My sweet mom used to recite this ridiculously adorable poem a lot during this time of year, especially when I was a kid: Spring has sprung, the flowers riz, I wonder where the bunnies is. LOL. Well, it’s definitely sprung here in Texas. Everything is greening up beautifully and the sun is staying out longer…I just need it to warm up a teensy bit more.

With “How to Date a Mermaid” releasing last October and “Fake It Till You Make It” releasing last February, guess what I’m doing? Yep. I’m writing “Running to the Rescue” and I’m about halfway through it.

Also on my radar: the Get Lit Book Fair in the DFW metroplex…the North Richland Hill Library Local Author Luncheon (I’m a semi-finalist)…and the Storymakers Conference in Utah next month. I’m doing my best grabbing all the writing time I can get while squeezing in some fun bookish events and, of course, a few trips to see local bookstores. I loooooove a good bookstore!

Speaking of which, I was in California to visit family recently and I was sad to learn that my hometown doesn’t have ANY local bookshops. Nope. It’s either Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, or one locally owned used bookstore. It made me feel incredibly lucky to live in the DFW area, where we have so many amazing locally owned bookshops and bookish events.

There are two wonderful bookstores in Dallas that I’ve been to: Storytellers Bookshop at the Dallas Farmers Market and Blush Bookstore in the Bishop Arts District. Storytellers specializes in special editions and local Texas authors and the shop is just gorgeous. The bookish themed gifts and other items are also fabulous, including those cool book nooks that fit on your shelf and look like another world inside your bookcase. Blush is a romance only store that is a thousand percent cute and makes you want to buy all the things as soon as you step inside.

Pictured below: 1. How to Date a Mermaid on the shelves at Storytellers. 2. The view when you step inside Blush Bookstore. 3. How to Date a Mermaid on display at Blush. 4. The phenomenal book art at The Plot Twist.

Yesterday, I met a friend up in Denton…which is about an hour away from me…and we went to The Plot Twist Book Bar and oh dear lord…freaking fabulous. When I walked in, the staff called out a welcome to me, which was really great. The shelves are lined with romance books from all sub-genres, and the merch was out of this world. I was super tempted by a tumbler that read “Probably Faerie Wine” but I didn’t go for it because I already have a serious tumbler problem. Instead, I opted for a copy of “Quicksilver” to add to my To Be Read (TBR) list, two bookmarks I couldn’t let go of, and a baseball cap that says “Romantasy Reader”. So cute.

In my immediate area, I have Pantego Books. It is a super cute, very cool bookstore in the Arlington, Texas area. Their sticker game is unmatched. 🙂 They’re super friendly and carry a wide variety of books, including the latest best sellers.

Don’t get me wrong…I do love a good trip to Barnes & Noble to grab a latte and roam through the stacks. But bookstore owners are special to me. These people are our tribe, right? Bookish friends who love books so much they opened a whole store just to share their passion with others in the community. For that reason, the owners of these local shops will always have a special place in my heart and I will always spend extra effort to go to their stores and spend my money….and sign my books if they offer me a book signing event or buy my books for their shelves and want me to sign the copies. My answer will always be yes.

So if you’re in the DFW area, I highly recommend you head out to these smaller shops and grab your next read from there. If you’re not, check your local area. Hopefully you have somewhere to patronize. I’m betting you’ll find your next great read and probably some fun bookish swag as well.

As for me…what am I reading? Reading is tricky for me as an author. I love to read, but if I’m reading some high-tension epic adventure it can snap me right out of writing mode. All of a sudden I don’t feel like writing a love story if the main character of an epic adventure is in the middle of a battle to save her kingdom. Eek! So I read a chapter or two right before bed, after I’m done writing for the day and there’s no risk of me switching gears.

Right now, I’m reading three different books before bed. I’m playing catch-up after reading through the last two Crescent City books by Sarah J. Maas (I didn’t want internet spoilers to get me and I’d been incredibly lucky up to that point). So I’m reading “Miami Ice” by Aven Ellis, “The Serendipity” by Emma St. Clair, and “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros. All of them are keeping me wonderfully entertained!

