DawnHawk Productions

09/25/2024

Building a guitar. Well, from a kit. Just have to finish the wood and assemble the components.

08/31/2024

Susie asked me to take a picture of our mailbox. Not sure why--seems strange.

06/10/2024

Do you think I should?

06/10/2024

Over the last few years I have found myself taking easier and flatter bike routes for my rides. Got down to half of my old 4 mile loop that is almost completely flat. Got this new bike which has electric assist. Goes up hills almost like being on flat ground. I did a 6.2 mile ride in 35 minutes today. Much more interesting and scenic. I think it is great they are coming out with these bikes just as us boomers are getting shy of more strenuous rides. Might allow me to ride 10 more years, until I'm 85--maybe longer.

05/12/2024

https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/dawnhawk You can go directly to my author page at Lulu here. If you purchase directly from Lulu, you will pay less than on Amazon, and I will get a larger cut as well. I appreciate your interest and hope you enjoy reading my books. Note: click on the link at the beginning of this paragraph. The logo below is not clickable for some bizarre reason.

Michael Murphy earned a master’s degree in Professional Writing at Maharishi University. He was on the faculty there from 1994 to 2003. During that ti

02/17/2021

I got some new business cards. Did you ever wonder where the name DawnHawk and the logo came from? No? Well, I'll tell you anyway.

In 1987 I attended a retreat at the Serra Retreat in Malibu, CA. It was a pretty significant experience for me as I had gone to that retreat looking for a new direction in life. While there I was inspired to become a writer. Until then I had been making a living repairing typewriters, so it should be an easy transition, right. At dawn on the last day of the retreat I was standing on a ridge looking out over the Pacific Ocean. I had an impulse to look up. There was a hawk floating motionlessly about 10 feet above my heard. I watched spellbound for a long time. He just floated there motionless on the ocean breeze. After several minutes he eventually drifted out over the adjacent canyon--never flapping a wing the whole time. It made quite and impression on me.

Fast forward to the year 2000. I had gotten my MA in writing and was teaching at MIU here in Fairfield, IA. I was teaching myself movie making in preparation for teaching it to my students. I was also taking courses in Native American Studies at the U of I. As a class project I decided to make a documentary about the annual pow wow held there. I thought I should have a cool production company name in the titles for the film. It seems all films have one or more production companies with creative names. After some deliberation I settled on DawnHawk Productions since I had come to associate my present career path with the experience in Malibu that morning in 1987.

I was also teaching myself to use a Freehand illustration software at about that time. It seemed like a natural choice for a learning project would be to make a logo for my nascent film production "company". I figured out how to electronically trace the silhouette of a hawk from an illustration in an old bird guide. The mountain didn't take much artistic talent, and the sun is just a circle. It was just a matter of arranging the elements and creating a gradient for the aura of the sun. Voila, the DawnHawk company and logo were born.

When I wrote my first book in 2004 the logo seemed a good choice for the cover as it was the only original art work I had ever produced. The rest is history--well at least my personal history. At present my works of non-fiction (which many would deem fiction) don't seem to be destined for the annals of great literature. That is unless my books should suddenly start to skyrocket toward the best seller list. Wanna help?

07/26/2020

Due to the paper shortage resulting from people hording toilet paper, I am placing a limit of 7 copies of each title per order.

04/12/2020

It's not so easy to find the link to the DawnHawk web site so I will include it here:

10/29/2019

DawnHawk productions now has a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Actually, it's right in the middle of my office, which also serves as the mudroom for our home. People can't get in or out of the house without coming within inches of this display. Maybe I'll install a mechanical hand that reaches out and grabs them.

10/29/2019

So, I keep getting notifications that people are actually visiting this page. They also keep telling me that I should post something new. Well, hear it is--I'm still alive and my books are still for sale. Here is a seasonal picture taken this morning in Fairfield, where I live.

01/18/2019

Book sales are up in the UK this year. Not sure why. www.dawnhawk.com