Tag: Dianne

Posted on

DAMN GREAT THINGS!

Art by my child! Sophie Yurkovich~

Can I just tell you that I am so excited that so many Asian actors won Oscars? Not that my Asian daughter wants to act, but I am glad that more Asian people are getting recognized for their contributions to the American/United States world. That is damn great!

AND another damn great thing is that Dave and I are almost finished with Anthony Doyle and his novel, Hibernaculum.

So, let’s discuss this a moment. In truth I never want to be finished with Hibernaculum.

I publish, I realized over the weekend, between individual pieces and full-length pieces, a fair amount of writing by other people. and I usually don’t publish it unless it really speaks to me.

And a funny thing about me, as a human, is that, whether through editing or editing for publication, I sometimes get really excited, really really excited, like so excited! over a book, or a poem, or a whatever… could be a small piece, something that I am lucky enough to work with. And when I am excited I tell everybody in my small circle about it. I wax rhapsodic, as they say. Truly! A woman whose book I recently finished editing wrote a book that also really excited me, and she told me that her spouse asked her, “Why doesn’t Dianne just marry (name of book) she loves it so much?” Oooo, snarky! And, do you know what… my husband asked me the same damn thing. WTH People? Listen, it’s amazing writing, and you can’t stop love! I love her book! And I don’t care who knows it!

And my husband also asked me why I don’t just marry Hibernaculum. So, yeah, Anthony Doyle, I do wanna marry your book. It’s a freaking great book!

Soon we will begin to reveal Anthony’s book, bit by bit. And we have done quite a lot of fun stuff to, and with, his book, not our stuff, really, but Anthony’s stuff, that we have “made flesh” for him, and I cannot wait to see the world’s reaction to it!

And I gotta toot our DPP horn for a hot minute here. We are small, but we are scrappy, and definitely author-centered.

I was at a writing conference guest over the weekend, my second in six months, and the publishing company is flourishing, and my child is flourishing, and the pets are all healthy, and I just ate a great tomato sandwich, and there is always plenty of coffee.

Tuesdays can be boring, and they’re not even “hump day,” so they can lack some pizazz.

But today I want to give Tuesday its due.

We just sent five wonderful books off to Midwest Review of Books and two we just sent off to the proofreader. Yes, we use a proofreader, because one or the other of us (usually me) edits the book, and the author goes over it, and then it needs fresh eyes, and we do not have the eye-time to spare. So we have a proofreader we trust, and we employ her. Freelance, but still, that’s how I edit, so…. I am so proud that we not only give authors publication, we also are able to give a freelancer work. I want to help authors who deserve it get published, and I want to give people work.

It’s Tuesday, and I am excited we’re doing that.


And I am thrilled to say we also have brewing:

~The poetry collection, A Break in the Field, that is well-underway by my new friend and talented poet Ellis Elliot.
~The wonderful surprise that Ellis is planning for the folks kind enough to pre-order some poetry! Oh yes, there is going to be fun there too!
~The poetry collective that is well-underway due to the really generous hearts of some gifted and moving authors who I also think of as friends.
~The kind authors who have trusted me as their editors, hired me freelance, and shared with me their books and stories, and who I also think of as friends now, and who I am rooting for as much as I am rooting for the folks we publish.
~The fantastic Hardboiled and Loaded with Sin noir anthology that is coming your way soon!
~A “cozy” surprise due to announce in… early April?
~A whole new genre of book we’ve cooked up with an editing client who I just had to find a way to work with!
~A little touch of something classic….
~A Fall we plan to fill up with horror! I love reading horror when the leaves turn; don’t you??

~And the wonderful Hibernaculum.

OMGOSH! HIBERNACULUM!!!

And, HEY! You wanna know all about the cool Hibernaculum stuff don’t you? I know I do. We’re making it a fun ride, people. Get your tushie over to Devil’s Party Press and sign up for our newsletter, because much of it is going to be secret, special stuff for the newsletter only! The next newsletter comes out this weekend! Get in that group now!

