Of Memory Lane and Reading Lists

Before my mom passed away in January, she gave me a bin marked "Mom and Dad's Treasures - 57 Years Worth". And she wasn't kidding, in either the fact that they're treasures, or the fact that it was chock-full of papers and photos going back over five decades.

Most of what was in there I'd seen before, but much had been forgotten. The birthday cards we kids had given her, the Mother's Day notes and the letters sent between family. People I haven't thought of in years suddenly standing before me on the pages of old newspaper clippings and letters. It's been a wonderful trip down Memory Lane but the bin also posed a bigger question: What happens to all this once I pass on?

To answer that, I've been going through each envelope in the bin and divvying things up. My sister and brother are getting all the cards they sent Mom and Dad over the years and whatever pictures that pertain to them (there really aren't a lot of pictures. Mom split those up years ago). The stuff that pertains to me will reside in the bin for my kids to look at, store, give away, recycle.

Of course, going through their bin made me think of all the stuff I have hanging around here that's just sitting in bins, so I've hauled them out and have been going through those as well. I tell you, I might as well work in a museum!

In fact, I feel much like a curator, making decisions about what to keep, what to recycle, what to give away. Ever since the kids were little, I've kept a binder for each year. In it are news articles, programs, flyers...anything that helps tell the story of that year. Most are one-inch notebooks, but some years are a little more full - and so need bigger notebooks.

The Years of Our Lives

This shelf contains the notebooks from 1998- present day. I'm nearly out of room. I figure two, maybe three more years I need another shelf. 

But I can't tell you how often we check the notebooks to see when we did something or when we went where. I've scrapbooked most of our vacations (see below for a note about THAT!), so those are interspersed with the appropriate years. And they stick out at odd levels because I recently added the calendars for each year to the notebook itself (prior to this, the calendars were just stuck in a bin - like SO much else!).

Regarding vacations - some are in the 12 X 12 scrapbooks, some are in regular binders, some are within the year's notebook, depending on the length of the time away. HOWEVER, I recently brought down a bin that held not one, but TWO vacations I never got around to putting into anything. There they sit, the journals, the photos, the receipts - everything- each in a plastic bag waiting for me to remember they exist.

My husband recently got into the trip along Memory Lane as well since in that same bin was a smaller box of letters he'd received before we got married. He got a LOT of letters when he was in college - and he kept them all. So cool to read notes from friends he hasn't seen in years - and several he sees often. But it was the letter from his Dad that brought him up short - the only letter his dad ever sent to him in college. What a true treasure it is now.

Of course, I've been reading as well - my book list for March is below. You'll note the genre are varied, as are the authors. 

Moonlight in the Morning	Jude Deveraux	romance
The Name of the Wind	Patrick Rothfuss	fantasy
The Slow Regard of Silent Things	Patrick Rothfuss	fantasy
The Wise Man's Fear	Patrick Rothfuss	fantasy
Change of Heart	Jude Deveraux	romance
Dragon Wing	Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman	fantasy
O'Hurley's Return	Nora Roberts	romance
Lilac Lane	Sherryl Woods	romance
The Last Promise	Richard Paul Evans	romance
Star Trek: Killing Time	Della Van Hise	SF
Star Trek: Prime Directive	Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens	SF
The Real James Herriot	Jim Wright	biography
Mount Vernon Love Story	Mary Higgins Clark	biography

The last two I put on the list, but I didn't actually read them. I STARTED them, but gave up. Both too dry.

And yes, I like most Star Trek books - and have nearly fifty of them. Have decided to move some from my TBR pile into the pile on the bookshelves. :)

FWIW, I'm really enjoying Patrick Rothfuss' series, although I didn't realize until I finished Wise Man's Fear that the next book might still be years away. Sigh. Dragon Wing is the first book in a seven-book series and I didn't like it enough to keep going.

Between the scrapbooking and the reading, I haven't done much writing other than writing up explanations for the notebooks to put items in context, although I have started a new erotic romance that has been capturing my imagination for a while (nothing like burying the lead!) 

Play safe!

Diana

What I've been reading...

It will probably surprise no one to discover I spent most of February immured in my chair with the blanket pulled up and the heater on...reading escapist romances. The wind was howling (some small branches down but no major damage), the temperatures in the single digits (Fahrenheit here, so at least they were on the plus side), and the snow came in big flakes that would be perfect for Christmas, except it was February and I'm so over snow...

So, what did I read? Here's the list:

This Matter of Marriage	Debbie Macomber	romance
Wishes	Jude Deveraux	romance
Montana	Debbie Macomber	romance
Ever After	Jude Deveraux	romance
True Love	Jude Deveraux	romance
For All Time	Jude Deveraux	romance
Lavender Morning	Jude Deveraux	romance
The Librarians & the Pot of Gold	Greg Cox	fantasy
Devil's Daughter	Lisa Kleypas	romance
Philomena	Martin Sixsmith	biography
Heartwishes	Jude Deveraux	romance
Mystic Warrior	Tracy & Laura Hickman	fantasy

You'll notice a lot of Jude Devereaux in there - she was one of my mom's favorite authors. Since I'm still working on the books in my mom's TBR pile at the time of her death, most of what I've grabbed and curled up with have been romances. Several of these books all took place in the same town.

You'll note a Librarian's book in there - I LOVED that series. Erudite, funny, well-written - it was a must-see for us every week. It got cancelled this year but I'm still holding out hope there will be a few more movies. The series started as three movies, so it can end that way, too, right? In the meantime, there are books - and I need to find more of them. This one was a Christmas present.

Philomena is also on the list: this has been on my own TBR pile for over a year. I haven't yet seen the movie and didn't realize how serious it was, but am glad I read it. Its going to be a bit before I can see the movie, though. Let me give you a warning: this book deals with some serious issues and will make you very angry. Very. Angry.

