October is here, and thoughts turn to my long-running ritual of participating in the Inktober challenge. However, this year, I’m mixing it up and changing directions.
Instead of drawing every day, I’m going to lay down my ink in the form of text. My mission is to write a little every day. Even if it’s just an outline or paragraph, I’m going to make time to progress my current book project.
Writing and Rewriting, with a side of coffee
For those of you who are new, Hi, I’m Dawn, and I write books about belly dance history and costuming. You can find my book on Amazon.com and over on my own personal Etsy store.
In 2023, I celebrated the milestone of the 30th anniversary of the first edition of “Costuming From the Hip.” That humble collection of class handouts put together by an audacious young college student launched a career filled with beautiful costumes, interesting articles, and epic opportunities to meet dancers around the world.
Rewrite or Re-Envision?
There has been a lot of progress made in this head-to-toe rewrite and expansion of “Costuming from the Hip.” But, I must admit, I’m look forward to really solidifying the shape of the book throughout October’s “Inktober” challenge.
I’ve grabbed an old notebook, and it’s now time to make tiny but potent daily progress on the book. Throughout the month, I’ll make regular updates over on my old Facebook page. And of course, I’ll be back here for an end-of-the-project status report. 
50,000 Tiny Choices
Writing is simply making 50,000 tiny choices. Each word is a decision that shapes each paragraph and phrase. But in a DIY book, you’ve gotta consider all the images too. My writing will undoubtedly be filled with sketches, diagrams, and illustrations. I’m including a bunch from past publications like some of the ones above. But there will be a lot of new line art and photographs too.
But my first “Tiny Choice”
is to get started on Inktober 2025.
Let’s finish this rewrite!
~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Oct 1, 2025
