Updates to what this book is, including excerpts and so on, will be posted in due course over the next 18 months on:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Telegram
But please note, I will not be having a huge presence on social media - my life is too full of happenings for that. I will also not be sending out another newsletter until the book is written and ready for sale, so expect the next one to be in October, 2023 - and this is the best way to keep up to date: my newsletter. And yes, I'm confident this publication will go ahead - it feels like time and I have created a good foundation for all my other work enough for me to devote time to writing now.

In the future, I suspect you will see one book every 18 months from me. But they'll be damn good.

Thank you, keep well, and I will share more words with you very soon. 

Dianna xxx

A big hello to everyone. I'm going to get straight to the meat of this post, which is ultimately to let you all know that Autumn's Fall is not going to get published by April 29th. I've been trying really hard, and I'm finding that writing it - although it is happening bit by bit - is proving difficult. I know this is going to be disappointing for some of you, and I can only apologise and let you know that I didn't properly see this coming (although I knew something was coming).

My energies have shifted the past few weeks and I'm finding I can't quite write from the place I used to write before - at least not yet. I wasn't expecting it, but ever since I had the flu in December, I came out of it with an urgent need to make changes - like it detoxed my system - and this is also reflected in the other projects I've been manifesting - some of them old projects that had to be halted a decade ago, and some of them new ones. My original intention was to set up a foundation for all this new work (and this is still my intention), but in the process, I have rekindled a part of myself I very much let diminish and I am now reintegrating that part of me back into my life. I'll get to that in a minute - first, the books.

Autumn's Fall will get written because I can't leave a series unfinished. But I can no longer promise when this year it will be written, although I know I don't want to leave it too long because I want the energies of that series to come to a completion to make room for new stuff. Also, I have character cameo roles that I have promised people and this will be honoured. Because Autumn's Fall is on pre-order, I'm loathe to take it off pre-order, so I'm going to see if I can get away with pushing it back one more time and hope distribution platforms don't hate me for it - this time to a generalised date of 31st December. That doesn't mean the book won't come out until then, it means I don't have to worry about moving the deadline over and over again, when I currently cannot give you a fixed publication date - I would like it to come out way before December because, as I've said, I want to see it finished.

Fathom's Deep will also have to be moved back by default. With my life shifting the way it is, I am now considering writing Fathom's Deep as one long novel instead of a series. So, at least 125,000 words - about the size of Reign of the Wolf or longer. For quite a while, I've envisioned being able to write one book a year, with those books being longer and much more 'fantasy' based than my other books have been. Think Diana Gabaldon and George R R Martin, but more urban fantasy than those authors (I realise they take longer than  a year to write a book, but mine won't be as long as theirs!). I feel that once I've finished Autumn's Fall, I can finally do this, and it will start with Fathom's Deep. My writing style will change a bit - I can feel that - because I'm already working from a different place in life than I was before the start of this year, and Fathom's Deep, being a brand new story, can mark the beginning of this brand new writing. I also like that it stars a character who has left her old life behind and is creating a new and better one for herself - it's perfect, really.

For the past ten years, I've written to heal. And obviously because I love writing, too (that goes without saying - I couldn't write books if I didn't love it), but I have written to heal. I've written my Otherworld ventures and all the things I've learnt; I've written my pain, and my joys and lows of becoming a parent and losing loved ones; I've written lots of things - of course it's all been wrapped in fiction. The stories aren't real, but the inspiration for all of them is based on very real things. This writing has come from my sacral and heart centres (I'm talking energy and chakras now, so I'm sorry if you don't understand, I'll skim through this bit quickly!) and now that energies have shifted, I'm working from the crown, third eye, and throat much more. And my sacral is relieved - I think it needed some time out! But this is what will lead to a slightly different style of writing fiction - it's not going to be a massive change of style from the reader's perspective, to be honest, but for me... I won't be writing to heal any more (I don't think) - not in the same way. I'll be writing to create, solely for the love of creation, and I am so looking forward to that.

I do apologise if this makes no sense to you. I'm doing my best to explain, but my explanations are not usually 'normal' because I do tend to live, work, and perceive the world from an energetic plane of existence, so I talk in weird terms!

