Category Archives: News

Join My Street Team

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Are you a fan of Christian romance?

Do you love creating a buzz for clean and wholesome books?

My sweet romance is releasing soon and I would love your help!

If you answered yes to the questions above, please consider joining my private Street Team on Facebook. It is designed for people who are enthusiastic about my writing, Christian fiction, spreading the word, and sometimes brainstorming. 🙂

For more information, and to complete the application form, just click the button below.

Please keep in mind that this is an application process. It may take a few days. Not every applicant will be a fit. 😩

THANK YOU! I CAN’T WAIT TO MEET YOU!

 

Interview and a Giveaway

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I was recently interviewed by Hallee Bridgeman who wrote, “I LOVE meeting authors like me, who had no intention, understanding, desire, or spark to write until well into adulthood. It makes me feel a little more “normal” among us writers. Please read on and enjoy Dianne Marie’s interview as much as I did.”

After you’ve read the interview—discovered facts you may not know about me, woo-hoo, and hopefully been inspired—for a limited time, you can enter to win my newest e-book release.

I’d love it if you’d follow my blog, leave a comment, and/or join my Facebook page where we can connect more frequently.

I wish you the best with the giveaway.

Please note: The giveaway has ended. Thank you for participating. I wish everyone could have been a winner.

 

Create Your Perfect Home Workspace

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This is where my stories take shape—in a converted bedroom after the nest had emptied years ago. When I began working here, the desks were joined in an L-shape. The longest section was out of reach and therefore unused. So, my husband redesigned the desk. Since then, every inch is used. (I cleared off the mess for you!)

My space is much different from Mark Twain’s pink office with a view behind the desk and a pool table in front. Unlike his office design, I prefer to look out at the perennial garden and twisted oak limbs. If it were possible, I’d have French doors, swing them open, and let nature freewheel inside, like Virginia Woolf’s writing shed.

But on occasion, we have rattlesnakes.

Sometimes, I’m interrupted by birds outside, on the window ledge, cottontails chewing on the grass, and a seasonal turkey whose head pops up like a Jack-in-the-Box to peer inside. Often, on the weekends, my husband taps on the window, bidding me come outside to engage in a different type of work.

Physical labor.

There are many forms of labor, each shuffled into our lives by choice, necessity, or passion. The space in which we work matters a great deal. It doesn’t have to pretty. It doesn’t have to be a separate room. Your work surface doesn’t have to be a desk. Depending on your needs, a folding table, like I once used, is oftentimes sufficient.

Creating a perfect home workspace just needs to be comfortable in ways that mentally recharge your creative focus.

Storytelling is Simple, but Writing…

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Recently, I sat at one of the dining tables in my friend’s cozy B&B carriageway to discuss my sequel. Afterwards, she asked about my writing process: if my stories are composed at the computer or primarily longhand and if I sit down and start writing. I glanced sideways for a split second, thinking about storytelling. Looking back into my friend’s curious eyes and beautiful smile, I replied, “I write at the computer.”

She nodded and we moved on to another subject.

When I got home, I thought about how simple the process must have sounded. Storytelling is simple, but writing
well,

there are no keyboard strokes, mouse clicks or cursive exercises to make writing easy.

But, there is prayer. No matter how difficult a scene or an awkward sentence stumps me, prayer calms the anxiety within so I can hear the Holy Spirit deliver a solution.

God cares about every aspect of our lives.

He wants us to be the best we can to glorify Him through our endeavors. It’s through those diverse avenues and hard work that our faith and skills are oftentimes stretched. And boy, have my writing skills (and faith) been stretched.

After learning much about proper grammar usage, punctuation, sentence and paragraph length, befuddled sentences or sections, clarification, theme, tightening, plotting, twists, pacing, timeline and organization, point of view, hooks, transitions, dialogue and emotional tags, internal monologue, narrative flow, conflict, element of mystery and surprise, character creation, consistency and believability, fresh descriptions, setting, symbolism, clichĂ©s and repetitive usage, backstories, showing and telling, research, proofreading, and attending writing classes, workshops, webinars, finding a compatible critique partner and/or group, beta readers, and an editor followed by more rewrites
the writing process—and this is the short list—is catching up with the ease of storytelling. But it still isn’t as simple as sitting down and just writing.

Likewise, living a life for God isn’t always simple. But, if we stay on the right path, He gives us plenty of past victories to revisit, to encourage and keep us moving forward, assured that:

In time, our endeavors will be less challenging. Maybe even simple.