I think I finally got it right. This will be the cover for the e-book version of my oldie-but-goodie, Secret Lives, which will be out at the end of June. I’ll tell you more about the book when it gets closer. I know many of you liked that dramatic “woman peeking through the cave” cover, but this one is more in keeping with the current look of my books. I had fun, but I’m not going to be going into the graphic arts any time soon. You graphic artists have my admiration!

Is your name Sam? Probably not. Neither is mine. Neither are six of the seven major characters in my work-in-progress, The Midwife’s Confession. But last night, my Word program suddenly decided that if the name Sam was good enough for the guy who really is named Sam in the story, well then, it’s good enough for everyone else, too! While Word was at it, it also decided that the town of Wilmington, North Carolina should be named Sam. Also, the fictional Hunter High School. And the fictional babies-in-need program I’d dubbed Stork Village? Word thought the name SamSam sounded much better.

But wait! There’s more! Like many of my high school English teachers, Word didn’t think I should begin any sentences with the word “but”, which I’m afraid I do all the time, so to punish me, it decided all capitalized buts should also be named Sam.

Yes, this is how I spent last night. I was happily working on a scene when I noticed that I seemed to have written the name Sam instead of the name Shannon. I scrolled back and discovered that somehow, all my Shannons had been changed to Sam. Very weird, I thought, but I could deal with it. I would simply do a “find and replace” function to carefully select the Sams that needed to be replaced with Shannon.

That’s when I discovered the terrible truth. Shannon, Noelle, Emerson, Ryan Ann, Tara and Anna–all of them were now Sam. Wilmington, But, Hunter — all Sam. Stork Village — SamSam.

What to do? I back up my documents religiously and in many different ways (thumb drive, Dropbox.com, emailing them to myself, etc), and I have Word set to save every single minute that I’m working. But my last backed up copy had been from an hour earlier and I’d written a ton in that hour, so I decided I would simply have to change the Sams back to their original monikers. If I had this to do over again, I probably would surrender and go back to an earlier version, because the path I chose took nearly two hours of utter torture. 

What to do with a sentence like the following?  “What?” Sam asked, and Sam and Sam both leaned across the table toward Sam. That ripping sound you heard last night was me tearing my hair out!

The problem is solved only for the moment. I don’t know what caused it (a friend believes it’s a virus in the Word program itself, not in my computer which appears to be clean) and I don’t know how to fix it. Knock on wood, it’s behaved itself so far today, but to say I’m a little nervous about what might happen next is an understatment.

In the meantime, I’m thinking of changing Sam’s name. I’d like to never read that word again.

I’m a believer in resolutions. I don’t always keep them, but there’s something about that “fresh start feeling” that has great appeal to me. I have a slew of resolutions this year. Here goes:

-Work at writing as though it’s a 9 to 5 job.  This may sound like a no-brainer, especially to those of you who are not self-employed, but I tend to let other things get in the way of writing during the day. Then I work late into the night and I’m usually freaking out in the weeks leading up to deadline. All right, I know I’ll still freak out shortly before deadline, but organizing my work schedule will make me feel more in control before the crunch hits. So I’m going to pretend I have a boss who will not allow me to spend hours on Facebook or run out for groceries or Starbucks when the urge pops into my mind. Which brings me to the second resolution.

-I will actually attend the gym where I have a membership, instead of merely paying them a fee each month, and I will go early in the morning so I can be at my computer at 9 am. Uh, this should be interesting. To be at the gym early in the morning means going to bed earlier at night. Which brings me to resolution number three.

-Lights out at midnight. Not sure how I’m going to do this, because my reading time is usually 11 pm to 1 am or later. I can’t give up reading, so I guess I’ll have to get an earlier start on it.   

-Attend mindfulness classes at a local yoga center. I’ve recently rediscovered my mindfulness and meditation practice, something I enjoyed when I lived in Virginia. It centers me and brings me peace and joy, but as with everything else on my list, I need to actually do it to reap the benefit. 

-Do a few hours of volunteer work each month. I am so blessed, and there’s so much need.

-Stay in better touch with my family and friends. This should really be number one on my list. It is number one. 

Looking over my resolutions, I can see the one thing that will trip me up is TIME. Like everyone else in the world, I don’t have enough of it. But I’m going to give this list my best shot.

 How about you? Are you a resolver?

I drove down the long gravel driveway to the Weymouth mansion Thursday afternoon with a prayer of gratitude on my lips. Coming here is like flipping a switch from the world of laundry and grocery shopping and doctors’ appointments and phone calls to the world of writing and nature and friends. Sarah Shaber was the first person I saw when I climbed the stairs to the writers’ section of the house, and she said she’d felt a lump in her throat as she came up the driveway. Clearly, I wasn’t alone in my joy and gratitude. I knew I wouldn’t be.