So, this is where we are with books. Autumn's Fall will get written some time before the end of this year and it will mark the end of something for me. And Fathom's Deep will get written, probably as a long novel, which will mark the beginning of something for me. Following that, my aim is to write one long fiction book a year and then take it from there. I can't tell you what a joy that is to say because to be truthful, my passion for the writing industry has waned quite a lot over the past few years since it's become a bit of a rat race with the advent of kindle unlimited, ghostwriters, scammers, fake authors, and the lot - that's not why I started to write or publish independently at all. I don't want to get caught up in that mindless rush of chaos. It sucks the creative out of creativity, and I love writing far too much to let that happen.

In the meantime, since I am finding it hard to write my deeply emotional fiction while energies are in flux, I have been laying down the foundations for my other projects, and writing courses and workshops for my study centre, Between Fire & Ice, and I have been laying the foundations or my own private (spiritual) practice, which has involved some CPD (continuing professional development) as I've been out of the loop for a while, so I have been partaking in some study and research, too, in this field, to get myself up to scratch. I know it might seem like writing and this new (revisited) stuff are two different careers, but I don't see it as that at all. They are one and the same, and my writing has always been an exploration of the way I live my life (which is in part to do with these new-old projects I am bringing to the fore). Quite frankly, I'm hoping that living my life in full again will lead to some far out stories in the future!

Anyway, I shall end it there for now. I'd like to say a massive thank you to Lynn who has been holding the fort on my page with fab and funny posts, keeping you all laughing. I do still pop along two or three times a week and share things, too, but I am mostly off social media at the moment.

And thank you to you guys, my readers. I really am sorry for the change of dates (again). I thought I could get it all done, but I need to go with the flow right now, and wait to see where I land.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment, and I will try to answer. 

Lots of love,

Dianna.
​

Dear Readers,

I hope you are all well. Back in December I caught a very bad cold virus which set me back about three weeks as I was physically unable to do much in that time. In addition, this was a particularly difficult virus which also threw up an awful lot of emotional and spiritual baggage I've long needed to sort out.

I'm doing that now. But I'm really going through the mill with it (as it were) and my heart hurts quite a lot. You know that feeling when you're really sad, like you have a metal spoon stuck in your heart and you can't pull it out? (Or maybe that's just me, lol.) That's how I'm feeling day-to-day.

If you've been following me and my books long enough, you'll now I'm quite an "emotional writer" (I jokingly call myself a "method writer") - I sink into my characters quite deeply as I write them so I can feel what they feel - that's how I write best. Not usually too much of a problem, but when you add my own stuff I'm already going through to the mix, it makes it all the more difficult to get to grips with writing a woman such as Candace and everything she's dealing with. It's a double whammy of spoon-in-heart, so I need to dial it back a bit.

So, I'm going to push back the publication date of Autumn's Fall to 29th April, although, I hasten to add, I'm going to do my best to get it out to you for around 8th April. The 29th April deadline is a safety net so I don't have to push the date back again if I don't make it.

I apologise that it's not the best news, but I don't want to put a messy book out there - I want to give you a good book. I will give you a good book :)

On another note, there was a bit of talk on my Facebook page a few weeks ago from those of you who might want to know the more spiritual aspects of my life, how it integrates with my books as well as outside of the books, etc. I've been thinking about how to bring this to you. I'm working on a few ideas and how best to share this side of my life, so that may be coming your way soon - no promises, but it's on my mind. If YOU have any more thoughts on this and the things you'd be interested in knowing, feel free to comment as it might help me streamline my thoughts.

That's it for now. Any other more minor updates will be shared on my Facebook page or Reader's Group as and when. You'll see the date for the release of Autumn's Fall begin to change on platforms over the weekend. If you have pre-ordered the book, this does NOT affect your pre-order, you'll just get the book on the new release date, that's all.

Thanks for understanding. 

Yours,

Dianna xx

​Today is release day for Blanket of Snow (After the Storm, #1), and what fun! This is the first of a series of novelettes (all about 20K words long - a one hour read) based on characters that we already know and love well, and focusing on their emotional states and their healing journeys, so the series lends itself to the novelette format.

When I first began writing in 2010, I was pretty keen on shorter stories. I liked the fact that in order to write a good one, it had to be short and snazzy; to-the-point, but not loose on detail; and it had to capture readers from the start and not let go, because you needed ALL of their attention for the very short time you have it. I liked all of that, and I felt some of that skill had been lost in the past few decades as commercial publishing houses favoured huge tomes over the shorter book (usually for financial reasons). With the emergence of eBooks, that financial reason is no longer valid - it's easy to pack a punch in a short story for an eReader and sell it for 99p, and people WANT this. What better for a one hour train journey than to be engrossed in a book you know you'll finish in time? It's perfect.

