Diana Lee Johnson

interviewed by

Mary S. McGuire

Mary S. McGuire: Hello, I'm happy to present our multi-talented Wings author, Diana Lee Johnson.

Diana: Thank you, Mary, although multiple personalities might be a closer description than “multi-talented”, if you asked some of my friends and associates.

Mary: Would you please tell us something about your current novel, which is coming out this month, and what inspired you to write this particular book?

Diana: Tomorrow Came Early is an historical mainstream/family saga sequel to my first published novel, Too Late for Tomorrow, which Wings has offered to re-publish in 2004. It’s the continuation of a story about a North and South Carolina family who were trying to prove it was possible to have free labor on plantations, but it was too little, too late. I thought Too Late for Tomorrow would be a single-title, but the characters just kept hanging around in my head until I wrote Tomorrow Came Early. I have more than half of a third, and, I’m sure, final in the series in the works.

Mary: I notice you seem to be particularly interested in historical novels, as am I. Since you live in Virginia, this is not surprising. Have you always had that particular interest?

Diana: I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in history. Living outside of Washington, DC all my life has, no doubt, provided some inspiration, and living in Virginia gives me a window into the earliest European roots in America to spur me on. Indeed, finding my own American roots go back to the early 1600’s didn’t stifle my enthusiasm. Even finding

out I am a direct descendent of the first casualty of the Salem Witch trials only added fuel to my already bright fire of imagination.

Mary: It is neat that you've also crossed into the time travel/paranormal genre. How did that occur?

Diana: My fascination with the possibility of time-travel probably stems from my interest in the past, though travel into the future also brings out the “Trekkie” in me. It actually assailed me after the discovery of an old and historic house for sale near Fredericksburg, and smacking, face-first, into a re-enactor in Confederate garb in that very city.

Mary: Did you find it difficult to "switch gears" to write a contemporary romance?

Diana: Actually, I “switched gears” from writing the contemporary, as it was penned before the historicals and before the time-travel. But there is a dose of history in the contemporary as a flashback to the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland provides an internal tale. Like my eclectic taste in novels and movies on the wide-screen, the movies projecting in my mind vary greatly.

Mary: Since you have been a purchasing agent for many years, do you feel this work ethic has contributed to your self-discipline in setting aside time for writing?

Diana: It’s more likely my ability to juggle a dozen projects at once to meet different departments’ needs at work has helped me juggle my assortment of characters and stories. I can stop working on one and go to another with relative ease… I just have to find the time.

Mary: If you could pen THE NOVEL of your life, in what realm would it be?

Diana: I’ve no doubt it would be an historical, though perhaps an historical mystery. I have a contemporary mystery-suspense I’m trying to find time to polish up. Actually, when I started it, I checked a fact with the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia when she was speaking at a Virginia Romance Writers' meeting.. She complimented me on my ingenuity, and promised not to "tell Pat". The "Pat" to whom she was referring was her friend, Patricia Cornwell. Needless to say, I was blown away.

Mary: When you reach an impasse in your writing, how do you nourish your creativity?

Diana: I have not reached an impasse in my creativity since I was six-years-old, but I reach many impasses of time as the real world crashes in with job, kids (grown and grandchildren),“ex”-husbands, housework, grocery shopping, etc. I’m sure I will have lapses in creativity if I ever get to retire and write at my leisure. Right now, I simply walk away for a short break and wait for the “mind-movie” to start running again.

Mary: Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your works or your life?

Diana: About my life? No, if I wrote an auto-biography, everyone would label it bad fiction as being unbelievable. About my writing, yes, that I strive to make sure everything to do with history is accurate; that any product or procedure I put in, has a basis in fact or research of the time, and though I may let one of my characters enhance it, I pride myself on my research. That research is usually performed after the scene runs in my head, though, so I check myself, and fine-tune the finished product. I have been known to astound my own physicians with my hypotheses as I pick their brains for the plausibility of already written scenes. It’s not that I’m so gifted. I’ve finally concluded that there is a file in my subconscious that contains everything I’ve ever heard, read, seen, etc., and these facts surface of their own accord when I write. They are certainly not cataloged in any order. I couldn’t be that organized if my life depended on it.

Mary: Thank you, Diana, so much for visiting with us today. I'm sure we are all looking forward to your next novel.

Diana: Thanks for inviting me. I hope you come back often.