So, on this Tuesday, though I have no notion or idea of if anyone reads my comically self-important blog (and I suspect not), I have to just use this space to tell you how excited I am.
Thanks for reading!

Posted on

IT SHOULD BE LIKE A HALF AN HOUR VOLUME 12: “Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.”

HA! I got you! You thought I was going to put up the Beatles version, didn’t you?

Well, there’s a reason I didn’t put that first, but I will put it below.

George, I never knew him, but he always struck me as soft and gentle, in the way that men are not supposed to be soft and gentle. And I think it was very hard for him, as it is for so many people in so many bands, not to be overshadowed by the other members. And I am a Beatle girl, until the age of 30 or so, there was no other band I would spend my limited record money on (aside from Wings, because I was desperately in love with Paul). So I love the Beatles version, but George was given so few slots in the band’s catalogue, so let’s begin with him here, and paired with another gentle great, Paul Simon. And BONUS, if you watch all the way through you get “Homeward Bound” too, one of my favorite S&G songs. I had S&G’s greatest hits (still do have it) because I stole it from my brother, so that was his record money, not mine, and I know I that I probably wore out “Homeward Bound” and “America.”

But this is about the great song, “Here Comes the Sun, ” which I have literally had on “Alexa” repeat since Dave took Sophie to school… so a few hours.

What do I like about it?

Well, it’s plinky might be the first thing I would say. It’s got great plinky guitar. I like plinky guitar; I am a big fan of it. Secondly, that plinky guitar acts like an extra voice: it follows the melody through the song, literally singing the main tune right along with George. I remember hearing that the Beatles had conflict over George wanting to (often) have the guitar follow the melody in the songs, as an extra voice. And the story went that Paul didn’t like it. I do not know if that is true, and Paul may be the sometimes most-hated Beatle, but the guy is a hugely successful songwriter, so there’s that. I think the plinky and the guitar acting like a voice works here, and ads to the gentleness of the song.

The second thing I like about “Here Comes the Sun” is that it is understated. If we assume it’s England, where the sun often hides, and it’s been a long cold lonely sunless period, then WOW! the sun is out!!!
But this is “Here comes the sun… do-do-do-do…,” and “…it’s alright.” It’s low-key, low energy, they way an introvert gets excited about things. Harrison was probably an introvert, and I feel that, and I feel that low-key excitement. It’s no less joyful for not being an explosion of confetti and balloons.

I chose this song today because yesterday I took my teen daughter into teen-daughter heaven, what you probably know of as a store called Claire’s. I have had some fun times finding little doo-dads (doo-dads, am I 100 years old?) at Claire’s, but the three or four times I have been there in 2023 I have been assaulted, every single damn time, by the same two songs, one a country western song, and one a pop song, both of which are guilty of crap formulaic song writing and being ear worms. I will not name the atrocities lest they attack you too. I sentence them to exile from the planet. And clearly neither song writer ever listened to George Harrison.

So, I am using George today, to lift my mood in a gentle “I might have a hangover” way, and also because George can be heard over and over and exterminate those earworms without becoming one himself, because George would never do that. George has mad skills. And I love George with ELO, on his own, with The Beatles, and really quite a lot with The Traveling Wilburys, a band that was much too short-lived.

And, on that note, I want to introduce you to another George song that I adore:

“Give Me Love” almost always brings me to the edge of tears, and not because of the lyrics. The music is sweet, and sad, and… oh I dunno. It’s just something.

It’s good to have gentleness in the craziness of life. George gave us gentleness.

Rest well George. Thanks for all the gentle sweetness.

Posted on

LIVE CHEAP MAKE ART

I wanted to share the originator (as far as I know) of the motto “live cheap make art” with you: Rosemary.

Rosemary is someone I used to know in real life (still do; we’re just not local)!

I adore her art, and she also has a wonderful book!

If you have ever had a dream of creating beautifully illustrated memoirs or journals, check out Rosemary.

If you have ever wanted to chuck it all, and go liver where you wanted and do what you really want to do, check our her book!

And if you just want a lovely piece of art to hang in your house, take a look at Rosemary’s art.