And what am I writing? “Running to the Rescue”, my friends. This is the third book in my San Francisco Hearts series. We met Marina in “How to Date a Mermaid”, and her bestie Ashley in “Fake It Till You Make It”. “Running to the Rescue” is their friend Scarlet’s story. There’s a strong phoenix theme in this book, since Scarlet is rescued from a fire by a handsome fireman and rises from the ashes like the legendary bird.

I’m nearly 2/3 done with the book and it’s been wonderful to spend time expanding Scarlet’s character. We’ve seen her in Mermaid and Fake It and she’s known as the real friend. She doesn’t pull any punches. In her career, she’s efficient and very goal-driven. She’s never met a calendar she doesn’t like, that’s how organized Scarlet is. But what happens when your whole life is derailed when your project literally goes up in flames? What happens to a person emotionally when they survive something like a fire? Scarlet is just glad to be alive…and she’s been humbled a bit. You’ll get to see our phoenix rebuild herself into a softer version of herself with the help of her friends and the support of one very handsome firefighter with devastating dimples and a killer sense of humor.

That reminds me…I should get back to work on that manuscript, right? 🙂 See you soon!

**while I do use some affiliate links on my website, none of the links in this post are affiliate links. Book store links are to their social media channels and author links are to their books on Amazon.

Well, y’all…I had a surprise feedback collision last week and I’ve realized I need to change the titles of the remaining three books. Why? Lemme ‘splain…

I dropped the cover image and blurb into a feedback group that I’m in. Same group I used for “How to Date a Mermaid”. The instant and overwhelming feedback was that readers expect “How to Date a Dragon” to be a shifter story. A romantic fantasy where Ashley has the ability to actually turn into a dragon. Nope…nope, that’s not the kind of book this is (although Rick would probably laugh). There was so much feedback that it was obvious I needed to make a change.

I was also told that I should re-title “How to Date a Mermaid”, which I intended to do, but after Amazon told me I’d lose all those lovely reviews that I worked so hard to get…I can’t do it. So Mermaid stays until I can figure something out.

In titling the rest of the books, I had to think long and hard. The “How to Date” theme was cute, and I really like it. But then I looked at the book series by some of my favorite authors and realized that many of their series don’t have cute, themed names like that. The series name made it clear they were together in a series, but otherwise…their titles weren’t similar.

My series was called “Dating 101” because all the books were titled “How to Date a…”. The new series is “San Francisco Hearts” because all these stories take place in the City by the Bay. And now…”How to Date a Dragon” has been re-titled to “Fake It Till You Make It”. The story is a slow burn, friends to lovers, fake dating, he takes care of her swoon fest.

“How to Date a Phoenix” is Scarlet’s story…and she’s going to fall for a fireman. Rescued, literally. So her book is now titled “Running to the Rescue”. And finally…Merry’s book. Merry’s name is spelled this way because she was born on Christmas. She’s going to fall in love with a policeman…whose last name just happens to be Bright. So “How to Date a Unicorn” is now re-titled “Merry & Bright”.

So there we have it! I’m going to leave “How to Date a Mermaid” alone for now. None of the content will change in any of these books, so the themes of mermaid, dragon, phoenix, and unicorn will remain…just not in the titles.

If you don’t already have “How to Date a Mermaid”, I’m going to put it on sale when I launch “Fake It Till You Make It”…so get ready!!!

I really hope you guys love Ashley’s story. My beta team has fallen so in love with Rick that they love him MORE THAN ZACH!!! What’s even happening right now? LOL. In just a little over a month you’ll be able to weigh in on that yourselves.

Happy New Year!

I can’t believe I get to say this, but “How to Date a Mermaid” is just two days from release!! There are already copies out there in the wild, if you were lucky enough to snag one of the limited edition launch boxes on Etsy (they’re all sold out now). I’m so excited every time a reader sends me a DM or posts a picture of their mermaid box as they open it. You can also grab the paperback on Amazon right now. I released the paperback a few days early so my paperback peeps would have it in hand on release day. You can also pre-order it on Kindle and it’ll show up on your device on October 1st.

