#art, FEATURES by VALENCIARTIST: da-Al

It was truly a pleasure to chat with da-Al and to discover her ideas on art and literature. My first interview with her was published in LatinosUSA (English Edition on Tuesday, 25.03.2025 titled Conversing With da-Al and today I present it, in full as a chapter of FEATURES by VALENCIARTIST. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did interviewing her.

IN HER OWN WORDS

Hi there! I’m da-AL, and since I learned to hold a pencil, I’ve been a writer. My journalism awards include an Emmy for Dark Waters and an earlier video, Homeless on the West Side, was nominated for an Emmy.

You can follow & share her blog about fun, love, & literature: HappinessBetweenTails.com

OUR CONVERSATION ABOUT ART AND WRITING

VALENCIARTIST: As a writer/novelist do you believe writers, and others in the arts, should publicly voice their opinions on politics and current affairs, not to preach but to inform?

da-AL: In the same way that conversations are influenced by the experiences of the speakers, stories can’t help but reflect their times of origin and the perspectives of those who weave them.

VALENCIARTIST: I see your future novels have titles that allude to music, Flamenco and the Tango. What does music do to inspire your creativity and are there other types of music that you like as well?

da-AL: My favourite thing is the uplift of dance which, of course, involves music. World music is especially thrilling, better yet, any dance my husband does with me. In ways that heal mind, body, and spirit, music and dance balance out my passions for writing and reading. For a long while I took flamenco classes, later Argentine tango classes (there are some videos of my honey and me tango-ing at my site), and now I’m beyond thrilled by the joy, health, and camaraderie of Zumba.

VALENCIARTIST: What is your opinion reference the use of AI in writing and in painting? And how do you see literature and the arts evolving?

da-AL: For non-writers who need to write business letters and the like, why not? It’s painful to see human jobs outsourced to machines, especially when only one person gets to amass incredible wealth. At the same time, it helps those who aren’t rich.

As for creative works, the question highlights how blurry the definition of art is.

When mainstream musicians incorporated electronic instruments, critics argued they weren’t making “real music.” Now people compose with a computer mouse and keyboard. The same apprehensions were voiced when computer video animation started to appear on big screens.

When it comes to painting, paints and brushes are involved. I’ve seen people sell paintings created by elephants and chimps. My local art store sells multiples that were surely painted by fancy printers. If those are “real paintings”, are they “real art”?

Now, when you ask about novels, that’s personal haha. If I guide an AI program to compose an entire book, I have to admit that it’s still a “real novel,” one needing the AI program’s by-line as much as mine. At this point, I doubt it would be fun to do and worthwhile to read. For sure, no agent or publisher would buy it from me, given how they state “no AI” on their guidelines.

New things, from art to how we treat each other, are often seen as radical. With time, the same people who initially balked will act as if those things are common sense. Since I can’t stop the evolution of literature and art, I resort to asking myself whether, case-by-case, I like it. Always, I’m intrigued by the electric passion that only a human can convey.

As for your question about how I think literature and the arts are evolving, we’re getting exponentially voracious for uniqueness and volume. Somewhere I read that music hardly changed for centuries until modern ideas of copyrights and ownership took hold. Before that, people sang and played tunes passed down for generation. Now everything is now about originality. We’re still human as ever, though. Always we’re guided by our thoughts and emotions, our need for survival, love, beauty, fun, well-being, and all the rest.

What works for me an artist is to look within, to continually find what inspires me and go with that.

Phenomenal! I thank you so much for your time and for your candid replies. I think we all would benefit greatly by going with what inspires us and searching for as one searches one finds…

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VALENCIARTIST: So is there anything you would like to say in closing da-AL?

da-AL: Yes, of course… Currently I am a novelist and formerly a journalist, and my awards include an Emmy for “Dark Waters: California Coastal Crisis.” Whether fictional stories or nonfiction for print, radio, TV, blogging, or podcasting, the writings that elicit the most reader response are my most intimate. I’m indebted to my multi-cultural grandmothers and to the care of strangers. In addition to my Iranian husband’s encouragement and my rescue pit-mix’s playfulness, which are everything to me.

At the moment, I’m querying for literary representation. My novel, «Flamenco & The Sitting Cat», is the story of Lali Catala’s love letter to all who feel too broken, too old, too young, or too whatever to not deserve happiness. Lali’s grandmother from Barcelona returns from the grave to challenge the 40-year-old cynic to do what she swore she never would—to shop for a husband. The resulting comedy of errors involving heart, career, and family teaches Lali that the richest love lies within us and that life is a series of coming-of-ages.

Across all my social media, 10,000 people follow my blog, HappinessBetweenTails.com and you can too. Thank you.

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This has been a fun and enlightening interview with a very interesting and prolific writer. I wish to thank da-AL for taking the time to talk to us here at LatinosUSA. We certainly appreciate it. And we think you too have enjoyed out conversation with da-AL.

CHEERS

AND…

If you are a poet, writer, painter, musician or involved in any way with the fine arts, and you want to be a protagonist on FEATURES by VALENCIARTIST, all you have to do is reply to this post with your email address and we will contact you.