About Diana
I still have the copy of MADELINE awarded to me in the second grade. Reading Period was always my favorite part of the school day, and spelling bees, which I usually won unless Frankie Doetsch was present that day. Then we were the last two standing, and if I didn't choke, I won!
My first novel, Wishes Are Free, is strong on feel-good warmth and humor, healthy family relationships, and moments readers tell me gave them joyful goosebumps that you get when you experience something beautiful.
I always wanted to connect with people in a feel-good way. Mission accomplished.
~~~~~~
I was a quiet child. It’s good to be a quiet child. We’re thinkers and imaginers.
Imagination is a wonderful thing. Even Einstein, you know, the relativity guy, said imagination is more important than knowledge. That gives all of us, talkers or not, the green light to let our imaginations run wild.
My mother used to tease me, “Your imagination is running wild.” I couldn’t help it. My imagination still runs away with me. Only now, I write the stories down and share them with children (And adults) who are readers.
My mother instilled a love of reading in all of her children. I am the youngest of three. We were all readers and still are. We grew up in Santa Clara Valley, California. It was called The Valley of Heart’s Delight because of all the fruit trees; apricot and pear and peach and cherry. In spring, white and pink blossoms carpeted the valley, and their pleasant scent was like a natural perfume.
Life wasn’t in such a hurry then. A summer day was a lifetime, and the sun set slowly, sad that it had to leave the sky.
I loved the outdoors more than the indoors. I could explore the neighborhood, walk up to the creek and watch the polliwogs swim, and the dragonflies fly, and listen to the water that sounded like music as it flowed by.
I attended college right after high school. But it didn’t take. I left in my junior year. Years later, at 38, I enrolled at San Franciso State University and completed my degree. That felt really good.
When my father died, my mother was in her late 80s and not able to care for herself. I became her caregiver. It was difficult but also rewarding. Difficult challenges that you decide you’re going to tackle anyway always pay off as a pleasant memory you look back on and say, “I did that!”
I didn’t start writing seriously until I was fifty-three. Even so, I believed in myself because when I sat at the computer, I felt happy. I knew this was what I was meant to do. The more I practiced writing, the better I got.
But I still have trouble with my commas.
I wrote poetry and personal essays that were published locally and in online journals. When I started writing fiction, I discovered I enjoyed writing children's short stories. I read them aloud to my next-door neighbor, April, who is developmentally disabled, and also my BFF. She loved them, and I thought, I have something here.
I strung those stories together, added more, and Wishes Are Free came together.
I hope you enjoy reading Wishes Are Free. Readers of all ages do!
It takes place in 1959 in California.
Paperback $9.99 eBook $2.99 (Click here)
Kindle eBooks can be read on any device. Just download the free app.
Diana at Five Years
About Me
I still have the copy of MADELINE awarded to me in the second grade. Reading Period was always my favorite part of the school day, and spelling bees, which I usually won unless Frankie Doetsch was present that day. Then we were the last two standing, and if I didn't choke, I won!
My first novel, Wishes Are Free, is strong on feel-good warmth and humor, healthy family relationships, and moments readers tell me gave them joyful goosebumps, that you get when you experience something beautiful.
I always wanted to connect with people in a feel-good way. Mission accomplished.
I was a quiet child. It’s good to be a quiet child. We’re thinkers and imaginers.
Imagination is a wonderful thing. Even Einstein, you know, the relativity guy, said imagination is more important than knowledge. That gives all of us, talkers or not, the green light to let our imaginations run wild.
My mother used to tease me, “Your imagination is running wild.” I couldn’t help it. My imagination still runs away with me. Only now, I write the stories down and share them with children (And adults) who are readers.
My mother instilled a love of reading in all of her children. I am the youngest of three. We were all readers and still are. We grew up in Santa Clara Valley, California. It was called The Valley of Heart’s Delight because of all the fruit trees; apricot and pear and peach and cherry. In spring, white and pink blossoms carpeted the valley, and their pleasant scent was like a natural perfume.
Life wasn’t in such a hurry then. A summer day was a lifetime, and the sun set slowly, sad that it had to leave the sky.
I loved the outdoors more than the indoors. I could explore the neighborhood, walk up to the creek and watch the polliwogs swim, and the dragonflies fly, and listen to the water that sounded like music as it flowed by.
I attended college right after high school. But it didn’t take. I left in my junior year. Years later, at 38, I enrolled at San Franciso State University and completed my degree. That felt really good.
When my father died, my mother was in her late 80s and not able to care for herself. I became her caregiver. It was difficult but also rewarding. Difficult challenges that you decide you’re going to tackle anyway always pay off as something you can look back on and say, “I did that!”
I didn’t start writing seriously until I was fifty-three. Even so, I believed in myself because when I sat at the computer, I felt happy. I knew this was what I was meant to do. The more I practiced writing, the better I got.
But I still have trouble with my commas.
I wrote poetry and personal essays that were published locally and in online journals. When I started writing fiction, I discovered I enjoyed writing children's short stories. I read them aloud to my next-door neighbor, April, who is developmentally disabled, and also my BFF. She loved them, and I thought, I have something here.
I strung those stories together, added more, and Wishes Are Free came together.
I hope you enjoy reading Wishes Are Free. Readers of all ages do! It takes place in 1959 in California.
Paperback $9.99 eBook $2.99 (Click here)
Kindle eBooks can be read on any device. Just download the free app.
Me Age Four, reading
April with her dog, Poppy