The Hickman's have written a LOT of books (the Dragonlance series, for example), and I'd gotten this one several years ago when I asked for books for Christmas. It's the first in a series and after reading it, I'm not interested in reading the rest. 

Yes, I've also been writing - and scrapbooking and doing family tree stuff. I'm not teaching this semester (one class cancelled due to low enrollment and one taken away and given to a full-timer who didn't have a full load due to a cancellation. Sucks to be low man on the totem pole). Not teaching has given me a taste of what true retirement will look like. I have to say...it ain't a bad place to be!

Read on and play safe!

Diana

CABIN FEVER is back!

After a nearly four-year hiatus, Cabin Fever is once again available in both ebook and print formats. It's now available on both Smashwords and Amazon - so pick up this long-lost treasure today!

What's it about? 

Isabel knew she was in trouble. Did all men take one look at her well-endowed breasts and think sex? No way was she going to make out in a tiny MG on some God-forsaken mountain with a date she never wanted to see again.

Daniel needed to forget a case gone bad and a relationship gone sour. Taking a leave of absence, he heads for a mountain retreat to deal with the guilt. The last thing he wants is company.

Forced together by a winter storm, neither gets what they want…but both get something better.

Click on the picture for a short excerpt and purchasing information or go directly to Smashwords or Amazon and download your copy now. Want the book in print? You can get that, too!

Want more Diana Hunter books? Check out this page and find all her books. 

Play safe!

Diana

P.S. Watch this space for the next re-release, Services Rendered, coming at the end of March!

Books I'm reading

I have a lot to say about this month - but am not yet ready to say it. Instead, I'm just going to record here the books I've read this month - and you'll see they're nearly all romances (the Outlander books sort of qualify as romances, but they're also historical fiction, science fiction, a little bit of fantasy, and a whole lot of good reading).

So, for the month of January - 10 books in total (yes, I know I still have a day to go and with the wind chills at -22, there's a good chance I'll have one more book to add to this later...):

Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon
Written in My Own' Heart's Blood - Diana Gabldon
Christmas in Evergreen - Nancy Naigle
Merry and Bright  - Debby Macomber
Moonlight Masquerade - Jude Deveraux
The Stormy Petrel - Mary Stewart
The Christmas Bouquet - Sherryl Woods (see note below)
Touched by Angels - Debbie Macomber
Only Beloved - Mary Balough
Divine Evil - Nora Roberts

Concerning all but the Diana Gabaldon books, these are all from my mom's TBR pile. I'd gone to a library sale over a year ago and for Christmas 2017, we all gave her books (over 20 of them). What I didn't know what that she'd pretty much slowed down on her reading. Where she used to consume about a book a day, she now took weeks to finish one because of the neropathy (sp?) in her hands. She just couldn't hold a book for a long period of time.

In any case, Sherryl's book was one she'd started and not had the opportunity to finish before she died. I finished it for her.

Play safe,
Diana

New Year, New Resolutions

Some wonder the worth of making New Year's Resolutions. They tend to fall by the wayside before the month is out anyway, so why bother?

I'll tell you why - and how to be successful at keeping them. One, putting a resolution down in writing makes it real. Seeing the words helps solidify the thought and desire in your brain. Two, it's also helpful if there aren't too many. You can only work on so much of yourself at one time. To take on too much is to set yourself up for failure.

And third, the more concrete the resolution, the more apt one is to actually make it happen. "Lose weight" is a great resolution - "Lose 20 pounds" might actually happen because you can see yourself moving toward that goal each time you step on the scales. Last year, I made a "lose 20 pounds" resolution in April and 21 weeks later, had accomplished that goal. I set a new one and by Thanksgiving, was down 30 pounds.

So here, written down, are my three VERY concrete goals for 2019 (in no particular order):

- Lose another 30 pounds by September (which will put me at my pre-pregnancy weight).
- Write 100,000 words on The Companion, my fantasy series and Work of My Heart.
- Finish repubbing the last few Ellora's Cave novels by June (I haven't counted them up, but there aren't that many left).

See? Doable!

Play safe - and make sensible resolutions,
Diana

P.S. Okay, so I do have one more...to really keep track of what I read this year. I've successfully done this in the past, so I know I can do it. I just have to remember!

Of libraries, great books, and career paths...

I discovered the library when I was in second grade. That was the Big Year we were allowed to visit the Bookmobile and take out books. Somewhere in those early years, I found Harold and the Purple Crayon – and I took it out as one of my two choices as often as I could. I loved that book, although I couldn’t have told you why. At least, not then. Now I suspect it had something to do with creating one’s own reality – much the way I love to do when I write stories.

By fourth or fifth grade, my dad was taking us for weekly visits to our local library branch on Winton Road in Rochester, NY (my hometown). This was a brand-new building with a large children’s room and more books than I’d ever seen in one place. I loved it. My dad would let my brother and I go – and being off the leash, I suspect, was part of the allure. We were free to roam throughout the room and read as many books as we wanted while he sat down and read the newspaper – or chose books of his own from the “Big People” room (as I thought of the main reading room). When he came into the children’s room, it was time to show him the two choices we’d made and take them up to the desk to get them stamped, just like an adult. Heaven!

Somewhere in fifth grade or so, I discovered the Sue Barton books in the children’s section. Sue Barton, if you’ve never heard of her, was a nurse. Throughout the seven books in the series, you followed her all the way from her first moments in training (Sue Barton, Student Nurse), all the way through getting her cap, getting married to the handsome young intern she met at the start (now a doctor, of course), through her adventures as a Visiting Nurse, a Superintendent of Nurses, and eventually, a staff nurse. I read them all. Over and over again, to my mother’s chagrin. “There are other books in the library, you know,” she told me when I restarted the series for the third time.

“I know,” I told her. “But I’m going to be a nurse…and these are good books!”

