Diana Xarissa's Blog: Occasional Thoughts

...in every day would be quite helpful.

I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote anything on here. I've been writing, of course, lots and lots of books!

I've also started a newsletter that goes out once a month (around the 1st of every month) and anyone who might be interested can sign up on my website (dianaxarissa.com).

Meanwhile, I will try to do this more often.

I just wish I had something interesting or exciting to talk about. It is spring, which is wonderful after our long and cold and snowy winter!

So happy spring to one and all!

Diana

I have a million things I should be doing, but I'm going to take my daughter to a well-known home improvement store to buy some paint samples instead. She wants her bedroom redone from "girly pink" to a more mature "young lady purple." She's even selected a darker purple for an accent wall.

We'll see how the samples look before I commit to painting the whole room. Shouldn't be bad as painting jobs go, at least.

When we bought the house the room was dark green and it took two coats of primer and 3 coats of paint to get the lovely soft pink to look good. I'm thinking purple will only need 2 coats. Easy! (Ha, famous last words!)

Maybe Bessie will have to paint something in her next book, just so the experience isn't wasted…although someone is moving house in book seven, so maybe the painting won't happen until then. (And yeah, I have about twenty or so books already planned in very vague terms…I love Bessie and her friends and they have a lot of exciting stuff coming up…)

I've had a review for the second book that talks about missing pages. I've asked the reviewer for more details and am waiting for them to get back to me, but in the meantime, I'm going nuts.

I HATE the thought that there is a problem with the file and other readers may have the same issue.

I've checked and rechecked the file on Amazon's Previewer, going through the entire book in every possible format and can't find a problem. I bought the book myself on my daughter's Kindle and it was absolutely fine.

I've had other authors tell me that occasionally a stray line of code wanders in during the conversion process from you to Amazon and that can cause problems for only a few readers on certain devices. I've also had other authors tell me that very rarely there is a glitch in the download and just one single copy gets messed up.

I'm hoping the reviewer lets me know what device he or she is using and exactly where the problem is, so that I can try to track down the problem (if there is one).

In the meantime, I'm lying in bed at night worrying about disappointing people. I really really hate that thought. I work so hard to produce a quality product and I feel like I've failed at least one person…

Fingers crossed they get in touch so I can track this down. If anyone else has a problem with Aunt Bessie Believes, please get in touch ASAP and let me know.

Thanks!

Aunt Bessie Believes is just about ready to go. My editor has dotted my i's and crossed my t's for me and my lovely and wonderful beta readers have given their opinions. The only thing left to do is one final proofread and then I can hit the magic "publish" button.

I get excited and nervous every time at this point. It's such a strange feeling, sending your book out into the world, hoping people enjoy it.

I'm keeping myself distracted by working on Aunt Bessie 3, which is coming along nicely and has been just as much fun to write as the first two were. And I know what's going to happen in book 4 as well. Some dear friends are letting me use their names as characters which will be quite entertaining for me. Just have to decide which ones will die horribly and which one (or ones) will be the murderer(s)!

Writing is definitely the most fun thing ever!

Aunt Bessie Believes is only a week or so away from "live" and I'm getting excited about getting her second adventure out there. Of course, that means that I'm really hard at work on book three, which is coming along quite nicely. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying spending time with Bessie and her friends.

I already have a basic plot in mind for book four, including using the names of some friends of mine in the story, which will be fun. And I have another romance brewing at the back of my mind, because I haven't written one of them for a while.

Poor old F6 (written under the pen name Diana X. Dunn) isn't getting much written about her. And I've left her in an awkward place. I will get back to her…one day…

Meanwhile, I'm loving Bessie (and Doona and Hugh and Inspector Rockwell and…)

I've been away for a few days with the kids. I was hoping it would recharge my batteries, but I think I'm more tired than I was when I left. ;-)

Now that I'm back, I'm eager to get the second Aunt Bessie book polished up and ready to go. I finally have a cover that I love. I'll be putting up another contest for paperback copies soon.

Meanwhile, book three is taking shape…mostly in my head, but a little bit on paper…Bessie is such a joy to write about...

You would think, having lived on the Isle of Man for nearly 11 years that I would have a ton of great photos of the various historic sites and beautiful scenery, wouldn't you?

Turns out I was too interested in photographing my kids (who were both born on the island) to take the time to photograph our surroundings.

I can't find a single beach shot that doesn't have at least one kid or a lopsided sandcastle at center stage.

I was lucky to find an old photo of the Laxey Wheel to put on the cover of the first Aunt Bessie book. (Significantly, it was taken before the first baby arrived, when we were playing tourists on the island before we moved there.) Now I've put out a desperate request to an old friend for a couple of snaps of some significant locations for books 2 and 3.

I've been trying to persuade hubby that I really need to visit the island for a week and take my own photos, but he isn't buying it. It was worth a try! ;-)