Omigosh, it's July!

That means it's summer and the year's half over. Where does the time go?

Actually, for me time seems to wander down some strange path from my brain to my fingertips, and when I look up, a week or a month has passed me by. But that's OK, because I'm writing another book, and time does fly when I'm writing. I've just finished the second of my White Elk Series books, and I've been so caught up by this little imaginary town, I think I might just go back there for another visit or two. There's something about a village that sits in the shadow of a mountain that just makes you feel good.

Romance Writer's of America will be hosting its annual conference in Washington DC shortly month, and I'll be attending as usual, meeting old friends, making new ones, visiting with my editors. I'm not teaching a class this year, but three days after I return home, I'll be heading to Muncie, Indiana, for the Midwest Writer's Workshop. It's a fun, quirky little workshop for beginning and other writers trying to get their foot in the publishing door, and unlike so many conferences today, it's not niched into one specific writing area. Poets, novelists, nonfiction writers...everybody welcome. It's actually where I got my start as a writer way back in 1993.

This year I'll be teaching an all-day workshop (Thursday, July 23) entitled: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Writing Fiction but Were Afraid to Ask. On Friday & Saturday, I'll be teaching four more workshops: The Non-fiction Book Proposal Package; Romance Writing 101; Second Bananas, Why We Need Them, How to Construct Them, How to Use Them; Editing, Layering, Revising and All That Necessary Fiction Jazz. In addition, this year I am sponsoring the Rylan Harris Memorial Scholarships which will pay the way for two aspiring new writers to attend the Midwest Writer's Workshop. The scholarships are named in honor of my niece, who came into our lives earlier this year, but didn't stay with us long.

Another thing on the horizon - along with a group of friends - Donnell Bell (former editor), LoisWinston (literary agent with Ashley Greyson Literary Agency) and Julie Rowe (journalist), I'll be starting a new venture called BEGINNING WRITER WORKSHOPS. It's our goal to teach ten online workshops a year geared toward the newer writer. We have a great lineup of classes featuring a huge variety of topics. FMI, check us out at www.BeginningWriterWorkshops.com.

If you sign up for one of my classes, let me know that you found it by checking out my Dianne Drake website, and I'll have a little gift for you!

Now, least, but never least. Dr. Velascos' Unexpected Baby from Harlequin Mills & Boon was out in June. You can find it at or at its direct link at http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/books/Medical/dr-velascos-unexpected-baby.htm/

In addition, Found: A Mother for His Son - also from Harlequin Mills & Boom medicals will be out in hardback in July and paperback in September.   See what The Evil Editor has to say about it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0ZVayUwThY   OR  
http://evileditor.blogspot.com/2009/04/book-scene-4.html

Now, it's time to go do something fun. For me that's taking a book and a glass of iced tea, and going outside to my patio to read.

Have a great summer!

DD