Well, my dream of being a nurse took a nosedive in 6^th grade when we were shown a 16 mm print of a cornea transplant. I stopped re-reading Sue Barton, and by the time I got to 7^th grade, the Winton Road Library had a new section: Young Adult. There I discovered Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and the whole new world of science fiction. Sue remained a favorite memory, although I didn’t take her books out anymore.

Time marches on, the newsreels tell us, and I found other parts of the library as well (an entire section dedicated to plays!). New genre, new interests, and eventually, new libraries to explore – all of which left the children’s room at the Winton Road Library in the dust.

Recently I had cause to go through some of the boxes of books in our attic, most of which contain books I had from my childhood. I’d kept them for my own kids, but discovered (as all parents do), that my reading tastes were not theirs. In order to make more room on my study shelves, I’d boxed up all their books as well as all my own. In an effort to streamline (and make more room in the attic), I decided to hoe out some of those books. Time to pass them along.

And who should I discover in the dark recesses of the attic, and my equally cobwebby memories? Sue Barton! I’d found four of the books by Helen Dore Boylston at a library sale before my kids were born and had bought them out of my remembered love of them. But I hadn’t re-read them at that time. For whatever reason, they had simply gone into the boxes for storage.

Now, however, I couldn’t resist. With some (okay, a LOT) of trepidation, I opened Sue Barton, Student Nurse. What if it didn’t stand up to the test of time? Would it be as wonderful as I remembered? How disappointed would I be if I discovered it was terrible?

I read the first few pages, pages that were brown and fragile with age. Then I read a few more. And just one more chapter…I was hooked. The writing is still engaging, still fresh, and still pulls me in after all this time. While dated (it was written in 1936 and medicine has made some advances since then), its still a wonderful story about a red-headed nurse and the adventures she has along the way. While we no longer have hospital wards and nurses no longer have to wrap their own bandages, nurses still wear soft-soled shoes and work harder than anyone realizes. The books still stand as a testament to a profession that deserves our respect – and our thanks.

So thank you, nurses – and thank you Winton Road Library, for allowing me to take those books out over and over and over. You gave me a love of reading – and reading takes me to new worlds and shows me new ideas. I passed by you not too long ago, and wished I had time to stop in. Would you, like Sue Barton, have withstood the test of time? Will you still have that new building/old books smell that I came to love? Will people still be sitting around reading and will the children’s room still hold magic? I no longer live in your neighborhood, but I do believe I may have to visit and see.

Play safe,

Diana, who is feeling nostalgic – and who will proudly admit she read not one, but TWO Sue Barton books that day. Two more to go! J

Taking stock - and a SALE

Every fall I clean out the closet off my study. It's a nook tucked under the attic stairs and used to be a long, narrow, dark space with a pipe for a clothes rod running along one side, peeling plaster walls covered with wallpaper from the 1920's and older, and a door on both ends so one could get at the contents from both the bedroom that's my current study or from the main hallway (Queen Anne Victorian houses have weird layouts with lots of nooks and crannies). Sometime between 1894 (when the house was built) and 1994 (when we bought it) someone decided the drop-down ladder to the attic was "quaint" (which means "old and hard to use") and replaced it with stairs off the hallway side. Too bad they weren't built by a carpenter.

Not only are the stairs to the attic of different heights, but they don't go the full width of the closet, either. Nor are their depths the same. The first step up from the hallway is nearly 11 inches in rise and around 18 inches in depth. The top two steps are shorter (only about 4 inches high) and deeper (nearly two feet deep for the second from the top). Those first steps are the full width of the doorway, but two steps up, they narrow and there's a "shelf" of sorts that is stuffed with insulation and spiders.

Of course, this oddity of a staircase takes up room out of the closet. From the peeling wallpaper that covers the drywall used to smooth out the surface under the stairs, I suspect this work was done in the 1920's, at the same time other major upgrades were made to other parts of the house (upgrades that were then upgraded in the 1970's. I wonder if the workmanship on those other parts was as...interesting...as that of the attic stairs?

The heavy pipe was left in place, running the full length of the closet, although the last foot and a half run in the six-inch space left by narrowing the stairs (why didn't they take out the rod and widen the stairs? It's a question for the ages...). And the old wallpaper from the latter part of the 19th century was left there as well. Only the "new" section of drywall was covered with new paper - and it ain't new anymore.

This was the condition we found the closet in when we moved in all those years ago. Long, narrow, dark, with a pipe running along the side and a rickety shelf above it. A painted wooden floor and the backside of a staircase cutting a diagonal from just over the bedroom door all the way down to the far end. And guess what?

It still looks that way.

I know, you were expecting me to speak of some major makeover and believe me, thoughts of turning it into a pretty space have run through my head on several occasions over the last 24 years. I've thought of taking off the door and lining it with more shelves for books (because, have you seen my study? I don't have nearly enough shelves). I thought of making it reading nook, an efficient storage space, and a playground for the kids (although their grown now and that one's off the table).

But the reality is, it's a storage closet and the place where Mommy (me) hides all the Christmas presents. Funny thing is, the kids have always known there were presents in there. Sometimes I'd post a note on the door that said so and that they shouldn't peek. I asked them a while ago if they did. Peek, that is. Both of them said the same thing. "No, I didn't want to spoil the surprise." I love my kids.

It holds more than Christmas presents, of course. All the physical copies of my books are there - the copies I sell at booksignings when I bring my own books - as well as all promo items that I give away. It also holds boxes of photos I don't want to put in the attic with its extreme temperature variations, spiral notebooks that are only slightly used, folders, binders and assorted puppets (don't ask!).

My hubby and I went to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island this summer (you can read some and see some pictures here and here) and not only bought souvenirs, we also bought Christmas presents. And then we made a day trip  to Corning, NY and walked Market Street - and bought some more. And I've seen some things online, and I recently bought new copies of some of the newer print books, and...you see where this is heading, right?