We’re all gathered here now (in the photo, L to R, that’s me, Margaret Maron, Katy Munger, Sarah Shaber, Alexandra Sokoloff and Mary Kay Andrews. We’re missing–in more ways than one–Bren Witchger, who couldn’t join us this time). The Weymouth Mansion opens its doors to serious writers who have a North Carolina connection. In our case, we’re all published and we all understand the trials and tribulations of the business and the writing process. It costs us nothing to stay here for up to two weeks each year, though most of us make donations to help with utilities and maintenance. Our rooms are small, but the mansion is huge and we each carve out our personal space in which to write.  Our needs this week are simple: M & M peanuts, two games (Balderdash and Taboo), the ability to check our email, and our works-in-progress. We brainstorm with one another and take solo, meditative walks around the beautiful grounds, but for the most part, we work and it’s fantastic to suddenly realize you’ve written twelve pages almost effortlessly.

Today was a little different. We actually put on make-up this morning and dressed in something other than sweats, because a writer and photographer were coming from Our State Magazine to do an article on us. Someone at Our State had heard about our twice-yearly retreats and asked if they could spend half a day with us. I asked the writer, Anne Webb, to snap this shot of us on the stairs with my camera as we posed for the “real” photographer, Natalie Ross. It was fun to share our morning with Anne and Natalie, and we’re all looking forward to May, when the article will appear in Our State. Of course, their visit wreaked havoc on our writing schedule, but it didn’t matter. When I was wandering outside after their visit, I stumbled across Natalie (in the Witches’ Garden) who asked if I’d like a Native American spiritual card reading. I jumped at the chance–knowing I’d have her read the cards for my character rather than myself (see my blog post on Tarot for writers). We found a sunny spot and sat down on a bed of pine needles. Natalie pulled out her deck of special cards, and in about five minutes, I had an unexected twist for my storyline. The whole thing was kind of woo-woo and wonderful.  

So now, the wine is being poured as we all catch up on our writing and ponder where to go for dinner. (One of us who shall remain nameless is munching M&Ms; not me. I’ve already had my fill for the day). After dinner, we’ll play Taboo, since we wore out Balderdash last night (Anyone know what a prickmadam is? We do now!) Alex won’t play–she is the real workhorse of the group, rarely taking a break, and she eats healthy food all the time, but we love her anyway!

I’ll check in with another post later in the week. Till then, enjoy whatever you’re reading, knowing that some of your favorite authors are here, spinning new tales for you!

I’m not much of a believer in the occult, but I do love Tarot, not in any small part because the 78 cards in a Tarot deck can be so beautiful. There’s something undeniably fascinating in the symbols and images, and it’s easy to get caught up the magic.

My first reading was done by a real pro: author Nora Roberts. We were at the Washington Romance Writers’ annual retreat at the fabulous Hilltop House in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Nora was doing readings for her friends. I think she told me my marriage was destined to last forever. The next reading I had was by another fellow writer, the late, beautiful Virginia Ellis, shortly after my divorce.  Ha! So as I said, I’m not much of a believer, but I do believe in taking brainstorming help wherever I can get it, and a good Tarot Card reading–for a writers’ characters rather than for the writer herself–can jumpstart a scene, or even an entire book. 

Like Nora, Gin Ellis was a generous reader. At a Novelists, Inc conference in Santa Fe one year, she read for every major character in my work-in-progress. I learned one character’s deepest, darkest secret, why another was afraid to be a mother, and why yet another  chose his particular career. There are many, many other ways to brainstorm, but none as intriguing or fun as Tarot.

I’m aware of one book on Tarot specifically for writers (Tarot for Writers, by Corrinne Kenner), but I’m sure there are more, because writers have turned to Tarot over the years (over the centuries, since Tarot’s been around that long) to help them develop characters and story lines. 

Tarot came into play with my upcoming novel, The Lies We Told. I didn’t use it to help me brainstorm, but my characters themselves use it to. . .  well, I’ll wait until the book comes out to tell you!

So how about you? Have you ever had a Tarot reading?

I couldn’t put it off any longer. It’s been two years (at least) since my last photo shoot, so John and I headed to his studio for an hour of torture. . . er, fun. The new photo will be up on my site in a few weeks and on the cover of my June release, The Lies We Told, though I think I’ll keep these other two out of the public eye after this post!

We had a friend over for dinner tonight and the conversation turned to travel. Given the fact that I just bought beach property, I won’t be able to afford to travel anywhere else for quite some time, but dreams are free!