However you decide to read it, here’s a book launch self-care kit to put together next week. Are you ready?

With “How to Date a Mermaid” ready to be enjoyed by readers, I’m working on the second book: “How to Date a Dragon”. Dragon is slated for a February release and I’m hoping that it’ll be the perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s Day…or even Gal-entine’s Day with your gal friends. After that, “How to Date a Phoenix” will release this summer…and “How to Date a Unicorn” is a Christmas book that’ll release in November 2025. I’m quite busy, aren’t I?

I’m pretty sure I’ll do limited edition launch boxes for Dragon as well, but I’m waiting to see what the overall feedback is. So far it’s been really great!

I hope to have some book signings to share with you soon!

I’m so excited to share this: “How to Date a Mermaid” is available for pre-order on Kindle on Amazon, and it’ll officially launch on Kindle and paperback on October 1. Woohoo!

After a rough start in life, Marina’s worked hard to make sure there are calm seas ahead. She has three ride-or-die girlfriends, a job at the most prestigious law firm in the city, and big, big plans. She just has to stay focused. So it figures the one time she does something spontaneous it lands her in a viral video with a world-famous rock star…while she’s dressed as a mermaid.

To make matters worse, the media is on the hunt for the infamous mermaid, and she’d love nothing more than to get away from this handsome, muscley complication as soon as possible. But Zach has other plans. He can’t get enough of her. And there’s something about his dark good looks and that gravelly, oh-so-sexy British accent that keeps her anchored even when she wants to run.

Now she faces the challenge of whether to trust her heart or stick to her plans and ignore the magnetic pull she feels toward the only man who’s ever truly shown up for her.

I can’t tell you how much fun it was to write Marina & Zach’s story. I love them and their circle of friends. The book will be available on Amazon and I’ll also make it available to libraries and brick and mortar book stores. I’ll definitely be doing book signings as well, and I’ve created special, interactive book launch boxes that are personally curated by me. They’ll be available on my Etsy shop in the new few weeks.

The best way to stay informed of all the launchy goodness coming up is to subscribe to my bi-weekly email newsletter. The next one will go out September 17th, so sign up before then at dianneoren.com/subscribe

Until then…get your tails ready for some mermaid fun!

Y’all…I’ve been a little busy. 🙂

“How to Date a Mermaid” is officially with my editor, so I’ve done all I can do for now. It’s book #1 in the “Dating 101” series I’m working on…and it’s so fun. You’re going to love Zach and Marina’s story!! Next up: “How to Date a Dragon”, which I’ve been working on for a week now. I’m having a lot of fun, especially with Rick because he’s a freaking Viking god come to life. I love him so much.

Mermaid will be ready for release by October and the pre-orders are officially open on Amazon!! Click here to pre-order yours now! Since Amazon doesn’t do pre-orders for paperbacks, this is just for Kindle…but I should be able to share a firm launch date for Mermaid in about 30 days. Stay tuned and subscribe to my newsletter so you’re the first to know!

There are four books in the Dating 101 series: How to Date a Mermaid, How to Date a Dragon, How to Date a Phoenix, and How to Date a Unicorn. These are sweet, contemporary rom coms…so they’re not “real” mythical creatures, I can assure you. You’ll love them all, though.

Something else exciting: I’m putting together special edition book launch boxes for Mermaid!! They’ll be $50 each (including shipping for US customers). They are so cute! I put a trial box together this weekend and showed it to friends…they loved it. Each box will contain a signed paperback of “How to Date a Mermaid”, plus mermaid themed goodies, bookish gifts and treats, and four fun interactive gifts that you’ll open as you read the book (a sticky note on the page will tell you when to open which gift).

One last fun announcement: I just did the cover reveal for “How to Date a Dragon” on my newsletter this week. Are you ready to see it? Here we go…BAM:

That’s all the updates I have for now…I’ll pop back in later with more!

