Wordless Wednesday: Spy or Die

Published July 18, 2012

Spy or Die by Diana Manos

I’m sneaking in a Writer’s Studio feature today under the cover of Wordless Wednesday because I recently met Diana Manos in the Twitterverse and can’t wait to tell you about her and her book, a paranormal romantic thriller for a mature audience. This isn’t your teen’s vampire….

1. What is your one piece of must-know advice for aspiring writers?

Writing is what makes you a writer. Resist the urge to spend your energy talking about writing, and just hunker down somewhere alone, alone, alone and crank out prolific amounts of work. Whether what you write initially is good or bad, the more you write, the better you’ll get and the more comfortable you will get with just sitting down and doing it.

2. Is there an unforgettable lesson you learned from writing this book you wouldn’t know otherwise about fiction?

I’ve written four novels (some of them yet to be released) and this is the first book where I followed Stephen King’s advice, “The book is boss.” I let the book lead me and I didn’t fight it with my own plans for it. It unfurled itself. It seems to work for Stephen King pretty successfully. I hope it does the same for me. I know the writing felt easier this time. The outcome remains to be seen.

3. Any challenges for you as you wrote and published this book?

Author Diana Manos

This is the first book I published on Amazon as an eBook. I was using a Mac and it was pretty tricky to get the formatting right for Kindle, and there isn’t a lot of help for Mac users on that. If anyone is using a Mac and would like some help with it, please don’t hesitate to email me at bloodnlace@gmail.com. Maybe I can help.

4. How would you start your next project? Are you on your next book?

I am already working on the second book of the D.C. Otherworld Chronicles, which I expect to release on Halloween 2012. It seems to be easier this time because the characters are already set upfrom Spy or Die. I plan to use the “book is boss” method again this time. The rest is just sitting down and writing every day. The regularity keeps the story fresh and the energy rolling.

5. Anything else you want readers to know?

I would like to emphasize to all writers out there that we are in a very special time, a time that has never been before. We are able to publish our own work and get it out there into the universe without any restraints. The power is in our hands to fill the world with stories without Big Business getting in our way. I very much believe in indie publishing.

Mohana Rajakumar

Mohana has a PhD from the University of Florida with a focus on gender and postcolonial theory. She is the creator and co-editor of five books in the Qatar Narratives series, as well as the Qatari Voices anthology which features essays by Qataris on modern life in Doha (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2010). Mohana has published several ebooks and academic titles. Check out her Amazon.com author page