2026 – A New Era.

January 19, 2026January 18, 2026 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.5 Comments

2025 has been quite a year, from the highs of happiness to some sad losses, the circle of life and the paths life takes us down. Once again I have been very lucky to have done some travelling and have visited some beautiful places; Sorrento, Costa del la Luz and Ireland. I have met some wonderful people some of whom are now good friends and are as crazy as I am about singing, dancing, music and having the craic. I’ve also achieved things I thought would be impossible for me to achieve.

None of the above could I have done without my amazing friends and family. I know there have been times over the past couple of years where they must have looked at me and wondered what on earth I am doing and no doubt there will be more of that in the coming year. In the past few years I have found some new confidence, new strength and new power to try things out and push my comfort zone. It’s been scary but so worthwhile.

I’ve been very lazy with my blog and at times I have thought about giving it up. As if the universe is pushing me, almost as soon as I have these thoughts to end the blog, I receive an email from WordPress to inform me about people visiting my site and that spurs me on to keep it going and actually start writing again. I always found writing my blog very therapeutic, it helped me through the darker times in my life and from the messages I received, it helped others too. I also connected with some wonderful writers on here and to sit back with a coffee and read a blog post was very relaxing.

Thank you for all your support, your love and kindness, for giving me confidence to follow my dreams. It’s still January so I’m not too late to wish you all a very happy, healthy, peaceful, love filled and totally sparkling 2026.

With love and sparkles and more to follow xx

The Music Sparkle.

I have branding…

October 5, 2022October 4, 2022 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.8 Comments

With a touch of Sparkle

I know it’s been a little while since I updated my blog. There has been a lot going on the past few months and I have been working hard on the music although not getting much of an opportunity to actually sing. The preparation for releasing my music has been a lot to deal with. Having no experience in this particular industry it’s been quite the learning curve and at times I have found it difficult to get my head around things, but I’m getting there.

I have learned about copywrite, music licensing and music distribution. I have read so many blogs, terms and conditions, do’s and don’ts’s and also watched YouTube videos on those subjects and then I just had to take the plunge and sign up for things. I worked with a lovely lady on the social media branding. Her brief was to look at my Instagram account so she can get a feel for who I am and the colours I tend to post with and also we had a chat about my love of country music, sparkle and the look I was going for. I’m thrilled with the finished product and I look forward to using it in the future. The photo shoot was great fun, very different to just doing a quick selfie on the phone. It took me quite a while to get used to posing and I admit, I was a lot more comfortable when I was wearing my jeans and t-shirts than the floaty dresses.

So, we are well and truly on the way now on my musical journey, it’s all coming to fruition. It’s taken quite a while but I’m almost there.

With love and sparkles xxx

The Music Sparkle.

Gone Live

April 15, 2021April 14, 2021 Dawn - The Sparkle Diaries.6 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been two months since my last post, the time is flying by and as usual, busy, busy days. It sure is correct that the older you get the faster time goes and surprisingly even in these days of lockdown and restrictions, the time has passed very quickly.

Anyway, I was planning on writing a post about how my first FB live session went and I still will include this information and also tell you how the second FB live session went. Yes, I’ve done two!! Go me and pushing the comfort zone in all directions.

I was so excited when the lady that runs The Virtual Club Bar group on FB sent me the above photograph for sharing the event. It was really happening. The day before the event I managed to get a bit of a cold with a sore throat. Typical. I drank lots of honey and lemon and a few Lemsips to ensure I had some kind of voice on the day. Oh I was nerve wracked the thirty minutes before I went live. I was so excited and so scared. I pressed the “go live” button and that was it, I was on. I had selected eight songs and I started off with the first one and although I couldn’t see comments I could see lots of hearts and thumbs up floating across the screen which helped so much. I knocked my microphone over half way through but I kept going. I do have a habit of losing myself in the music and forgetting where I am in a song and that happened to me during “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight”, I kept talking, restarted the backing track and off I went again. I have often said to my lovely vocal coach that my USP will be the audience wondering if I will come in on the right note, at the right time and if I can remember the lyrics because I do drift away into a world of musical daydreams.

By the time my 30 minutes was up I was nothing short of exhilarated, I’d done it, my very first gig in a virtual kind of way. My throat just about held up to the last song. It was well received as I was asked back and I did another 30 minutes, without microphones falling or forgetting where I was in the song, on March 14th and I was delighted with the comments and feedback. Somehow I managed to save this particular FB live session to my phone and I have uploaded it to You Tube so if you have half hour free at any point, tune in and let me know what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlqpXf1z_vo&t=23s

I have been asked back a third time this time for an hour on Sunday 25th April at 5pm so I am currently working on my set list for that. “Rose Garden” appears to be a firm favourite for people and I’m going to start including more Country and Irish songs as I get more confident. This has been great practice so far for when I may be able to take to an actual stage. The head will be gone off me with nerves when I get that far.

Singing is something I always wanted to do and never ever thought I would. After a career in Industry leading to the Corporate world and then giving it up to be a carer for Mom and Dad, I never allowed myself to think that I could make this happen. Yet here we are. I didn’t give up on the dream, I pray, I push myself, I dare to feel the fear and have a go. What have we got to lose but a bit of pride if things don’t go as planned. I know I will regret not having a go at this. I love singing so much, my guitar playing is coming along and I receive such lovely comments from people that it spurs me on. Never ever give up on your dream, you can manifest it, you need to work for it and you can do it.

With love and sparkles xxx