Y’all, I’m super excited at the feedback that’s coming in on the first 8 chapters of my full-length romantic comedy. I wanted to share the first third of the story with select fans who had the time to read it and give me constructive feedback on what they thought. Of course, alpha readers are always going to find typos and miscellaneous mistakes…so there are plenty of those. The characters, the elements of the story, and the pacing are always what I want to hear more about. Did you like them? What did you like most? Was the pacing ok? My first group of alpha readers is delivering strong feedback and I’m happy to share some of it with you.

General Feedback

“You could not change a single thing, and it’s already amazing.”

“I loved this. I cannot wait to read more.” 

“I LOVED it and I can’t wait to see where this relationship goes!”

When you get to the end of a chapter do you want to keep going?

“Yes, for sure. I was reading it just before going to sleep each night, and I fought closing my eyes each night.” 

“I was pulled In! I could not put it down, I just needed to know what would happen to Zach and Marina next.” 

Were the romantic moments swoony?

“Loved the last few pages as they connect for their first kiss. Very swoon-y!”

“They are very sweet. Zach has game but seems genuine.”

“Love the way you have written the romance it’s funny, yet with a twist of real life thrown in.”

Does the story flow well? How is the pacing?

“I think the story flows well from chapter to chapter. I read the whole thing in one sitting!”

It’s sounding pretty good! I’ve received some great constructive feedback on miscellaneous things like my two main characters stand up TWICE in the opening chapter. LOL. There are weird things that need to be tweaked because they’re confusing or can be described better. Overall, I’m very happy with the feedback.

As of right now, I’m writing chapter 10 and should have Act II of the book done sometime in July….at which time I’ll be asking my newsletter subscribers to sign up to read Act I and Act II for feedback. Not subscribed yet? What are you waiting for? You can sign up here. My subscribers always get the info on everything first. 🙂

In order to tell this story, I have to take y’all back to the dark days: the 80’s. If you were around then, maybe you were having a great time. I wasn’t. I had just suffered through the break-up of my first significant relationship and was absolutely heartbroken. I had a dead-end job at a retail store with weird hours. I was rapidly gaining weight, extremely unhappy, and completely unable to figure out how to fix my life. I didn’t have the grades in high school to go straight to college, but I knew that’s what everyone “should” do…so I signed up for some classes at my local community college. Two of those classes were writing classes.

I remember coming home (I still lived with my Mom) and being so excited after my first writing class. I’d reconnected with my first love: writing stories. I finally, FINALLY knew what I was going to do with my life. My oldest sister was visiting, so I excitedly told both her and Mom about my new goal in life: I was going to be a writer. It was perfect.

You can’t be a writer. You need a real job. You’ll never support yourself that way. You need to find something else to do that’ll make you money so you can have a life. That was the response I got. It put a huge dent in my new ambition, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. What did they know? Maybe it could work for me.

Fast forward a few weeks later. I was still heartbroken over the break-up and still eating all my feelings. I had an assignment in my Writing for Television class: write a scene in a hospital. I did it, but I wasn’t happy with it. I wasn’t inspired by the topic, but I also couldn’t see straight because my feelings were everywhere. I got to class knowing that my scene was bad. Still, I figured the important part was turning it in.

Instead of turning them in, our instructor told us to pass our papers to the person next to us so they could read it out loud. Holy crap. Please no.

My classmate was not kind when she read my scene. She laughed at how bad it was. She made a show of laughing about it. Others joined in, to my horror. And the instructor did nothing to stop it. Mortified, I held back my tears until it was time for break and I went to the car. I cried my eyes out. Sobbed. Something broke in me…and I knew that I was never going to be a writer because I wasn’t any good. I didn’t think it…I knew it. Big difference. They all got to me to the point of convincing me I was never going to be able to do it. I knew I was a failure. I never went back to class.

I went to therapy. I quit retail and got an office job. And I shut all creativity out of my life. I saw my creativity as a stupid dream. Something that other people are successful at, but not me. I put up the wrong kind of boundaries everywhere. I stayed that way for years.

When I met my husband, I eventually told him that story and he was the one who pointed out that my class mates and teacher were jerks. Besides, who judges themselves on one bad assignment? (Spoiler alert: I do, I guess.)

