Dianne

Writing music and books for children is a result of my enjoying working with children most of my career, both in the school district and leading children's choirs for 25 years. My husband, Alan, is a retired pastor in the Sacramento area, but before going to the seminary was a teacher and then a principal. We have six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. One of our grandchildren has Down syndrome and lives within 10 minutes of our home, so I spend a lot of time with him. Because Cody is such a loving and funny little boy, I had a large collection of photos of him. Photography is one of my passions. Those photos were compiled into my first published children's book, My Brother's Ups and Downs. It was suggested I write another from Cody's view of life, so I published My Life With Ups and Downs.

During the Covid pandemic, most of my usual activities came to a halt, and I discovered a new passion--painting with acrylics. In a year, I created over 150 paintings, many of which can be found on my Facebook business page, "Dianne's Designs." My painting led to a third book, My Weird 2020, which was written for my grandsons to help them understand Covid and feel more comfortable and hopeful. I especially enjoyed doing the illustrations for the book.

Because of the enthusiastic response and the encouragement to publish it, I did so.

My fourth published book, The Adventures of Iola Ziola, a sequel to My Weird 2020, was written just a few weeks later. The mother who was distance teaching needs to find a new purpose for her life now that her children are back in the classroom. After many failures, Iola (which was my mother's name) finally finds contentment. After that came Meet Horace Humble, such a fun book about an older couple, their pets, and the neighborhood children.