Author spotlight: Diane Demetre

We’re featuring a wide range of Australian authors participating in ARR2019 in venues across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. 

Today we’re having Elevenses with Diane Demetre, author of five romances in the genres of romantic mystery, romantic suspense and erotic romance. She will be attending ARR2019 in Brisbane.

When did you first realise you wanted to be an author?

Having spent years as a life coach and stress and life skills therapist, I always wanted to write non-fiction self-help books and still do. I also have a series of self-empowerment children’s books I want to write. However, I never thought of myself as a writer of adult fiction. That unfolded by itself and I am loving it.

Why romance and not a different genre?

The romance genre was not a genre I usually read. However, I’ve always been one to follow my writing inspiration, which came first to me in an erotic romance series and then led me into suspense and mystery, which is the genre I more widely read.

What was the first romance you read and why did you love it?

It was probably Gone with the Wind. A sweeping masterpiece filled with bold characters, grand settings and set in a powerful period of history, it captured my imagination.

What is the single most important characteristic for an aspiring author wanting to be a published writer?

Writing is not just about inspiration and crafting a good story. It is a skill that you need to develop. Learn, learn, learn the basics and don’t be in a rush to publish.

What is your favourite part of creating a story?

Character creation.

What is your best tip for fighting writer’s block/writer’s fear?

Feel the fear and do it anyway. It’s not real. It’s just procrastination dressed up in a different frock.

Who has been an inspiration to you, in life or your writing career?

The still, small voice within that guides my stories, my characters and my writing decisions.

Tell us about your latest release in 100 words or less 

Island of Secrets is an epic love story spanning forty years, about the power of love; love lost, love found and love eternal. It examines the lives of empowered women from different times and cultures who face similar challenges and find the courage and strength to overcome them. An exploration of how we view the fundamentals of life. Is it love or money that motivates us? Where does loyalty lie in the equation? What moves us to make the decisions we do? And no matter the dilemma we face, there comes a time when we must acknowledge that love is the ultimate answer.

What else will you be working on in 2019?

I’m working on The Diana Daniels Murder Mysteries, which I’m enjoying enormously as one of my all-time favourite authors is Agatha Christie. Here’s the series blurb … Murder She Wrote’s Jessica Fletcher meets Prof Reinhart from The Murder Games and morphs into Diana Daniels; a smart, sassy, recently widowed woman, whose sixth sense and rekindled love of adventure lands her in all sorts of trouble. Book 1 will be Evil on the High Seas. When Diana promises to scatter her dead husband’s ashes in the Galapagos Islands, she never imagines the drama about to unfold on board the expedition ship’s seven-day cruise.

Please recommend an Aussie romance you’ve read recently

Heartbreaker (romantic suspense) by Shannon Curtis

If you haven’t booked your ticket for ARR2019 yet, you can buy one here.