Several years later, I got a job with a major airline. I took a huge demotion just to get my foot in the door, but I landed in the communications department. You see where this is going? I ended up reporting to a manager who saw me. She saw my ability. My creativity. And she nurtured it. Eventually, guess what? I was promoted to a full time management role in….COMMUNICATIONS. I was making a living as a writer.

Side note: Mom and I made peace about this a thousand years ago. She loved me more than anyone and always did her best for us. There are NO perfect parents. We forgive the ones we love. Anyone else doesn’t matter.

The point is…all of this woke up the fiction writer in my heart…and so here we are. However, when I finished “Maybe” I realized I needed to share the story with someone to get feedback. So that entire experience from the 80’s…the writing class from hell…came back to haunt me. I was afraid to share my writing, even with friends who care about me and would never be cruel. I had to talk myself through it, reminding myself that these friends care about me.

I ended up gathering my courage and trusting a few friends to read “Maybe” and I wasn’t disappointed. I told them I wanted to know the good and the bad…and they gave it me. Kindly. Helpfully. And here we are!

So I guess what I want everyone to take away from this is…do the brave things. Don’t listen to people who try to tell you what you can’t do (unless it’s play with a grizzly bear…probably don’t do that).

Go do the brave things. ♥

I’m super excited to share with you that my novella “Arrivals & Departures” is ready for pre-order on Kindle! The Kindle version will launch on March 28th, which would have been my Dad’s birthday. Since he would have been super proud that I’m publishing something, I thought that was the perfect date.

The paperback version is actually available now, as it takes time for shipping if you don’t have Amazon Prime and I want you to be able to have it before March 28th. 🙂

You can grab it on Amazon at this link.

Thanks so much for your support, everyone…it means the world to me. Please be sure to leave a review on Amazon and Good Reads. ♥

I’ve just finished the Romance Writers of America’s Indie Author Weekend Workshop and I have to say…it was so fun. Not only that, but so much of what I learned only validated that I’m already on the right road and doing the things I need to do. I feel great about it.

Now that it’s over, I have to put my nose to the grindstone again. I’ve created a newsletter and have 33 people already signed up for it. I plan to make it a weekly thing. We’ll see if I have that much to share since I’m only starting out.

This coming Wednesday I’ll release my first newsletter! I plan to release important news and opportunities to my newsletter subscribers first…so if you haven’t signed up yet, what are you waiting for? See the “Subscribe” button up there? CLICK IT.

This week is all about continuing to flesh out “Collision on the Concourse”. I really want to get it done by Friday. Think I can? I guess we’ll see!

Y’all, I can’t tell you how many years I’ve been saying “I need/want to publish something!” My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Vanderkam, would be mortified to know that I am still an unpublished writer. She was the first teacher of many to tell my mom “This kid is a writer” during parent/teacher conferences. Sorry, Mrs. V!!!

Last year, “Publish Something” was on my list of resolutions…which I find fun, not daunting…but when I found out my Mom had a brain tumor at 96 years old, all bets were off in 2023. We lost her in March and it’s been a rough road. Even though we were lucky to have her for such a long time (go, DNA, go!) no one ever prepares you for losing your mom – at least not when she’s your biggest cheerleader.

Not wanting 2023 to be a total flop, I’d been working on a romantic short story to flex my writing muscles. As New Years Eve got closer, I realized I had a pretty good shot at finishing it. Just about two hours before we rang in 2024, I finished my very first romantic short story and sent it off to a handful of awesome friends to review. There’s a lot to unpack here: finishing a piece of fiction was major for me, but so was being brave enough to share it. After a humiliating experience in a writing class back in my 20’s, I have a serious amount of fear pent up about ever sharing something again. But I was brave…and I did it.

As of right now, two friends have returned their comments to me about the story and I am both happy and grateful. They both liked the story…and they both found part of it needs a tweak. Can’t tell you more than that, but I’m pretty happy with the feedback. Oh, and typos…there were typos and punctuation weirdness. Totally fixable.

Right now I’m not sure how often I’ll post here on this website, but whenever I do I’ll share it on my Facebook author page and on Instagram. If you’re not following me on those platforms, I’d love for you to do so!

Happy New Year, friends!

Dianne