Blog Posts - Diane Craver

Sending Newsletter this week!

3/15/2021

Wow - it is already the 15th of the month! Time flies as usual! This morning, I signed up for our various church services for Holy Week. As we did for Christmas, it is necessary to sign up ahead for masses.

I'm going to send a newsletter later this week. If you haven't signed up, hope you do soon! I'd hate for you to miss out on gift giveaways and book news! If you decide later to unsubscribe, that's fine too.

Here is the link to click for the form for my newsletter.

http://madmimi.com/signups/9e9ecfb2973f4d0c835c2ebab6196ae2/join

A Mother's Deception - The Amish Mother's Secret

3/10/2021

When I included an excerpt for A Mother's Deception in the back of Christmas of Hope, I didn't know I would be represented by an agent in 2019. This novella was published at the end of 2018. A few readers have told me that they have searched for my book, A Mother's Deception. I'm sorry it is not available. My agent Lesley has pitched it to editors with the new title, The Amish Mother's Secret. It is disappointing that I have not received a contract yet. Lesley is on maternity leave at this time. Hopefully, a contract will happen this year! :)

Today, I am writing chapter 19 of my book, Anna in Love, Book 5 in The Bishop's Daughters Series.. I hope to get it finished and off to my editor soon. I can self-publish it since I already had this series before I signed with Lesley. It's discouraging that I haven't had a new book release for a long time. I have had side effects from my maintenance treatments but the good news is I only have 3 left. In February, I started hearing a buzzing/humming noise and it is very distracting. I went to see my family doctor and he couldn't see anything in my ears causing it. I know it is termed tinnitus. I have a hearing test next week before I see an ENT doctor. I hope and pray that I am not losing my hearing. I really think it has something to do with having chemo for my cancer and continued IV infusions for my maintenance treatments.

My wonderful son-in-law worked on my laptop after I lost everything. I don't know why it happened. He managed to retrieve my files and backed them up for me. He also had to reinstall my Office 365 which was weird, too, that it disappeared.

My daughters and I have been going for walks with this nice weather.

Following my recent BookBub featured deal for A JOYFUL BREAK, I received some lovely reviews for it. Here is one:

5 ***** A Plain Romance
I loved this Christian romance story. The story line, setting, characters and the author's writing style were like a breath of fresh air. Will enjoy the rest of the series as well in the future.

Unique Review for A Joyful Break

2/22/2021

"A Joyful Break" is the first in Diane Craver's four-part novel series, Dreams of Plain Daughters, about Amish women. Rachel is still grieving over the loss of her mother at age 44. She also is struggling with blaming her father for the death, wondering if her mother might have lived, had they had a phone so they could get help more quickly. In addition, Rachel is feeling a stirring, wondering if the Englisch world would be better for her. But she does love her "intended," who is an Amish young man that loves her deeply but is trying to be patient with her and to resist the advances of a forward competitor to Rachel. Amish young people have the options of enjoying and experimenting with "rumschpringe"- a break from Amish culture in which they can experience the outside world and participate in limited worldly habits like using phones, going to movies and such. Rachel, who has always longed to see the ocean, spends her break with her aunt and cousins at the seashore. Little does she know that while there, she will be faced with yet another choice - how to interact with a young man named Nick. They do have something important in common - the recent deaths of their mothers. But Nick yearns for more than just friendship with Rachel; he falls in love with her and even pursues her by later visiting her in her hometown after she returns from her rumschpringe. Will she choose to return to her aunt's secular world, or will she stay in the environment that has always been her comfort zone, her home in the Amish community? Will she remain faithful to her boyfriend or will she date Nick, too? Do Rachel and her father come to an understanding and reconcile? I won't give anything away. I would like to say that I think that Craver does a splendid job of illustrating both the Amish and Englisch worlds, without showing any judgmentalism of either one. And while Craver was honest about the too-often impure motives of political actions, she also included a refreshing sentiment and comment about Rachel's uncle feeling "an obligation to make the world a better place by being involved in government" (Chapter 5). This is awesome! The Bible tells us that we are to be salt and light in the world. In fact, if we Christians were to disengage totally from politics, that would just lead to more corruption, problems and pain, and giving into evil. So kudos to Craver for this astute realization that some people truly do feel that being in politics is a calling-albeit not an easy or pleasant one! 🙂

Ash Wednesday!

2/17/2021

We went to church this evening and there was a nice crowd there. Of course, every other pew has to be empty because of the pandemic guidelines. The ashes were sprinkled on the top of our heads instead of on our foreheads. Amanda was happy to be a server with Father Bachman as the priest.