My book stock currently stands at:

Title	# of copies	cover price
Diamond Studs	5	$10.00
Dominance	5	$10.00
Getting What She Wants	4	$10.00
Hardship and Hardtack	6	$10.00
Love and Learn	4	$10.00
Love Unleashed	9	$10.00
Shooting Star	5	$10.00
Stress Relief	5	$10.00
Submission Revealed	5	$10.00
Table for Four	5	$10.00
Tales from the Temple III	6	$10.00
Tied Bundled	5	$10.00
Winter Studs	4	$10.00
Winter's Tales	9	$10.00

Yep. I'm selling them all at ten bucks a piece plus shipping and handling ($3.00/book). I don't have an online store set up, but I do use PayPal. You'll see some older, EC titles on there as well as newer ones. Two more titles will be added to the list before the end of the month.

If you'd like to place an order for a signed print copy, email me at diana@dianahunter.net with BOOK SALE in the subject line. Include the titles you want to purchase, the number of copies you want, and the address you want them sent to and we'll go from there.

And I promise, I'll look into setting up a decent, easy-to-use, online store. If you know of any, drop a comment below!

So I've taken stock - and put it all up for sale. Merry Christmas!

Play safe,
Diana

What I did on my summer vacation...

I am officially in love with Peggy's Cove. Steven had a painting festival there and we managed to get a room right in the village. I HIGHLY recommend staying at the Peggy's Cove B&B (we had the teal room with the chairs with the circles) - Mark was a wonderful host. He didn't mind me sitting at the breakfast bar (use that link and you can see the bar - and the views!) with the big picture window overlooking the cove while I wrote. Talk about an inspiring setting!

The view from our balcony at Peggy's Cove B & B

But truly, of all the places we visited, Peggy's Cove is a spot I could call home. The village is on one side of the cove and the touristy area is on the other. I can't afford it, but if I could - that's where I'd be living. When you want peace and quiet, you have it. When you want people, a short walk around the bottom of the cove brings you to the shops and restaurants.

Leaving was hard, but we had reservations for the Admiral Digby Inn up in Digby (probably could've figured that out), so we left the best place we'd been and ended up in the worst. The "inn" is actually a motel. Yes, it has a beautiful view of the bay, but after leaving such an incredible experience, this was a crash and burn. Visited Annapolis Royal (named by the same guy who named Annapolis, MD. He was trying to butter up to Queen Anne) and while the fort was a good exercise climbing up and down the fortifications, we enjoyed the gardens far more. The girl at the gate said it was about a 45 minute walk - we were there over two hours, so you know how much we liked it.

Also went on a whale watch with the guy who started whale watching in the Bay of Fundy. He's a lobsterman who took some scientists out who were doing whale studies in the 1970's, then got to thinking maybe others would like to see them. In the winter, they take the seats out of the boat and he still goes lobster fishing. I was a little worried about getting seasick in such a small vessel, but the bay was calm and we saw whales! Four pairs of humpbacks - one of whom kept diving and showing his tail. Incredibly graceful and beautiful creatures.

Keeping this short, but had a bunch of other adventures before heading down to Lunenburg for his final festival, the Paint Sea on Sight Art Festival. Had to contend with some rain (the first real rain we'd had), but he managed to paint several in the days allotted. I wrote some here as well, but not as much as the car was getting cramped and I was running out of steam. Three and a half weeks is a long time to be away from family and friends - and my cat.

We headed home by way of another ferry - this one might as well have been a cruise ship. The crossing took three hours - and we sat in comfortable seats and watched a movie for part of it. There were two restaurants on board, so we ate lunch, too. Fogged in most of the way over, though, so didn't get to see New Brunswick until we suddenly were pulling into the dock.

All in all, I added one more state to my list of states visited (hadn't ever been to Maine before) and added three Canadian provinces. Made friends and now want to go back and visit them. I wrote over 10,000 words on The Companion and moved the story along quite a ways. Took over 1000 pictures - of which about half will end up in my scrapbook.

And so, I was there - and back again. Love going away - and love coming home. Now to get to work re-releasing the rest of my old EC books!

Play safe - and hope you're having a great summer,

Diana

I'm baaack!

What a glorious place are the Maritimes! Twenty-four days my hubby and I spent exploring Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. He painted, I wrote, we sightseed (sightsaw?) ...went sightseeing, and lived in the moment.

We've been trying to make this trip for several years now, but family matters kept getting in the way. This time, in order to assure our actually making the trip, Steven signed up for not one, not two, but THREE plein air events. "I've put money down," he told me. "Now we have to go." Have I said lately how much I love my husband? 

Steven being more
daring than I! On
Cadillac Mtn.

The first festival was the Points East Plein Air Festival on Prince Edward Island - and since it would take two full days of car travel to get there, we decided to break it up with a stop in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. I have recently made it my goal to visit all 58 National Parks, so this made sense. 

For the record, Acadia is a beautiful park, but if you're just sightseeing and not hiking? Get there early. Cadillac Mountain fills up fast! We stopped at a couple of other spots but by noon, there was no parking in ANY lot. And Bar Harbor is totally skippable - very touristy and kitschy. Good meals, but really crowded.

PEI is red! First impression, coming over the Confederation Bridge - there are some cliffs you can see as you cross, and they're bright, brick red. Red limestone is the rock underneath the island and is everywhere. Even the beaches have red sand. Picked up some nice shells and spent a great deal of time writing in the car while Steven painted. We got into Charlottetown one night to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the professional theatre there - Judas stole the show. Built like a linebacker, I had my doubts, but then he started to sing...holy moly, mackeral, cow! Highly recommended.

