Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Spoiler Alert! Your Escape into Poetry

If you like reading some poetry of mine, then you will want to Like my Facebook page: Dawn Leslie Mullan.

And, visit my Authorsden! I rotate my poetry and articles on that site from something I just completed to what I am working on right this second.

And leave a review, I may just feature it on Undawnted! 

So there are ways to have your own personal spoiler alert, but you should really try buying a novel or chapbook.

The Sonoran Dawn --Poetry Spotlight is open and ready to receive your ebook order. 

Have a great and wonderful day!



Saturday, June 24, 2017

Marketing: The Language of Symbols

I have been assisting others lately develop their marketing strategies from blogs, websites to book covers. In reality, what I am doing is helping develop an author's language of symbols. The letters and words I am typing now are in fact symbols.

Did you know the letter "a" is the symbol for an ox? 

Humans are hardwired to understand and translate the abstract language of symbols to convey information in a short amount of time. It is an efficient system, but also one that can be used for negative purposes. Go to any corporations website and translate their symbols, or marketing logos. What does that corporation tell you without saying a word? Then you will understand the language of silent hypocrisy.

As artists and writers, we use symbols to tell stories. When it comes to brand creation, most artists and writers cannot translate themselves into a marketing strategy. That is where I usually find myself: in between the creator and true genesis. 

So how do artists and writers step out of the shadows to show their readership/audience in symbols what they and their products are all about? 

Writing about Marketing today! 
The Undawnted logo is a great example. It has a Saturn motif. Saturn is the old bearded man that likes structure. Yet, if one takes a closer look, I have shadows in the eye of the storm. I like the paranormal so I threw that symbolism in there, but I also like science and science fiction. So the swirl is indicative of a galaxy spinning around a galactic center of beings and perhaps an Einstein Rosenbridge. The rings could be of a Saturn like planet, but in this case, the rings symbolize the expansion of creativity and consciousness across the universe. 

So look how much I said in that logo for Undawnted: Imagination is Fearless, after all. 

There are some unwritten rules about blogs and websites that many artists and authors shove to the side, so I will help translate those items:
  • keep it simple
  • only have 2 to 3 clicks to anywhere on your site
  • declutter, you don't have to put everything in the menus when a link will do
  • white space is golden
  • be conservative
When I explain these items, I get blown off. If I go to sites of artists and authors with their Twitter and social media feeds on the side, that is too much input for me. As your audience, I am looking for YOU... not your feeds. I could care less. 

I want access to your writings or your art pieces. And, I want them as soon as I click onto your site. So take down all the noise and replace the noise with a link. 

A blog/website comes down to what you want me to know... in the first five seconds I am there. Are you trying sell me your Twitter feed or your book/art? 

Symbolism takes a hen peck approach. If your main focus is to sell me your works, then don't sell me the secondaries of Twitter and social media. Prioritize. 

If you write and sell writing services... get two different blogs or sites. You can interweave and link to create a support mechanism for both your inventions. I began with art and writing on this site. When I focused on what Undawnted was all about, I moved the art off and created: Sonoran Dawn Studios. Bingo! 

Now if someone needs design and publishing services, that person goes to www.SonoranDawn.com. 

If someone wants to read something unique from every topic under the sun, that person comes to Undawnted. 

Perfecto! 

Always keep it simple. You don't want your blog, website, or logo to look like a Jackson Pollock painting. You want to look like Da Vinci: with style, grace, and purpose. 

I hope I have explained this topic well. 

When you endeavor on a path of marketing, be sure to visit other artists and authors' websites. See what they have done to market themselves to a wider audience. Have a list of what you like and what you don't like. 

Then sketch out what you want then find someone like me to help you translate your world to the universe of readers and connoisseurs of your unique art form. 

If you can do it yourself, even better. I encourage artists and writers to learn other modalities so they are less inclined to pay for services they don't need or want. Services should be there to enhance what you already have, not leave you penniless. 

So do some basic research. Learn what a great marketing strategy is. Ask for help. Get only the services you require. 

Sounds easy, but takes a lot of work!

Have a great and wonderful day!!!  


Friday, June 23, 2017

The Perfect Metaphor

Writing is not about noun and verb agreement even though that really does help. Writing is about speaking to an audience you never will see, meet, or converse with verbally. So the challenge of writing is to be understood in the two dimensional aspect of communication.

