Diane Mae Robinson

DMR:  I live in a small town in central Alberta, on an acreage with horses and dogs, and tons of gardening projects to keep me busy in the summer. Winter weekends are my writing time. During the week, I work at a busy dental office, teach art lessons after work, and I am a part-time writing instructor at the Creative Writing Institute. Yes, I need more hours in a day.

Since my first book in The Pen Pieyu Adventures series (children’s fantasy/adventure chapter books) was published in 2012, I have been working hard to create a presence in the writing community--to reach further areas in Alberta and beyond.  It’s a lot of work and a slow road, but every year my presence multiplies. Locally, and in surrounding towns and cities, I have been doing school author visits since the first book release, and with each new book release I often return to the same schools. I’ve done a few author lectures to adult groups wanting to know about the publishing/writing process. This year, I was asked to visit the Slave Lake Library in August, and in October I will tour southern Alberta through bookings with the Young Alberta Book Society. Yay! Road trips! 

DMR: I have several great inspirations that have happened to me as a writer. 

The first inspiration was finally receiving a traditional publishing contract after 27 rejections and 9 years of researching the markets, query letters, submissions, near contracts, signing my first contract only to have that publisher forfeit the contract after a year, and then receiving another traditional contract within months of the previous one.

The second great inspiration happened 6 months after my first book was published, and that was winning the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Arts Award (literary arts), which included a big honking medal, a hoopla event at Governor House in Edmonton, and a $10,000.00 cheque.

After this first award, the books have gone on to win six international awards.

All of these milestones confirmed to me that I was on the right track of wanting to be a writer. Patience and believing in yourself is definitely a virtue for any writer.

DMR: It’s kind of a joint effort. When I’m mentally and creatively ready to start a new book, I just have to wander off into my forest. Then it’s like characters jump out at me from the trees. I know, it sounds strange, but when my imagination runs free I see different character images emerge in the tree barks. As I see these same images over and over throughout the months, think about the emerging characters and make notes, the characters start to come to life. When I have a good idea of the characters, the story starts to write as if dictated from the character’s point of view. When I explain this jumping-out-of-tree-bark-character idea to kids at my school author visits, they get it. Hmmm, this could only mean I have a childlike mind. Somehow, I’m okay with that.

DMR: Petra Longstride, a nine-year old princess knight, is the main character of my series, The Pen Pieyu Adventures. She is feisty, adventurous, rebellious, but kind hearted and non-judgmental. People who know me think that Petra is me, especially the rebellious part. Okay, maybe.

My books have influenced my life to always strive to make my writing better, to always learn from the great writers, to never give up on my dreams. I also like to help new writers in children’s lit and that’s why I love my job as a writing instructor teaching the Writing for Children course.

DMR: One would think that Petra would be my favorite. She is very cool, but her dragon sidekick, Snarls, seems to steal people’s hearts. He’s a scaredy-cat, lippy dragon, who is also the royal chef and barbeque connoisseur at the palace. He’s also Petra’s royal steed. Together they go on adventures where Petra takes the lead, but Snarls’ antics are hilarious. He’s the nuttiest dragon I know, and his dragon fire is defective, which leads to all kinds of comical situations. He’s a real show stealer, unpredictable, and a wannabe main character. He’s been a pain in my side since I tree-bark met him. Oops, better be careful, he can read now too.

DMR: Like I have a choice, living with an irrational dragon in my forest.

DMR: I would be Billbo Baggins from Lord of the Rings. His adventure was incredible, heart- wrenching, and a true test of character. He accomplished the hardest and most amazing feats to save the shire and other realms. Billbo is the epitome of the word ‘noble’ and that is an honorable way to go down in history.

One of my favorite quotes is "Be in the world what you want the world to be." 

The little ones were always easy to spot. A vigil of small black headstones, tucked away at the back of the cemetery, their teddies and trains weather beaten; the gold faded. Twilight and rain drops shrouded them in pathos, but come dusk the solar lights would flicker on, permanent candles used as protective sprites to ward demons away from these precious spirits. Such short lives, their pasts a heartbeat in time, their names etched in granite to live on forever. If I was lucky and could find someone suitable I would be able to help him live on far longer than his grieving parents ever imagined.

I wasn’t interested in the girls; and knew to avoid the ones with cherubs and angels. It was also best to avoid the ones with recent gifts. Steven Johnson may well have passed over in 1975 but the plastic Christmas tree; that would have endlessly chimed out silent night until its batteries ran down, warned that someone still cared, and cherished him.

A train rumbled past, heading south out of Ash Station having dumped its weary commuters back to Surrey. They would dice with the barriers and tail back of irritated drivers, all walk home fast to be away from the wind and threat of further rain. Their perfume and after-shave hitched a ride on the wind and dropped its heady scent on the wet grass. I could envisage the women click clacking past men in suits, high heels dodging puddles as they strained their backs to stay proud and upright while carrying heavy briefcases in the pursuit of equality. The men would duck their heads down and plough on, up the road and past the front of the church, searching for a key to a front door, and home, and comfort.

I turned back to my task and spotted Richard Ridley; wondered if he was a good enough contender for my attention. Born in 1979 he’d died three months later, much loved and missed by his devoted parents. I crouched to read the inscription. Lichen painted it green and although he was age appropriate I didn’t feel like sharing my life with someone that sad. Not that I was sad, that was an emotion I had long since learnt to set aside. No, the boy had no history, no love, no… I sighed and jotted down his details. He was perfect.

DI Jake Talbot is a burnt-out British detective given a second chance to believe in love, friendship, and the transcendent power of human experience. When he investigates a seemingly innocent visitor to a residential care home for the elderly, he uncovers a greedy and deadly family who want to hide a forbidden romance that somehow crosses time. The family act ruthlessly to prevent Talbot from discovering the secrets surrounding an unsolved murder and betrayal. At the core of the mystery is an elderly woman, imprisoned by her own grandson, and the keenly intelligent, if admittedly odd, young man who is in love with her. Talbot sets out to right the many wrongs done to the blameless, and in turn rediscovers his own humanity.

Jasmine got obsessed with a man and now he's obsessed with her. Steamy nights, kisses and rules being broken awaits them. She turned his whole world upside down and now he's doing it to hers. In this free fall, can they survive each others love?

'Bertha-Size Your Life!' is a book of personal transformation that reads like a series of entertaining and humorous stories. Bertha, a zany redhead, mysteriously appears in the narrator’s life during a walk in the park. Quicker than a man can hand off a baby with a dirty diaper, she has moved into the narrator’s empty nest and the fun begins.

You never know what Bertha will think up next from flying a hot air balloon to singing to her begonia, it’s always something. She delights in standing on her soapbox while dispensing down-home wisdom and perky advice, explaining Law of Attraction in a refreshing, humor-filled, practical way that has the reader going aha! instead of humph. 

Throw in a conniving nemesis, an antagonistic cat, lime green spandex and high-heels and you’ve got a book that’s sure to tickle your funny bone and leave you wearing your thinking cap as you read and reread each vignette.

Not Just for Empty-Nesters

Bertha is a hoot and the way she presented the Law of Attraction had me giggling and thinking at the same time. This a quick and very entertaining read while giving the reader many lessons to put into action. I'm married with a child at home and on my second reading of this, trying to implement some of the lessons. I even passed one of the ideas on to a recently divorced friend who was having self-esteem issues and it helped her (I'd buy her a copy if I thought she would actually read it). This is on my Kindle and will be staying there for future re-readings.