Writing Blanket of Snow was no less perfect. Not unusually for me (though it's been a while), this story came to me in a dream, and I knew when I woke up exactly how long it would take to write. My inexperience in 2010 failed to tell me that The Witching Pen Series would NOT be a series of novellas and that I was jumping the gun and possibly making a mistake by originally calling that series The Witching Pen Novellas. In my head, all the stories would be no more than 40K words, but I didn't know my writing well enough then. I didn't know that I would favour large-reaching arcs and plots that liked their twists and turns, and subsequently, half of that series was written as full-length novels, making the original series name (novellas) utterly pointless and inaccurate.

I have no such worry about After the Storm. There's a plot here, sure, but it's a mini-plot that buffers what the characters are emotionally going through - it's not the main focus - so I've been able to sit back and write a shorter story with full enjoyment in doing JUST THAT without doubt and without any external pressure. It reminded me of one of the reasons I love writing in the first place, and not least, one of the reasons why I love being an independent author: I can write for my pleasure; for readers' pleasure; for the characters' needs; all without having to unnecessarily expand the story, or dumb it down (or dumb it up) to fit a mold.

So I hope all Eye of the Storm fans thoroughly enjoy the After the Storm series, because it will be an insight into the main four characters that we simply won't get in the upcoming Aftershock series, because we won't be telling that series from the POV of the four Eye of the Storm characters - it will be from the perspectives of brand new (now adult) characters.

After the Storm will fill some blanks for fans, but also hint at a couple of future obstacles to come. There won't be any cliffhangers as such (remember this is not a plot-filled series), just these hints that will be touched on again in the Aftershock series, and possibly even the Blood Shadow series.

After the Storm will add a bit of depth to anyone who cares to read it, but at the same time, anyone who chooses not to won't be missing out on anything in order to understand what's to come.

It's fun. It's a lot of fun weaving worlds together. I hope you enjoy the read.

Dianna x
​

Dear Readers,

After some deliberation, I've decided that it is not cost effective to sell signed paperbacks from Bitten Fruit Books. I've been selling them from there for a few years now, but unfortunately, every year, after adding up the time and cost of importing the books, mailing them out, and keeping them in stock (and nice and neat as I cart them around to signings!), vs. the amount of orders I get, it's just not possible to maintain this.

However, you can still ask if I have a certain signed book in stock at any time, but the wait-length might be three or four weeks before I can get the book to you, as I won't be keeping them regularly in stock.

So from the end of this week, the only way you'll be able to purchase signed books from me is:

• through  a book signing or book event that I am at (currently only UK based)
• through the online virtual signing that takes place for every new paperback release (worldwide) - these virtual signings will still take place over at the Bitten Fruit Books site.
• through a new contact form on the Bitten Fruit Books site, as long as you're happy to wait for your signed book.

I'm sorry for any inconvenience, but this is a weight off my mind, and it means I can better concentrate on producing new books and all the admin that comes with it.

The Bitten Fruit Books website will no longer show the books for sale by the end of this week.

Many thanks,

Dianna 

So, here it is, my end-of-year post, and I didn't expect to be typing this up in a dizzy, exhausted state as I battle a cold virus. So it's going to be a short post. Not sure I'll be awake for new year at this rate!

Nevertheless, I am looking forward to 2019. A lot has happened this year, and a lot of it has been subtle. Friendships have ebbed and flowed to the point where I'm not sure they ever really existed at all; but home has become more 'home' in some ways - I'm slowly falling in love with where I live; and in the midst of it all I've written two novels and one novelette - all of which kick off various new series of books. I'm pretty happy with that.

I tend not to do resolutions as such over the new year, however, it is a time to reflect on the things missing from our lives, as well as all we've achieved. I do miss nature. I used to spend hours every week walking in ancient woodland when I lived near them, many years ago now. So, my 'resolution' for 2019 is to find an area of woodland not too far from where I live and spend some time there every week. I have conditions though: it's got to be magical, and it's got to be wild; it's got to have that "something" about it that makes you feel like you've stepped into Narnia or Rivendell. Some woods are like that - so old and untouched, they breathe for us. The woods I lived near used to be like that. (And if anyone's wondering which woods these were, they were Pewley Down and The Chantries in Surrey - yes, the setting for Eye of the Storm and where Lawrence Gunvald has his home.) I miss conversing with the devas and soaking in the wilderness, and I'd welcome it back.