Because of his need to have the car, I didn't go anywhere he wasn't. That was fine. Laptops travel. I had brought both my old laptop (the monster) and my smaller tablet. When the monster ran out of battery (about 2 hrs), I switched to the smaller one and hit more keys than I wanted until I got the hang of it. The battery on that one lasts almost 5 hours, and I never ran it out.

At the final show in PEI, Steven sold a painting (watch the video; his paintings start at the 5:28 mark) - Yay! We had wonderful hosts (Rose and Frank) at the Blue Jay's Nest B&B in Montague, PEI - if you go, tell them we say hey! We felt like we were leaving family when we pulled out and took the ferry to Nova Scotia.You're not allowed to stay in your car, so we headed for the top deck and sat in the sun and breeze for the hour, 10 minute trip.

The Louisbourg Inn - and the
walk-up!

Since we had a few days before we needed to be to the next festival, we went to Louisbourg and stayed at an inn there. Top floor (which meant 32 steps up every time - but the views were terrific!) in a house that looked exactly like what you expect when you think of a sea captain's home. Big Victorian with lots of nooks and crannies - and did I mention the views? :)

Cape Breton has a drive similar to the Ring of Kerry - a route you can follow and stop off at various coves and small towns. We didn't take it. If you have followed any of our other adventures, you know we prefer the less-traveled path. So we did the historical thing instead - visiting both the Fortress of Louisbourg and the Highland Village Museum. Both had one thing in common: English wasn't the only language spoken by the costumed re-enactors.

In fact, almost everywhere we went in Cape Breton greeted us in two languages. "Bonjour, Good morning!" or "Bienvenue, Welcome!" Depending on your answer, that was the language they continued the conversation in. At the Highland Village, Scots Gaelic is the language of choice, and we were often greeted with words I don't dare try to spell. Too many consonants what where they don't belong!

There's lots more to tell, but I'll save it for tomorrow. Have fun - and buy my books! I have to support this traveling habit. :)

Play safe,

Diana

edited to fix the number of National Parks. There are 58, not 48. 

50% off sale!

All my books for the month of July will be on sale at Smashwords for 50% off. 

Every. Single. One.

Use this link to find a list of books (including those by CF Duprey and Mystic Shade - if you dare!).

Sale goes until the end of the month, so start shopping!

No deaths this week

Nope, in fact, I've SAVED two people. Children, actually. Might be a knee-jerk response to the awful things my country is doing at the moment, but that's a post for a different time. I will go on record and state to the rest of the world: We're working on it. Protesting, getting out the vote, and voting. Still trying to work within the system, but wondering how long we can before holding a referendum and becoming part of Canada. You guys want New York Province, right?

My hubby and I are actually getting ready to visit the Land Up North. We leave in a little over a week for Prince Edward Island by way of Acadia National Park in Maine. I'm going to get to add another state to my list (and another National Park), as well as not one, not two, but THREE Canadian Provinces (and some Canadian National Parks, too!).

Lately my husband has taken up plein air painting. For the past several years, he's painted in several local competitions and sold a number of his paintings that way. Since I've wanted to visit Nova Scotia for years (we've actually planned it twice before and had to cancel because of illnesses/deaths in the family), he decided to check out some plein air festivals there. Making it a working vacation for him means it becomes more affordable for us, since some of the expenses are for his business.

Mine, too, for that matter. While he's busy on painting days, I plan to write. I'm bringing along several projects (The Companion, for one and some curriculum work for a new course I'm teaching in the fall), but will remain open to "painting" the beauty of the two islands in words.

So, a working vacation for both of us, with days in between to sightsee - and eat seafood. I am SO looking forward to that part!

Unfortunately, we're just passing through New Brunswick this time around. He's there right now at a festival in King's Landing but I'll just see what I can from the highway as we drive through. Montague, Prince Edward Island is our first festival, Peggy's Cove is the second, and Lunenburg is the third. We'll be gone nearly the entire month of July.

So, my Canadian readers....what places are must-see in the Maritimes?

Play safe,
Diana

Another one bites the dust!

My apologies to Queen... but I just killed another character.

This is getting to be a habit. Either that or my protagonists are going to get a complex.

Funny thing is, it was easier this time.

Granted, I didn't know this character as well as I knew the other, although this character is equally pivotal. Without his/her death, the plot stalls and the protagonists remain comfortably where they are. So not a gratuitous death but a necessary one.

Spending time away from my "normal" life has helped to jump-start this story again. The Companion (AKA The Work of My Heart) requires me to go in-world -- and stay there. When I wrote my erotic romances, I could write anywhere - and did. Mostly in the privacy of my car while my kids were at dance classes and basketball practices, but in winter that car got cold so I'd head across the street to the local pizza parlor and blissfully write while sipping Pepsi and enjoying a slice.

Because The Companion is a fantasy, however, it requires more concentration to "live" in the world. I have a binder (purple, of course) filled with notes. There are tabs for "Characters", "World Details," the "Timeline" - which is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT TAB! - and "Maps" - which are crudely-drawn approximations where the various towns are so I don't forget where I put them.

So why is "Timeline" the MOST IMPORTANT? Because without it, I'd lose track of who is doing what. There are two direct plot lines and at least two that are referenced but we only see when the direct plots intersect with them. Not only is it important to keep the two main plots on track, but I have to make sure I don't have Event D in one of the referenced plots happening AFTER I referenced it in one of the main plots.

I also have a file box with tabs for the two different countries (Splithome and Renthome). Because color-coding always worked for me in school, the people are on white cards, the named animals on white with pink borders, the places are on orange cards and the greetings on green ones (the divider cards are purple :) ).

These two, the binder and the file box, work together as my Story Bible (SB) and enable me to pick up the threads and continue my weaving after I've been away for a while. It is far easier, however, to simply stay in the world and update the SB as I go. I get far more words written that way.

To wit: I've spent ten days at my cabin in two five-day stints in the last few weeks and have written over 12,000 new words on The Companion.

