Diana Bold

What is your favorite thing about being a romance writer?

I love that I get to spend my days building stories with happily ever afters. I truly believe that true love is out there, and there's someone for everyone, and that love can heal any wound. I hope when people read my books they put them down with a smile and a little hope.

If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why?

I think HALCYON RISING is my best book so far. I say this because it's my most recent, and I think I definitely learn and grow with each book, and also because I was going through a tough time in my life when I wrote it, and I think that emotion shows in my writing. It's a little different from my previous books, because it has a fantasy element. I became fascinated by the story of Atlantis, and the thought of ancient civilizations. What would happen if one of them had survived and flourished through the Dark Ages, and what would happen if my civilized heroine was captured by my very medieval knight?

How long have you been a writer? 

I've been a writer since I was old enough to grasp a pen. When I was seven years old, I won fifty dollars in a writing contest, and I was hooked! The idea that you could make money with your imagination was very appealing to me. Unfortunately, that fifty dollars was only money I made during the next 29 years. LOL My path to publication was a long, hard road. Turns out I was not the prodigy I thought. But I don't have it in me to give up, and when I did finally get published, I had a whole drawer of finished manuscripts, so the sales piled up. I can't imagine doing anything else.

Did you have any other careers before devoting yourself to being a full-time writer?

As I mentioned before, my road to publication was rocky. I worked a variety of jobs during my twenties, always certain that they were just temporary stops on my way to being a rich and famous author. When I hit thirty and still hadn't sold a book, I decided I might need a fallback plan, so I spent the next ten years as a 911 police dispatcher. I absolutely loved that job - the adrenaline rush, the knowledge that I was actually helping people, the camaraderie and strangeness of my relationships with my coworkers. I probably never would have quit, even after I started making decent money with my writing, if the city government hadn't decided we should do twice the work for half the money. LOL I took that as a sign that I was meant to pursue my writing career full time and have never looked back.

Describe to us you typical day -

I wake up about eight in the morning, have breakfast, walk on the treadmill for about 45 minutes, and then head to my office. I spend an hour catching up on emails and Facebook, and then another hour doing marketing and publicity stuff. Then I spend the next hour writing on my current WIP. Then I have lunch. After lunch, I work on freelance editing or ghost writing projects for two hours, then write another hour on my WIP and call it a day. I do this Monday through Friday. Or at least that's the plan. Sometimes life gets in the way, but the great thing about working for yourself is that when it does, you have some flexibility.

If you came with a warning label, what would it say?

Do not try to engage in conversation within one hour of waking. In fact, don't even look in my direction.

What’s number one on your list of things you hope to do before you die?

Visit at least ten countries. So far, I haven't left the United States, but I'm hoping to change that in the near future. Of course, my fear of flying makes it a little difficult. Is there enough Xanex in the world to get me through a plane ride to Europe? I guess we'll see.

I am currently working on a Victorian Trilogy I'm calling my "Victorian Spiderman" books. LOL I'm not very good at describing works in progress, but my heroes are three brothers who successively take up the guise of a masked avenger who prowls bordellos and rescues young women and children pressed into prostitution. I like the idea of a superhero who has no actual superpowers, just gadgets and his wits. I also like the idea of a man living a double life - a highborn wastrel during the day, and a champion of those less fortunate by night. I hope to have book one finished within the next few months.

You can check me out on Facebook, and read excerpts of all my books at www.dianabold.com.