of William Moore. She's in limbo as I wait for the cover to be done (it should be within a week!). So, now that I have some more free time, I've taken up a new writing challenge: PAD.

PAD is Poetry-A-Day, or NaPoWriMo. It's the poetry equivalent of NaNoWriMo, only instead of a strict word count spread over a month, you write one poem every day for the month of April. So far I've been able to keep up, albeit posting my poems rather late in the day on Twitter. I will start posting them to Instagram, too, but haven't yet because my background images for IG disappeared and it took me a while to find them.


I will post all of my poetry in a blog post at the end of the month to see if I managed to successfully write a poem every day. I prefer to write structured poetry, with beat, rhythm, and rhyme, but when put on the spot like I am with PAD it tends to be a little more free form. And more than a litt…
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You Can't Rush Art (At Least, Not Too Much)

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I know, I know, I've dropped off the face of the earth. My articles on DVS dropped from four a week to maybe one if I'm lucky, and my blogging here has suffered, too. But I promise it's for a good reason.


-The Un-Life Coming June 2019-

The big reason that I've stopped my side-writing gigs is because I've gotten back my mini-edit of The Un-Life of William Moore. Applying the critiques is my number one priority right now. I'm in a rush to get everything done in time for Gateway Con to have my grand first book release there. And I'm a little behind schedule. I'm still on target for the June release, but I'm feeling the pressure.

Big thank you to Ryan P. Freeman for providing way more feedback than I anticipated. I ordered story editing and he still pointed out several copy-editing suggestions he didn't need to do. On one hand I'm glad he did more than I was looking for, and on the other I'm exhausted at the thought of all these things I shou…
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I'm Working On It

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I know it seems like I haven't been blogging much (because I haven't), but I am trying.  I have five post drafts in the works right now and I'm not happy with any of them.  And I don't want to just post re-hashed stuff I already posted on DVS Gaming like I did with my Lucifer article.  So, if I can't come up with something entertaining, at least maybe I can come up with a post that's informative.

-It's Time to Bring The Un-Life to Life-

I am currently in the beginning stages to self-publish The Un-Life of William Moore.  I discussed it with the agent I had been taking to, who gave me her blessing.  As I told her, The Un-Life just feels like an old chapter in my life.  I don't believe that I have the spark to force myself to edit it anymore.  One, because I feel like the story is done and complete as is, two, there's just so much more I want to be doing.  So instead of trying to change the story to what it isn't for the sake of being more mainstre…
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Sympathy for the Devil: Why We Love the Fallen Angel

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-The First Fallen Angel-
I binged the entire three seasons of Lucifer in two weeks. It completely flabbergasted me that a show about the Devil solving crimes actually worked. I am fascinated by the depiction of Satan in this show. He’s probably the most sympathetic version of the Devil I’ve ever seen. Thank God Netflix picked it up for season 4.
In the meantime, it has me thinking about Mark Pellegrino’s version of Lucifer in Supernatural. Even Sadao Maou in the anime The Devil is a Part-Timer. Why are all these characters so alive, sympathetic, and delightful to watch?
I previously explored why television has gotten so dark these last few years. When thinking about the sympathetic modern devil, I believe there is a connection between these two thoughts.


-Humans Are Fatally Flawed-
A very common notion is that Satan has a hand in tempting people to sin. However, he’s not the only one. Vampires, demons, and other dark, supernatural creatures all represent the same thing, and we are fasc…
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