12K words? That's as much as some of my novellas (This one and this one and these)!

I moved the plot forward by leaps and bounds - and I killed two characters along the way. I've added description and figured out What Happens Next (because I'm a pantser, I don't always know this. I have a big, general synopsis that I wrote years ago, so I know the BIG pieces, but how these guys get from piece to piece? Yeah, they're telling me that as I go). Did I know both these characters were going to "bite the dust?" The first one, yes, the second, no. But it happened and now the protagonists have to deal with it.

BTW, if you want to read two brief excerpts, you can go here. The painting on that page is one I have hanging next to my desk and believe me, I look at it often in my descriptions of the Stone Mountains.

I'll leave you with this earworm... Play safe!

She's dead. I killed her.

Apologies to The Wizard of Oz, but yes, I have killed today.

Damn, that was hard.

In my current fantasy work-in-progress, I have set up a system of rules for how nature behaves. It isn't tremendously complicated, but the rules are strict and the turning point will depend on those rules being immutable. Much later in the book, the characters (and hence, the readers) will find out why those rules were put in place and may find themselves in agreement with the need for such rigidity. Or they might not. I don't know, I haven't written that far yet. I'm sure my protagonists will have decided opinions - when we get to that point.

Unfortunately, one of the rules in place meant a character that I'd had a lot of fun developing, a character who will quickly become a favorite among readers (because that character has become a favorite of mine) - well, that character had to die. Please note, I am not using gender pronouns here so as to not give who it is away.

I so much wanted this person to live that, months ago, I wrote a chapter ending that allowed him/her to live. Because of the nature of this particular book structure, I didn't get back to that part until today when I wrote an entire scene rejoicing in the fact that this person had done something and not died! Hooray! Happy ending to that part of the adventure!!!

Except, letting that character live, broke the immutable rules of the world. Letting him/her live would ruin the whole climax of the turning point. He/she had to go.

And so, for the second time in a week's time, I've had to kill my darlings. First was a section that took the story in the wrong direction and today, it was a character I truly loved writing.

Sometimes being a writer sucks.

Play safe,
Diana

Killing your darlings

Since retiring from teaching full-time, I've been an adjunct instructor at our local community college. I love teaching there - especially at the satellite campuses where the students are (usually) non-traditional in their ages. What's especially exciting is that the college is instituting the Freshman Year Seminar - a class students take either their first or second semester that will help them transition to the more rigorous requirements of higher education. I am honored that I was asked to design and teach one of those seminars.

Each seminar has a different focus. The science seminars, for example, might be based on some of the more controversial aspects of science research or centered on science in today's media. I'm in the Humanities, so our topics/issues can be quite broad. I've chosen "The Memoir as Self-discovery" as the title to mine.

What does that mean? It means I've been reading a lot of memoirs lately! While the students will spend a great deal of time writing their own (topics such as "How I learn best" and "How I got that scar"), they will also read others' memoirs so we can discuss style, form, and content.

To that end, I finally read Stephen King's On Writing. I know, I know - it's taken me long enough. I've only read a few of his books because I don't do well with horror or suspense. Gives me oggeta (I have no idea how to spell that Italian word and neither does the spellchecker). I've enjoyed the few pieces I have read (The Green Mile, Eyes of the Dragon) and now I can add On Writing to the list. He's blunt, concise, and pretty much right on track.

I particularly enjoyed the section on killing your darlings.

In fact, that's twice in two weeks that phrase has popped up - once in class discussion of literature and then again in King's book. In class, I spoke of how hard it can be - and how necessary. It isn't easy, they are, after all, your darlings. You created that character, that scene, that sentence. It is a part of you. It may be the most beautiful piece of writing you've ever created. If it doesn't serve the story, however, it must die.

In class I spoke of a description I'd included in the first few pages of a VERY long fantasy novel (that will probably never leave my computer. This was an early novel that holds just about every mistake a beginning novelist can make). At a workshop, I had the opportunity to read the first three pages to a group where a well-known author of fantasy would give a quick critique of our work. When I finished reading, she really honed in on the description of the flower, praising the imagery and phrasing. She then said, "I know that this flower will be very important later in the story because you spent so much time creating that beautiful image."

I thanked her for her critique, all the while cringing inside because I knew what she did not: that flower? Was just a flower. Nothing more. It never came back. It wasn't important. The protagonist bent down to smell it just because I needed to give him an action to do. Period.

But it had led at least one reader down an erroneous path. And if it could lead one...

I cut it.

Hard as it was to kill something praised as "beautiful imagery" with "excellent phrasing" - I cut it.

And I just did it again.

A different fantasy - the One of My Heart that is the Work of My Life - and I just cut an entire scene that I loved. Why? Because it didn't work. Oh, it was well-written and moved the plot forward, but I can move it forward more quickly and with better character development if I go a different route. The path has moved, in other words, and that scene is on a different branch. Sigh.

I do have to offer a disclaimer, though. Killing my darlings is never easy for me. To counteract the pain, I have a file I label "Extras" for each and every one of my stories. Not kidding. Every novel I have published? Has a file on my computer that contains writing that didn't make it into the final edit.

Why? Because every time I kill a darling, I think, "Well, I might go back and need it" or "I'll just use this later."

Want to know how many times I've put something back in after it's in the "Extras" file?

Zero.

Zilch.

Nada, not happening, never.

And yet, I keep doing it. Did it today when I put that entire chapter into the file in case I change my mind.

I wonder if Stephen King keeps all his dead darlings?

Oooh...I think there might be a story there - about a writer haunted by his dead darlings...

Play safe!
Diana

(edited to fix some typos)

Shh....its a Secret - in fact, it's TWO Secrets!

After two years of being out of print and unavailable, both SECRET SUBMISSION  and SUBMISSION REVEALED are both re-released into the great, wide world!

