author ~ editor ~ coach
Dana
Tye Rally
about
My story
I wanted to become a writer when I grew up but instead became a newspaper journalist, a freelance magazine writer, a mother, a divorcee, and then a corporate editor and stepmother of a blended family. When I wrote, it was at the behest of others. I suspected dreams might only happen in my sleep.
What I didn’t know was that I was always a writer, that it was only up to me to declare myself one. I am, therefore, at long last, a writer. In 2017, when my children were grown, I began working on a novel. And then, on a trip to Colombia in February 2019, I stayed in an airless hotel room with two beds and four women, and I couldn’t sleep. Memories of my childhood—the way my father used words to hurt others and himself—came tumbling out the next morning in the form of a long essay. That essay became the basis for “The Invisible Man,” in the anthology, True Stories, Volume II, and for my memoir-in-progress, Lessons in Reverse.
publications
True Stories II
My two sisters and I were born into privilege, the daughters of a successful physician and a clever and devoted mother. But all is rarely as it seems. This story features early memories of my painful and destructive relationship with my father—a misogynist and narcissist who struggled behind-the-scenes with depression, anxiety, and addiction.
blog
’Struth
Don’t call my dog dumb
What I remember first about these two women: they were in a hurry. My husband and I were out walking our dog, Fin, at our favourite off-leash beach and they tromped right on past us in the muted, early spring light, looking ahead with a sense of purpose. Then...
Singled out
The other day, my sister phoned to express her excitement. She reminded me she’d be moving by the end of the month—out of her noisy, concrete condo in the ’burbs to a glorious half-duplex in the big city. “Whew! Thank goodness you’re getting away from all those...
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