My dream is to visit Sicily, especially the village of Collesano where my grandparents grew up. It would be a moving experience to visit the places that were so much a part of their daily lives, and it would be fun to track down my Italian relatives. (If you’re a LoPresti or a Cinquegrani, email me a “hello”!) Although I’m setting my books in the southeastern US these days, I think I could toss in a little bit of Sicily, don’t you?

So how about you? Where do you dream of traveling?

The original title for this blog post was “I Give Up,” but when I mentioned that to my significant other, John, he nixed it. He said I’m a positive person who has overcome adversity and embraces change, totally shaming me into taking a different slant on my topic. Until then, I was sounding like quite the curmudgeon in this post. Now, I feel much lighter. At least, I’m trying to feel more like the change-embracing woman John believes me to be. 

The first thing I planned to gripe about was grammatical abominations that have become commonplace:

• “Me and Joe went to the movies.” 
• Omitting the comma before the conjunction that introduces an independent clause. (Do I own the last copy of Strunk and White?)
• Apostrophes used in plural words. As in “Apostrophe’s used in plural word’s.”

The other day, I heard the BBC World News commentator sign off with “Good day, from me and BBC,” and I decided to give up. Whoops. I mean, to embrace change. As John pointed out to me, English is a dynamic language. Accepting the changes will be so freeing! I’ll let you know how I make out.

Then I planned to discuss my war against the sale of used books. I never did mind the mom-and-pop store on the corner selling my books used, but when gigantic Amazon began pushing used books on the same page as the new books–on the same day those new books were released–I joined my fellow writers in fighting back. It’s a losing battle, and while I rue the loss of income to myself and other authors, I’ve stopped fighting it. Nevertheless, I can’t help but whisper to you, “Do you know where that book has been?”

E-books. “I will never read an e-book.” I’m sure I said that as recently as last year, proclaiming, “I need the feel of paper in my hands.” I now own an e-reader and I love it, but not without guilt. Authors make less money on e-books, and I can’t bear to think about what this shift in the way we read will mean to my beloved booksellers. But the times they are a-changin’, and I hope we can all find ways not only to endure what’s happening in the book world, but to actually thrive in spite of it. I have no idea how, but the change-embracing Diane is also an optimist! 

Then we have social media. Facebook. Goodreads. Twitter. MySpace. I resisted, wondering what was wrong with all those needy people who befriended strangers. Now, though, I’ve radically embraced this change. Social media rocks. What a fabulous way to keep in touch, not only with my “real” friends and family, but my readers as well.

So how about you? What changes are you resisting? Shall we embrace them together?

When I decided to set Before the Storm and Secrets She Left Behind on Topsail Island, I never dreamed how important this place would become to me. From my very first research trip,  though, I knew I’d discovered something special. It reminded me of my childhood at the Jersey Shore and of my early adulthood on the Outer Banks. Like most coastal areas, it has way too many houses crammed together along the beach, but now with the purchase of my own oceanfront condo I’m part of the development, so I guess I can no longer complain! In spite of the wonderfully eclectic hodgepodge of homes, Topsail retains its away-from-everything charm. Just a few restaurants and shops and only one stoplight. It makes a perfect setting for my books– an area where everyone knows everyone else and where a tragedy and a mystery have an impact on all.

This has been our first visit to the condo, which I purchased after seeing it for only 5 minutes. It’s wonderful! It needs a little TLC and I’m looking forward to making it mine. It’s less than three hours from our home in the Raleigh area and is a perfect getaway. Keeper and Jet had never seen the beach before and after three days here, they’re still a little perplexed, but at least their ears are no longer flattened against their heads! John hasn’t taken his camera from his face since our arrival. I doubt he’ll ever get tired of photographing the island.

As for me. . . I have a simple, incredible, unexpected joy. As my frequent readers know, I have rheumatoid arthritis. It’s under very good control, but my left foot and ankle have a great deal of damage sustained before the “good drugs” came along. It’s hard for me to walk and impossible for me to walk on uneven surfaces, such as the beach. But a year ago, I had a brace made which is built into my sneaker and guess what? For the first time in about ten years,  I can walk on the beach! I’ve been overdoing it like crazy the past few days, and enjoying every sandy minute.

The other night, I couldn’t sleep. I was thinking about my next book, and the characters wouldn’t settle down inside my head. I got up and went out to the deck and lay down on the broad bench you see here in this picture. I listened to the sea while staring up at Orion and the three-quarter moon and thought about how lucky I am to be able to have homes in two places that I love, to be surrounded by the people (and animals) that I love, and to be able to do the work that I love.  My hope is that you, my readers, feel equally as lucky in your lives.

  The cover for The Lies We Told, which I just completed and which will be published June 2010. I love it, but the hair color of the sisters doesn’t match the story exactly. How much would that bother you as readers? If I view the image as more representational than literal, I can get past that fact. . .