Secret Submission began life as a series of short pieces I wrote when I couldn't find any BDSM stories online that showed a loving relationship. All I could find back then (the early 2000's) was porn. Now, don't get me wrong - porn has its place. But it wasn't what I was looking for. When I complained to a friend, he suggested I write my own - and Secret Submission was born.

A few months later, I was looking for a home for an historical I'd written (Hardship and Hardtack) and came across a back page for Ellora's Cave. On it, was the email addy of their new Senior Editor. It got me thinking about that sequential series of stories I'd written that explored a woman's struggles to understand the BDSM lifestyle and why she was so attracted to it.

I sent off an email (which sounds so cavalier - in reality, it took me over an hour to write it as I agonized over every phrase!) - to my surprise, I got an answer about three hours later - on a Sunday night, no less. Response? She wanted to see my manuscript!

Not only was the quick reply unexpected, but I was so used to rejections for my historical, I didn't really expect anyone to want to see anything I'd written. Problem was, the manuscript wasn't organized into chapters, it wasn't even formatted well and it could use a good spellcheck - and it was nearly 10:00 on a Sunday night. What to do?

Call in sick to work on Monday, of course! I took the morning, whipped the first three chapters into shape and wrote a synopsis, and then stared at my responding email for a good twenty minutes before I summoned enough courage to hit "Send." I knew better than to get my hopes up - and the website said there was a 4-6 week period before getting responses, so I promptly attempted to put the whole thing out of my mind. The next day I went off to school, taught all day, came home and opened my email without expectation.

So you can imagine my surprise when there was an email from Ellora's Cave, offering to buy my book. I had pitched it as a two-book series and admitted the second book wasn't written yet, although the outline was. Because it was going to be two books, the first book didn't actually have much of an ending. The editor told me I had to change the end of the first book to a Happily Ever After. And they were only buying the first book. When I wrote the second, they'd consider it.

I was ecstatic! No problem in changing the ending to the first book, since I hadn't written it anyway. Oh, I'd made up an ending for they synopsis, but hadn't actually written it. My husband and I discussed a pen name since he is quite well-known in the community and I was teaching high school English at the time. Neither of us was in a position to let it be widely known I was about to be published as an erotic romance author.

I spent every evening and the weekend finishing the book and putting the rest of the short episodes into chapter form. By the following Sunday night (a week after that first email), it was ready to send to the woman assigned to be my regular editor - Pam Campbell. Pam was wonderful and we worked together on almost every book I wrote for Ellora's Cave. I miss her guidance.

Submission Revealed, which was always planned to be the second book, and for which I'd written the synopsis back in that quick week of May, 2004, didn't actually end up getting written until four years later and was released for the first time in May, 2009. Too many other stories crowded in between, demanding they be told. EC's art department was in transition at the time and I never liked the cover they provided. Secret Submission's cover was striking - and I never could figure out why they didn't do a visual tie-in with the covers so readers would know the two were related.

Hence the new covers for both books. While the design of Secret Submission is much the same as the original, the photo is different (I could've used the original, but the photo quality wasn't sharp anymore, so I replaced it). Submission Revealed's cover now aligns with the first book in the series, so you can tell they're partners.

So here they are, re-covered and re-released - all bright and shiny and new again. Both are available in all ebook formats. Happy reading and, as always -

Play safe!
Diana

PS. Submission Revealed is also available in print. Secret Submission is coming soon in print format.

So, what are you working on now?

I have some friends I don't see very often (maybe once a year) and every time I see them they ask, "So what are you working on now?" The question makes me realize two things: 1) they're not following my posts AND 2) I'm not posting often enough. So here goes:

What am I working on now?

I'm working on staying sane in an insane world. My country is so divided right now I worry about a civil war - and whose finger is on the nuclear button.

I'm working on writing new curriculum for a course that will be brand-new to me come fall semester. The college has asked me to teach a Freshman Year Seminar (FYS) and I said yes. It'll keep my mind young (at this point I'm fleshing out my topic: The Memior as Self-Discovery).

I'm editing and doing some major rewriting to The Revolution of Clara Simpson. It's an historical I wrote a few years back and it was denied by several publishers, one of whom gave me excellent feedback. Takes time to get back into that world - and then time to stay there, which has been in short supply lately.

I WANT to work on a fantasy I started nearly 20 years ago. It gets more timely every day - not something I expected when I first started chasing down the story. Like the historical, however, it requires my entering a world of my own creation - and staying there for a while. Hard when life pulls you out every other day - or oftener (is that a word? The spellchecker isn't marking it wrong!).

And I will work on my communication skills. Posting more often and getting back to that blog...Watch for some new re-releases coming soon - I've been working on those, too.

Play safe!

Diana

New titles, a sale and reading!

It may have seemed as if I stopped writing, but I really haven't. I've just taken on a bit more than I wanted this semester and am teaching three classes. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Except they're timed so that I'm out of the house Every Single Day. Grrr. Won't make that mistake again. I retired for a reason - I want to write full time!

It has come to my attention, however, that the purchasing page was woefully out of date. That has been rectified. You can now find the page links to Stress Relief, Love Unleashed (which you can also get in print!), and This Journey We Call Life as well as all my other currently-released titles.

Cyber Monday sale!

Of course, Cyber Monday is coming and we're going to start a day early. Those three titles are all on sale for 50% off from today until Sunday, December 3rd. Just go to Smashwords and use the coupons below to get your discount. Remember, you can download any format you need for any device you use.

Click on the title to go to its Smashwords page.

Stress Relief - coupon code   FS68Z

Love Unleashed - coupon code  YC24K

This Journey We Call Life - coupon code   HJ94B  
BTW, did you know the cover for TJWCL was painted by my husband? The painting hangs in my work room at the cabin. :)

But wait! There's more!

And if you're looking for Christmas stories, don't forget the 12 Days of Christmas (Bondage) and A Devil in Winter, also 50% off!

