Dianne on Writing

Why I write 

When I write, the day feels right.

I write to wiggle my toes in the shoes of others, take those first hesitant steps, and then head off.  In my character’s shoes I become introverted, tidy, and haunted by an unkind past. I dance the salsa with hips that rise and fall in perfect rhythm. I bask in being self-centered. I am terrified of being abandoned. I become poised, confident, and fear almost nothing. I am gay, straight, an atheist, a believer, Mexican, African American, European American. I expand myself. I disappear. I return to my own shoes the same and different.

I like playing with words, listening for their sounds and the music in their phrasing, feeling them in my mouth, crossing out the stinkers.

I write to discover, to clarify, to confound, to laugh out loud, to cry.

I write to share with others.

What inspires me to write 

Moving my hand across a page or clicking a keyboard. That is, most ideas come to me when I am writing.  Starting off without inspiration can be nerve wracking, but there are ways to invite ideas. One of my favorites is freewriting on a question or puzzle. Intensive research pays off, too. That and taking breaks.  A walk. A shower. Folding laundry.

Why I wrote The Trumpet Lesson

I didn’t intend to initially. I meant to write a comic novel about a writing group. I jotted down some vignettes featuring the members’ foibles and was playing around with how to link them together.

Then a new character came to me. Pamela. Talented, outspoken, confident, she bowled me over. I loved her, but I didn’t know what to do with her until Callie showed up. I was at my desk one morning doing some quick freewriting before going off to swim when out came the basics of her story. As a teen Callie had been pressured to give up her baby and had, for decades, hidden her loss, even from herself.  I remember feeling that I had to tell her story. It touched me so profoundly that I shook for hours.

It wasn’t easy, living with Callie’s loss, so I added moments of humor as a respite from the pain. Armando helped with that. And Callie’s imagination.  And once I found a place for Pamela, I knew that eventually everything would be okay.

Writing the novel became a way for me to process my own losses, my own sacrifices of self, my own betrayals of trust. I hope reading it will comfort others.

Articles about writing The Trumpet Lesson

“Hands-On Research: How a Story of Hidden Loss Became The Trumpet Lesson,”
by Dianne Romain
9/24/19, Women Writers, Women’s Books:
http://booksbywomen.org/hands-on-research-how-a-story-of-hidden-loss-became-the-trumpet-lesson/

“Setting Fiction in Guanajuato” by Dianne Romain
https://www.tripfiction.com/talking-location-with-dianne-romain-guanajuato-mexico/

Dianne Romain, a native Missourian, is back in Kansas City to promote her new book, “The Trumpet Lesson.”  by Roberta Pardo
Read the Article>>