This was in the gospel for today's reading:
" When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they
have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner
room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. " ( Mt 6:5-6)

I went to our family doctor on Monday because of a humming/buzzing noise in y ears. It was loud and constant. He said my ears looked fine. I have noticed an improvement but still hear a bit of noise. Dr. said it could be from my chemo treatments and told me to call my cancer clinic. My nurse practitioner said it could be from my chemo and maintenance treatments, but that side effect is rare. It seems like it could be tinnitus. I had it long time ago but then it was a ringing noise.

Great news!

2/9/2021

I had a CT scan and contrast yesterday morning. I already received the test results from Mercy Health by email and read that there is no evidence of recurrent lymphoma of the chest, abdomen or pelvis. I have a treatment tomorrow and will see my oncologist before I get the infusions of my medications. I'm sure he will confirm the wonderful results!

We received 8.8 inches of snow in our area last night. Amanda was disappointed that their camp program was cancelled today. She helped Tom shovel snow.

A JOYFUL BREAK is free, so I hope it will generate sales of the rest of my books in the Dreams of Plain Daughters series. It usually does when I get a BookBub ad and have it free. The end date is Feb. 14th.

I will have more book news this month!

Stay warm and well this winter.

New Review and Writing News!

1/27/2021

I saw this new review for A JOYFUL BREAK this morning on Amazon.

***** Pleasures of a life with God
A feel good novel with characters who share the trials and rewards of living their life with God while helping to explain the reasoning of their faith with dreams to ones who are struggling to understand.

Click here to buy on Amazon but also available on Apple, B & N, Kobo, and Google Play!

Writing News: I lost time due to computer issues, holiday distractions but writing again on Book 5 in The Bishop's Daughters series. New title for Anna's book - ANNA in LOVE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

12/31/2020

I am ready to be done with 2020! It has been an unbelievable year. I know most people feel this way. I hated we couldn't get together for Easter or even go to church for it. We watched the church videos that our priest did, but it just wasn't the same. It was great when we were allowed to return to church. I never would have thought this would happen with closing churches. It's been sad that so many people have lost their jobs and businesses have closed. We have all had our challenges this past year, but hopefully 2021 will be a better year for us.

I hope I can get a lot of writing accomplished in the new year. It has been hard to focus with our busy household, and then I had computer issues. I'm thankful my son-in-law was able to fix my laptop and it works fine now!

I never posted any Christmas photos but will now. It was nice all our children and grandkids were here on Christmas day. Christina, Sara (with her new bedspread), Dean (looking at his Pokémon cards), Lila and Dean at table, Dillon in red shirt, Elena with a gift bag, and Camellia is busy opening her gift!

Two books on Sale for 99 cents each!

12/17/2020

I am giving a link to my author book pages for both books at the various available markets
.
To purchase either book on Amazon, go here.
For Apple
For Barnes and Noble
For Kobo

December 13th, 2020

12/13/2020

I decided to rewrite a bit of one of my favorite books I've written and give it a new title and new cover. It is about romance and sister relationships. I was blessed with three wonderful sisters and I am the youngest. My main character Whitney is also the youngest in her family! It sells for $2.99. The previous title was Whitney in Charge but if you haven't read it, I hope you will now grabbed the ebook, BECAUSE of WHITNEY!

Review by author Cerian Herbert

I loved the relationship between the sisters, the teasing and the support. Ms. Craver did an awesome job with the hero(es) in the story. Love the love triangle aspect, though it was a toss up as to which guy to root for! Lovely romance with a bit of humor and lots of tugging at the heartstrings. Can't wait to start my next Diane Craver book!

Buying links:
Amazon

Apple

Barnes and Noble

FLEETING HOPE

11/9/2020

I'm happy to share a recent review for FLEETING HOPE by Ann E. Leatherman. I appreciate readers taking time to post what they feel about my books.

***** Glad I read this
"I read the first two books in Dreams of Plain Daughters and liked them. Am glad I decided to get this one and will now purchase the last one."

If you'd like to purchase, click here for Amazon!

Click here for Apple!

Click here for B & N!

Click here for Kobo!

Author

I write Amish fiction, Christian fiction, Historical Christian fiction, Contemporary Romances, and Chick-Lit Mystery. I am a wife, mother, and grandmother. I have 6 wonderful children and 4 adorable grandchildren. I give thanks to God for being a cancer survivor!

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