Black on white. White on black. People can choose their own colors, fonts, and pica to beautify their dialogue. Technology has made the 2D communication experience better, especially the advent of emoticons!

Now, I know when you are joking.

In formal writing, like poetry and story writing, writers are not given the emoticon out. Writers have to be able to express with language what the meaning of a phrase is. How to convey emotion without explaining the punchline. Encapsulate a moment in order to set a mood. Writers have to learn to be psychologists and sociologists.

So writers learn to speak in metaphors. A metaphor is an object or idea that replaces another to better clarify the meaning of the original object.

Sounds complicated, but it really is not: She is as beautiful as the day I met her. A character could be discussing her aunt, grandmother. So the day I met her is the metaphor of not aging as beauty in this instance is being epitomized by a bygone youth. 

Yet a metaphor takes on a plethora of meanings. Youth does not have to mean physical beauty. The beauty could be her giving nature. Beauty could mean her vulnerabilities. Beauty could mean her kindness. 

So let's read the line again: She is as beautiful as the day I met her. Did the explanations for beauty change your idea of how beautiful the "she" really is? 

Metaphors are beautiful additions to the writing craft. 

What will you use a metaphor for in your writing? 

Have a great and wonderful day!


Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Phases of the Moon

Inspired by the Equinox/Solstice Book Series, the Phases of the Moon book will combine prose, poetry, art and photography centered on our singular satellite. 

This book was added to my Short Stories section

Hear Beethoven as you read: Moonlight Sonata and wait for the moon to rise in your imagination. 

 






Short Stories Section Update: Season Side Up! Series

I had this idea pop into my head. A brilliant idea, I may add. This idea was to fashion a series of books about the seasons. 

Now that concept is nothing new, so I have to put a twist on the idea to make it mine. I will combine poetry, maybe some original digital art, and of course package the books up for entertainment. 

Kind of like a diary but without the teenage angst! 

When I get more into writing these little gems, I will let you know what direction I am heading in for sure. 

Right now, I am just so excited about these books, especially the book cover art. Isn't this one fabulous? You can view the rest of the book series on the Short Stories section.

Divine inspiration. The muse descended and she brought chocolate! Good, Muse. Keep the creativity flowing! 

Have a great and wonderful day!



Wednesday, June 14, 2017

New Book Marketing Design

How is this for showing off?

More like inspired by. Not too shabby. I think this new design feature will only be available to those publications which have been previously released and leave the soon-to-be released as the normal two-dimensional design. 

So be on the lookout for my publications (with a link to Lulu through Sonoran Dawn Studios) when you see this neat three-dimensional design here on Undawnted.

Have a great and wonderful day!




Saturday, June 10, 2017

What is on Your Reading List?

Have the summer doldrums even if summer has not officially arrived yet? Why not add some fun in the sun with a summer reading list? 



I have many different types of materials for you to peruse. From the short but topical articles and essays in my nonfiction section to books of poetry. Enjoy a long form poem for a quick escape or an entire chapbook devoted to one motif. 


Begin your fearless journey into the imaginative, intellectual, and lyrical with a click of Fiction, Nonfiction, or Poetry.

Or... try your hand at all three.

Have a great and wonderful day. 



Thursday, June 8, 2017

Summer Reads... 2017

Visit our Summer Reads sections for some great links to my Author's Picks.


We have a growing inventory of reading material in Ebook PDF form in a variety of subjects as well as in fiction and poetry. If you would like to see more, please visit Sonoran Dawn Studios' Author Spotlights.



Monday, June 5, 2017

Articles and Essays Summer Selections

I have gone through my old articles and essays on the VDP Gazette to see if any of my journalistic writings had relevance a few years later. 

Boy do they! 

From Freedom of Speech and Expression to Law, History, Religion, Women's Issues, Culture and Society, I have many great written pieces. So I am revising some. I am reformatting others. The selection is varied so there is a publication for everyone.



I am updating Undawted's Nonfiction section to include these releases and more that are in the works!

Visit Sonoran Dawn Studios' Authors Spotlight in Articles and Essays to download your PDF copy.

Have a great and wonderful day! 


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