All publication dates for 2019 are still on target for now, with Autumn's Fall coming out first on 5th March, and of course, Blanket of Snow will be released more imminently on 7th January. And I'm very much looking forward to writing Fathoms Deep.

Have a wonderful New Year, everyone. And may 2019 bring you unconditional love, and the truth of your heart's desire.

Much love,

Dianna.

Have you heard? We'll be getting a little bit more from our favourite werewolves - you can thank my insatiable mind for that because this story came to me in a dream, just when I thought I was done writing books from Lydia, Lawrence, Ryan and Taylor's perspectives. Nope. There's a little bit more...

This is a novelette - a one hour read (just under 20,000 words). More than one novelette will make up the After the Storm series - stories told from each of the main character's points of view in the months immediately after the fatal storm, concentrating on the emotional and mental healing they each need to go through. They stand on their own, and don't have to be read to understand any new series coming next. However, they'll hold little titbits of information for readers who want that little bit more (there is a little plot threaded throughout the novelettes).

Currently available in digital format only.

I'm always in two frames of mind as to whether I should explain inspirations for my books. Some readers like to know and some do not. However, if you spend long enough on my Facebook page, some hints start to seep out. I'm not overly public with my life, but I do, on occasion, share information about those bigger life events that affect me, namely to do with my family and my daughter (and my cats!).

I think first it's important to mention that a story usually develops its own life, and is its own creature in many ways, independent from the mind that created it. I knew a long time ago that there would be a girl called Jasmine and she would weave a tale of her own. I knew it in 2012 when I wrote this sentence in The Demon Bride, from Lucifer to Mary (or Ymari): 

“The jasmine is beautiful, isn’t it? The flower of the revolution. Can you smell it, Ymari? The scent of a new power rising?”

Right there. Jasmine's seed was planted right there.

What I never knew completely was how the tale would unfold, and what part of my soul I'd need to delve into to tell it.

Fantasy is a beautiful medium for an author because you can take any real life situation, and wrap it in a coat of a different style and colour to better explore it; to make truths easier to swallow, and sorrows a little less painful to heal from - for your readers as well as for yourself.

My daughter was diagnosed with ASD in 2016, and a lot of the inspiration for Jasmine's character and responses in Aftershock came from how I have experienced this entity that is autism; from how she tries to manage it and how we, as her parents, try to understand it better. Sometimes, it is a monster - an uncontrollable, destructive beast that sees no logic or reason. And sometimes, it's quite the enlightening lesson that teases it is so much more than we know it to be. What's the opposite of a monster? Perhaps something divine. Perhaps something that can lead us all into a future worth having.

But not without first traversing the darkness and battling all the monsters we hold within, of course.

The Witching Pen and Eye of the Storm series are their own stories separate from my daughter's and separate from mine, so Jasmine's story will take a turn my daughter's simply won't. I'm not writing about my daughter, which is why I was in two frames of mind as to whether to post this article at all. Rather, I am writing through the experiences I have had because of her "monster within" and using them as a tool to weave my hopes, dreams and fears into worlds far greater than the current one can be.

The reason I decided to post this, in the end, was because I think anyone who works closely with, or is a parent of, children with such needs as ASD will see the similarities in the story between the layers of fantasy; they'll see the traits. And at the end of the day, even though we all experience everything, including autism, so individually, we're fighting the same battles, and it's nice to feel a little less alone.

However, this is not a story purposely carrying any message outside of the ones for the characters. I was very conscious that I did not want to impose my own thoughts onto Jasmine's story (or with any book I write - I prefer to stimulate questions and debate because life is multi-faceted and there are at least two sides to all things). The thoughts are Jasmine's, Pete's and Claire's. I had to be a detached creator, writing from my heart, but letting every sentence go because the story does not belong to me - it belongs to readers. What you gain from it is for you alone and that's always the way it should be.

As an author, all I really hope for is that my readers are able to take away something from my books, whatever that something might be. Whichever pools of inspiration and experience I delve into when I write, I hope that in this respect I have succeeded, and continue to succeed.