Weekly DiVa | Jan 28, 2024

Hi!

 

How was your week? Busy? Mine has been busy, so I can only imagine that yours has too. Or have you established some of that much lauded work/life balance? If so, drop me a reply and tell me how you do it! 

 

It's been a full week of counting through my backlist. Today is day 10, and the featured book is CRUSHED VELVET. If you've behind, you can go to this page on my website and see which books I've talked about and which are up next. (Hint: if the image is in color, there's a video, if it's still in black and white, it's for the future). Click the image and you'll go to that book's video on YouTube. 

 

The videos are getting a little sillier. We're only on day 10, so I can only imagine where we'll be by the release of RANCH DRESSING!

You may think you can skim this part. You may think, “Diane already told me about RANCH DRESSING, I've got it on preorder, so it'll arrive on release day, I'm good to go. On to Life Talk.” But guess what? You are NOT all caught up! Because I have another book on preorder! SYLVIA STRYKER IS COMING BACK!

 

I'll tell you much more about this after the book countdown bonanza, but I did want to mention it since the preorder went live on Amazon, B&N, and Apple this week. The book is WARPED ON A MOON TREK, but it could have been called QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT ON A MOON TREK, because it deals with multiple timelines. OOOOOOH, I can't wait to tell you more about it, but I. Must. Stay. Focused. 

 

Sylvia, who has had more makeovers than Madonna, is featured below. 

Click your retailer link below! Kobo, Google Play, and print links coming soon!

And a reminder of two things: 

There is also a giveaway for RANCH DRESSING on The StoryGraph! Enter to win one of four print copies or one of 100 ebook copies. This giveaway ends on Feb 18, which is nine days before the book comes out. Print is US only; ebooks ae US, CA, and UK. 

 

Enter here! -→ Giveaway for Ranch Dressing, hosted by dianevallere | The StoryGraph

 

It was bound to happen. 

 

I started January out thinking there was a full year ahead of me, that I had all the time in the world. I felt like 2024 stretched ahead of me, full of opportunity. And then, boom! The first month is darn near close to over. By this time next week, it will be February! Which means the year is practically over!

 

I mean, okay, I know it's not. But it's hard not to notice the sand flowing through the hourglass (I was going to go with slipping through our fingers, but the Days of Our Lives imagery came at me, and I went with it!) 

 

I try not to build my life around goals like “lose 20 lbs” or “get fluent in French," but I do have lots of things I want to do, things I don't know if I'll ever get to. On paper, I can plan out this, then that, then the other thing, but in real-time, there's Life, there are unexpected obligations, weather inconveniences, and spontaneous opportunities that sound too special to turn down. So I try to maintain a balance, and I fail, and I repeat that cycle ad nauseum. 

 

So, if you're like me and you have a zillion things on your to-do list, things you want to get to someday alongside of the things you're already doing, then I feel you! 

 

And just remember: this is a leap year, so we get an extra day. Surely that will make the difference. 

 

xoxo,

Diane