: About Me

Hi there! I'm Dan Hiland, one of several Sprituality Channel Managers here at Helium. As such, I look forward to helping those of you who wish to improve your writing skills, navigate the Helium site, or just want to chat about spirituality, religion, and writing, Whether you're new to the writing craft, or merely need to polish your technique, I am here to help.

If you're anything like me, you've found that there is something magical about the writing process. Sometimes it's a story idea that won't leave you alone until it's been captured on paper. Other times it's an essay, a rant that wants out, or something funny. Or maybe it's that dream you had just last night- but one that willl evaporate from your memory banks like the morning fog, if you don't record it in your dog-eared, worn out notebook ASAP.

Whether it's a journal entry or the latest chapter in your Great American Novel, it's all writing, and writing is the one thing you have to keep doing if you ever hope to improve your hard-earned skills.

As to my personal history: I have a BS in Informational Technology, a course of study embarked upon in desperation, after several decades of employment in jobs ranging from security guard work and chicken plucking to door-to-door sales, carpentry and furniture moving.

Later in life, while working as a technical writer, I enrolled in several creative writing courses and found that I had a talent for writing stories. Since then, I have been putting pen to paper on a regular basis, writing fiction and non-fiction stories, a novella or two, and the occasional essay.

I spent a year at the All Experts website, answering questions about religion. Then I worked at the Writing.com site for a while, submitting and critiquing stories. During 2009 I published several issues of a zine called "And Thology," a monthly collection of essays, stories and music reviews.

As a Channel Manager, I look forward to helping you and others here at Helium, while continuing to learn more about the writing craft. I also pledge to make Helium an even better resource and haven for writers of all abilities.

See you inside!

My passion is ...

seeking out the best things this world has to offer.

I know too much about ...

daydreaming.

My parents always told me ...

to thine own self be true.

My childhood ambition ...

to make a Hitchcock movie.

My favorite memory ...

My wedding day.

Why I write ...

Because I have to.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

"Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing," by David Morrell.

My first job ...

was strawberry picking.

My best moment ...

When inspiration kicks in and the words just flow...

My inspiration ...

comes while I'm standing in the shower.

Creative Writing > Poetry Poetry: My painful past

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Alcohol I’m not supposed to hate, But I hate you. And you always get out of it Because you are not a You but an It: A disembodied substance that is the very embodiment of something they call “spirits,’ Yet you have no spirit- Barely a substance, and only because you are liquid. If someone were to leave your principal ingredient out in the air, it would evaporate into the nothingness you elicit from others. And we would all see that you have no heart, And are only as big a monster as one will allow you to become. The chemical compound that causes the human spirits who take...

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Writing:

• Creative Writing Silver
• Marketplace Approved Writer
• Helium Charter Member