Welcome to Diane Digs!
I’ve decided (at least for today) to name the newsletter the same as my blog. Why not?…
A big welcome to all our new signups and to all of you who’ve been on this writing journey with me for a while. I haven’t got any new writing this month because I’m 100% in on getting the next three books written.
Yes! Three books. Book 2 Fallen Spirits is done. The cover will be designed in June, and I’m thinking of a late summer/early fall release, but that’s still not set in stone.
I finished the second edit of the third book The Journey Home, and it came in at over 72,000 words. (Anything over 50,000 is a book to me.) I’ve been going back and forth on splitting it into a Part 1 and Part 2, and it looks like that’s going to happen. Yeah!
The reason for my hesitation with publishing Fallen Spirits is that I want to make sure I have the rest of the series at least fully ideated before I publish the second novel. There are so many different moving parts, and I’m still creating new scenes and characters, so I don’t want to publish Fallen Spirits only to find out something needs to change in that book because of a plot twist or new character in a later book.
I’m getting close though. I’ve just sorted out the timeline (I find that to be one of the hardest parts of writing fiction with multiple storylines) and have introduced “energy eaters” in the fourth book. You’ll just have to wait a while to see what they are and how they fit in with the series….
I’ve also started a short story that takes place between Rock Gods & Messy Monsters and Fallen Spirits. It involves the main character Alex and her first love Skeater.
My thinking is that I’ll offer it free to get people interested in the books. (It’s called a reader magnet, and, apparently, it’s something all authors are supposed to offer.) So – expect that in the next six months or so.
And because you’re already on the email list, I’ll be sending you a copy through the newsletter when it’s ready.
Alpha and Beta Readers
I’m not quite there yet, but is anyone interested in being an alpha or beta reader for The Journey Home? I’d love to get three to five people, a couple who’ve read Fallen Spirits when it’s out and a few who haven’t.
If you don’t know what they are, alpha readers read a manuscript earlier on in the process, so they help with the story structure, pacing, if the scenes make sense, if anything’s confusing, etc. Beta readers read when it’s a bit further along and has gone through a few rounds of edits.
You’ll get a thank you in the acknowledgements!
It’ll be a couple months before I’m ready, but if you’re interested, just hit reply to this newsletter and let me know. Thanks!
Trust me, I’m as surprised as you, but I’m happy to share that Rock Gods & Messy Monsters is a Grand Prize Short List Finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award, one of the top international indie awards. Thousands of books were entered, so it’s a huge honor.
That’s in addition to the other two awards I was recently a finalist for. (I didn’t win either but didn’t ever think I’d make it to the final round, so being a finalist was way beyond what I could have hoped for!…)
Rock Gods & Messy Monsters
#1 Amazon Hot New Release in:
- Absurdist Fiction
- Pop Culture
- Pop Culture Music
Awards:
- Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize 2024 (Short List Finalist)
- Da Vinci Eye Award 2024 (Finalist)
- First Horizon Award 2024 (Finalist)
- The Wishing Shelf Awards 2023 (Finalist)
- Indie BRAG Medallion (Winner)
- Foreward INDIES 2023 (Finalist)
- The International Review of Books 2023 (Starred Review)
For a humorous sci fi, absurdist, social commentary, pop culture influenced novel with falling body parts and exploding blood vessels, Rock Gods & Messy Monsters has exceeded all expectations!
Haven’t gotten your copy yet? You can find Rock Gods at all Amazons worldwide and other reputable retailers. Visit Books2Read.
Food Food Food
For those of you who didn’t know me in the before times, I spent over twenty-five years in healthy food advocacy. I’m still not sure if I’m coming back and what that would look like, but I’ve put together a creative deck for an event about food and wellness that I recently pitched in Chicago (see first photo).
I have to get the books at least near a final edit before I jump into it full time, but there might be a food event in my future. We shall see.
On Another Note
I constantly listen to podcasts and watch YouTube videos about health, healing, and wellness. A couple of people I’m into right now are:
Lewis Howes
Lewis was a football player who lost his career early on due to an injury. He floundered for a bit, but started his podcast The School of Greatness in 2013 which is hugely successful today. His topics range from love and money to the law of manifestation and creating the life you want.
He seems like a really nice guy with good energy – check him out for more!
Dr. Tara Swart
Dr Tara Swart is a neuroscientist, medical doctor, executive advisor, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan, and author of best-seller ‘The Source’ which has translations in 38 global territories. In other words, she’s a genius.
As a neuroscientist, she talks about things like manifestation, how trees help us build immunity, and other topics that were once considered woo-woo but are today being proven by science.
I find she’s a guest on a lot of people’s podcasts, so you can just search for you in YouTube or online. Here’s a show she did with Lewis Howes on The School of Greatness.
Thank You
As always, thanks for sharing this journey with me. I am so beyond fortunate to have the opportunity to pursue a dream I’ve had since I was fifteen – to write and publish novels.
Until next time – be well,
Diane
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