About Diane Dean-Epps:
My sit-down standup style of humor writing has found a home in multiple books, including Bangs ‘N’ Botox: My Aging Journey Near, Through, and Out of Denial and Botox, Fillers, & Human Preservatives, the latter essential reading for anyone who’s ever looked in the mirror and gasped at what time hath wrought.
On the career front I’ve had a bountiful buffet of opportunities—sometimes concurrently—in industries as diverse as media, education, marketing, entertainment, and fitness leading to incredible feats of multi-tasking. This explains my unique ability to deliver a punchline, grade essays, post social media updates, and draft stories as I voice commercials and assume the plank position for one minute and 22 seconds.
Currently residing in northern California, I write and perform in productions both planned and—much to the surprise of unsuspecting bystanders—unplanned. My audiences are (mostly) entertained, and I consider that a solid win.
What inspires you to write?
Writing is how I make sense of my world – and of "the" world – and I'm naturally curious, so I would say everything I experience inspires me to write. I'm in possession of a daily impetus to write; it's how I'm hard-wired. Neuroscience has come out with quite a few theories and ultra-smart published papers talking how humans connect via stories, and stories are where I dwell in my writing, but often – often! – with a humorous take. The "this can't be happening" moments we all experience in life, the frustrations, the losses, the realizations…all of it is writing fodder for me and it all inspires me to express myself through the written word.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
Ohhh, so many because at our core as writers is the fact we're readers. I'm an English teacher, so I've dwelled in the classics a fair amount, but I also love me some good RomCom novels – those are luscious beach reads – and some unique culturally-rich books. Off the top of my head, I especially LOVE Paulo Coelho, and other favs who have provided me with so many nice books to while away my hours include Alexander McCall Smith, Fannie Flagg (she's such an amazing talent with her comedy, her writing), Jodi Taylor, Richard Osman, Mitch Albom, Vaseem Khan, Penelope Bloom…oh, boy, is there a word count limit here?
Tell us about your writing process.
It's madness, I tell you! LOL! I write every day in every way all the time. This means I don't have set hours for my writing, mainly, because I'm a worker bee who has never had that luxury. I'd also have to add my writing ideas "come to me when they come to me" – isn't that wonderful wisdom? – so set hours wouldn't work for my process anyway. And what is my process? My ideas and words flow, so I just act as the conduit which makes for a nice working relationship. This means my ideas and writing end up on the back of mailers, on receipts, and I’ve even been known to text – and, yes, old school email – myself. While I write books – my newest (humor) book about aging – BANGS 'N' BOTOX having just launched – I write oodles of humor columns. Oftentimes, whether it's short- or long-form writing, my published work starts out with one sentence or even one word. I madly capture the word flow, and then worry about getting it all into some format that makes sense later.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
As a humorist, though I dwell mainly in the world of non-fiction, I do have two published fiction books. I'd say even in non-fiction I'm listening – and channeling – characters. Sometimes my stories feature me as the protagonist, but oftentimes I'm an observer. I don't sweat coming up with the exact parameters, but rather I like to allow my creativity to fill any type of space it wants to – or doesn't want to – and there's usually a natural type of ending. Having said the latter, I always write more than I need to, and that's a good thing because you can always cut down your material. I've worked with word counts in my career as a writer, so I've found it's good to never, ever – ever, never – permanently delete the text and idea goodness I create because I'm likely to use my material in later works. Don't edit too early. There's usually plenty of time for that, even when you work in/with the media. 🙂
What advice would you give other writers?
There are no rules in writing—or for being a writer. How you do it, when you do it, and why you do it is all up to you. Just do it, do it, do it, okay? For you. For all the readers who will connect with your stories. I mentioned not editing my writing too soon, and that's applicable to any of our persons we wish to pursue. Don't edit that thought too soon. Explore it. See how it feels. Wear that "I'm a writer" – metaphorical – shirt around for a while. (Make sure it's breathable cotton.) I love Stephen King’s quote, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” There's no reason why you can't be part of the crew that creates that magic. 🪄
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I started my journey being published by a traditional publisher but, ultimately, I felt very constricted by the process, in general. I didn't feel like I could fully write in my voice. I decided to become an indie writer who publishes my own books because it just seems plain silly to wait around, waving my hand in the air madly, trying to get the attention of a publisher and/or agent before I could be granted the permission to sit at the "I'm published" table. I have a strong voice with things to say, and the fact that I'm not famous, shouldn't preclude me from not being able to get my work out there. As an add-on, because I'm a humorist, that is soooooo flipping difficult as a genre in terms of getting any of the "big kids" in the publishing biz to notice me. They want the famous folks who often even identifying themselves as writers.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Bright! Anytime there's a robust community of free thinkers freely writing, and generating material others can access easily then, it's an extremely powerful model. I'm not a big fan of gatekeeping. Because of indie writers and readers who know what they like, the industry has a solid future.
What genres do you write?: Humor, Humorous Fiction, Historical Biography (WWII), Memoir
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Diane Dean-Epps Home Page Link
Link To Diane Dean-Epps Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Book Life
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