12 Days of Christmas (Bondage) - coupon code   HG45W

A Devil in Winter - coupon code FN46E

And finally, what I've been reading...

The Summerhouse by Jude Devereaux (a good afternoon's read)

The Black Tulip by Laura Willig (a re-read, which should tell you something!)

three other romances I forgot to write down!

Currently I'm finishing up The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (good, but a bit indulgent)

To sum up - I'm still writing, although a bit slower, so those new titles will be coming soon; there's a great Cyber Monday sale that starts today and goes all week (50% off!), and I'm reading a bunch of stories. Oh! And my kids got me into Skyrim, so I'm all about killing dragons lately. Hey, someone's got to do it!

Play safe and buy books! (and leave reviews)

Diana

Relief for your Stress is coming!

And it's called Stress Relief!

Yep, this VERY strong, VERY sexual story of Meg, a woman who enjoys a good flogging, and Rand, a strong Dom who enjoys giving Meg what she needs, is soon to be available again. This is the book that won me the "Best Dinner Scene" award at Ellora's Cave Romanticon - for the creative use of Meg as platter. :)

What you don't know, however, is that Ellora's Cave censored that scene.

You read that right. That dinner scene was too hot for EC and I had to remove entire sections of it before they would publish it. Can you imagine? Something too sexy for the editors of Ellora's Cave???

So now that I'm self-publishing - all those sections are back in place. Every juicy slurp, every teasing touch, every dastardly deed - all there for your reading pleasure.

Stress Relief is available for ebook pre-order now - at both Amazon and Smashwords - and goes live on October 8th. Pre-order your copy now and then settle in on Sunday for a hot, hot, hot time!

NOTE: The print versions that are available on Amazon are of the OLD version. The new, hotter version will be released in print before the end of the month. It's in final checks before going live.

My Reading List

On another, more mundane note - I realized I haven't updated my list of books read since mid-July. I'm missing a few I forgot to record in August, but here they are:

The Mistress of Normandy by Susan Wiggs (good romance)
The Handbook to Handling His Lordship by Suzanne Enoch (disappointing. I really wanted it to be in handbook format -and it was Just Another Romance Novel)
The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Laura Willig (a re-read. That tells you something!)
The Garden Intrigue by Laura Willig (another re-read. I'm telling you - these are worth it!)
Seven Stories to Stand or Fall by Diana Gabaldon (Two words: Jamie. Lord John. Ok, that was three words. Sue me.)
The Lies of Lock Lamora by Scott Lynch (a fantasy that looked interesting. It was. I look forward to reading the others of his I put on my Christmas list)
The Taming of the Duke by Eloisa James (romance, entertaining)
Shadowmarch, Shadowplay, Shadowrise and Shadowheart, all by Tad Williams (I read the 1st book in this series years ago, then got the second but hadn't had time to re-read the first to bring myself up to speed. Found the 4th book at a book sale, so naturally I had to order the 3rd. Now having all, I read them in a row).

It's ALIVE!

Well, live anyway. :)

This Journey We Call Life is now available on both Amazon and Smashwords. Ten short stories - one of which has never before been published - for some very enjoyable (although not erotic) reading pleasure. Use the links to get your copy today!

Once you've read it, please return to the site where you purchased it and leave a review. Remember, we authors live and die by the number of reviews a book gets. Be honest and tell the world what you thought!

And while you're at it, pre-order Stress Relief - which will be available on October 8th - on both Amazon and Smashwords.. This is a full-length erotic romance that couldn't be further away in genre from the short stories. In fact, this might be the most extreme BDSM story Diana Hunter put her name to (the even more extreme belong to Mystic Shade. Woof!).

Happy reading and Play Safe!

Diana

Cover reveal - and some traveling

Cover reveal

I really like the cover for this collection of ten short stories. It's an early painting my husband did and there's just something about the way the colors move from a dense, gray fog into the yellows and oranges of autumn that appeals to me. The green at the bottom reminds us summer is still here even as fall approaches.

This collection has nine stories that have appeared here on the blog, most of them for only a day (the First Friday Fiction series) and one story that's never been published. None of them are erotic romance, so this is a G-rated collection. All of the stories were fun to write, even those that are in genre that stretched my abilities (action-adventure? Really?).

It will be available for pre-order in a few days and will deliver at the end of September. I'll post again with links when everything goes live. :)

And some traveling...

It's always fun when you get to visit friends who live at a distance. My husband and I live in the Finger Lakes area of New York State and we have friends who, separately and independent of each other, all decided to move to Indiana many years back. We went out to visit five years ago and thought it was time to visit the Hoosier State again.

Remembering Benjamin Franklin's adage ("Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days"), we kept our visits short, staying two nights on a farm just south of Fort Wayne and two nights in the suburbs of Indianapolis. We had a great time both places, reconnecting, solving the world's problems, and just plain ol' having fun.

From there, we headed south and I crossed another off of my list of "States Visited." I'd never been to Kentucky before - and now I'm in love with it. Not only is it beautiful, the people are friendly and food delicious. I'm only sorry we didn't take time for any of the bourbon tours.

We did, however, visit Mammoth Cave, an aptly named cave if ever there was one. Over 406 continuous miles discovered - so far! We took two tours and my only complaint was that they moved too quickly. Would've loved a bit more time to look around as we walked. I took no pictures underground (being too busy trying to stay with the group) but my husband snapped a few. Will share once I get them off his phone and onto my computer.

From there we headed to Shaker Village - originally called "Pleasant Hill." This is a museum that houses the US's largest collection of historical buildings still on their original foundations. AND it has transformed the upper stories of the buildings into rooms you can stay in. We enjoyed our stay there, especially walking around the 19th century grounds after all the tourists had gone home (we stayed in the building on the right).


So watch for This Journey We Call Life - and play safe!

Diana