GRIEF'S SOUL SEARCH
During the six years I spent alone after my husband died, I spent a lot of time soul searching. In the process, I journaled, traveled alone and revisited activities I enjoyed as a child. My love of writing pushed me to pour my grief into a book, Twenty-Eight Snow Angels: A Widow's Story of Love, Loss and Renewal.
The honest, transparent story of the death of husband took seven years to write. It is now helping other widows and widowers and for that I am very grateful. I share my story of the devastating loss with church grief groups and at funeral home after care workshops. The book brings hope to others and for that I am truly grateful.
In 2015 I took the leap from memoir to historical fiction. Inspired by a Japanese family I knew when I was a child and after three years of researching the history of the Japanese interment camps, a piece of America's history I knew little about, I published my first novel, Courageous Footsteps: A WWII Novel. The award-winning book opens readers eyes to the injustices and hardships a Japanese-American family is forced to endure when they are removed from their homes by armed military guards and taken to a prison camp in eastern California. Surrounded by barbwire Yasu, a fifteen-year-old girl and her family, along with thousands of other Japanese family's, struggle to accept the over- crowded living conditions and daily hardships. In 2016, I released the sequel, Yasu's Quest: A Tale of Triumph. The book received excellent reader feedback which inspired me to write the third book in the series, On Liberty's Wings: A Post-WWII Novel.
In the depths of grief after the loss of my loving husband, I never imagined I would someday be an award-winning author sharing my books at events and receiving wonderful feedback from readers. I'm not sure what project will call me next, but I'll keep my eyes and heart open to the opportunities and experiences that will be revealed to me and hopefully inspire others to rediscover the things in life that bring them joy.
Visit Diane's Website for more information.
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